Robot Wars
Robot Wars
PG | 28 April 1993 (USA)
Robot Wars Trailers

In the year 2041, the rebel Centros are a plague to the survivors of the great toxic gas scare of 1993. A renegade Megarobot pilot and an archaeologist must team up (despite personal differences, a reluctant romance, and official pressure to cease and desist) to thwart the Centro's attempts to resurrect a hidden Megarobot, with which they can challenge the prevailing order.

Reviews
Supelice Dreadfully Boring
Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.
Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Scott LeBrun Lightly entertaining but instantly forgettable follow-up to the earlier movie "Robot Jox". The story has to do with rebels dubbed "Centros" who are a threat to survivors of some sort of apocalypse. In this setting, guys like Drake (Don Michael Paul) function as pilots of enormous robot spiders that both transport passengers and can be used as battle vehicles. Drake meets crusading archaeologist Leda (Barbara Crampton), and although they get off on the wrong foot, it seems that romance will be in the air. Soon Drake's going to have his hands full battling a megalomaniac named Wa-Lee (Danny Kamekona).Veteran film director Albert Band ("I Bury the Living") took the reigns of this one for his son, Full Moon head honcho Charles Band. While "Robot Wars" manages to be amusing to a minor degree, it's of no real distinction. It's very much a good thing that it runs a trim 72 minutes long. The cast selected is interesting: Paul (writer / director of "Half Past Dead") is a good looking but fairly bland hero, but Crampton of "Re-Animator" fame is spunky and sincere, and Peter Haskell ("Child's Play" 2 and 3) is a hoot as your standard issue greedy corporate creep. It's also amusing to see the two villains from "The Karate Kid Part II", Kamekona and Yuji Okumoto, acting together. James Staley ("Sweet Dreams") supplies the comedy relief, and Ms. Crampton and Lisa Rinna ('Melrose Place') supply the eye candy.The two most successful elements here are typically excellent David Allen effects, and a soaring music score by David Arkenstone.This may be passable enough for B movie junkies, just so long as they don't expect too much going in.Five out of 10.
otherunicorn-62-581997 (This movie is totally unrelated to the BBC combat robot competitions, the incorrect DVD cover being shown above.)All in all, this is the sort of production I would have expected to come from the 1970s, as a cheap, time-slot alternative to something like Six Million Dollar Man, not something made in 1993. The technology they used to put the movie together must have been picked up cheap at another production house's clearance sale, allowing them to do more than they could have with modern equipment, while staying within their shoestring budget. For sets, there was the usual use of pipe-filled basements, panels of unlabeled, illuminated switches, and lots of camera shaking to simulate movement. Due to the cheapness of the sets, doors for elevators, or passenger compartments always opened and closed off-screen, with the exception of one special effect.The plot was disjointed, but if you ignored the unexplained, and great leaps of faith, it more or less held together, although it certainly could have done with a lot more robots to qualify as a war. If you like a "good" B movie, this one qualifies.
jim bowie I bought this movie at a flea market mainly because it had a neat box. It's really not all that good. Let me put it this way, the title is misleading. The giant robots are pretty cool. But you don't get to see them that often. This could have been a good movie but it isn't quite good enough to bother buying (or renting) unless your a hardcore sci-fi fan. Oh, and the acting is pretty bad, too.
Jange This barely one hour long movie contains a lot of innovative ideas, such as a gigantic passenger-carrying robotic spider. Creative camera work in the passenger compartment of the spider really conveys a feeling of motion. The music is another pleasant surprise, as these types of films often lack considerably in that area. Considering the budget, which was slim, it should be considered an impressive production on the whole. The dialog is the weak spot, lacking the humour of its predecessor Robot Jox. Most of the acting is somewhat lame, partly due to the lack of dramatic build-ups. (Actually, creating drama seems to be a problem in general for the imaginative director Albert Band). The special effects are good, but in the spirit of the eighties. I think David Allen, who made them, is a genius, able to create satisfactory effects from virtually no budget. Anyway, this film is well worth a look for true sci-fi freaks. Only.