Warlords of the 21st Century (F)

THIS IS ONE OF THE TEN WORST!

STARS...
Michael Beck, Annie McEnroe, James Wainwright, Bruno Lawrence, John Ratzenberger, and Randolph Powell.

DIRECTOR: Harley Corkliss
YEAR & RATING: 1982 (PG)

PLOT SUMMARY...
In the future, following the oil wars, a lone good guy goes up against a crazy former military man and his band of bad guys.

QUICK SCAN...
This film could be compared to "The Road Warrior". As the hero, Michael Beck ("Xandu") is no Mel Gibson. There are some occasional good shots during the film, courtesy of Director of Photography, Chris Menges. The Music, Composed and Conducted by Kevin Peek, is generic Western flavored rock and roll.

SYNOPSIS...
In the future, following the oil wars, life collapses in the cities for want of fuel. People flee to the city, where they are terrorized by a crazy former military man and his band of fuel hungry cutthroats.

When a girl escapes from the Colonel and his men, she first joins a pioneer settlement, then joins a renegade good guy at his isolated cabin. The Colonel tracks the girl to the pioneer outpost, killing and torturing the people there when he finds out the girl has left.

The good guy eventually kills the colonel and his men, returning the girl to the gentle, pioneer people, and then he splits.

BEST BETS: Road Warrior, World Gone Wild

Review:

With WARLORDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY Director Harley Corkliss, working from a script by himself, Irving Austin, and John Beech, has come up with a third rate clone of "The Road Warrior".

In the future, following the oil wars, civilization has collapsed, due to a fuel shortage. City life is pure chaos, so people have fled to the country. Since some of the farmers have hidden fuel reserves, fuel bandits from the city periodically attack farmers and seize their fuel. The most famous of these is a former army Colonel named Traeger, who drives around in a big armored truck with his not so merry men.

If this sounds a lot like "The Road Warrior", you're right. Producer Roger Corman, who at this time was still running New World Pictures, has made a successful career out of exploiting popular film concepts.

The hero of this piece is Michael Beck (Megaforce) as the Mel Gibson stand in. Beck, who was underwhelming in films like "Xanadu," is not impressive here either. Mel Gibson's rugged underplaying may seem easy to imitate, but Beck's performance in this film proves, once again, that it's not.

The bad Colonel, is played by James Wainwright (The Survivors) an actor who showed promise in the early and mid-seventies. Here, he looks and acts as if in a trance, perhaps realizing at the time that this film would give no boost to his flagging career.

There are some occasional good shots during the film, courtesy of Director of Photography, Chris Menges, as when Beck brings Annie McEnroe back to his cabin, after she leaves the pioneer settlement. The "natural" light streaming in the window of his cozy cabin makes for a great shot. Such shots, however, are few and far between.

The low quality of the dialogue in the film is best exemplified in the "Shane" like farewell scene at the end of the film: McEnroe says, "I really thought you'd stay." Beck says, "I'll be back." McEnroe says,"When?" Beck says, "Sometime." This dialogue plays exactly as it reads: Flat, flat, flat!

The Music, Composed and Conducted by Kevin Peek, starts off well enough. Too soon, however, it degenerates into twangy, Western-flavored rock and roll, particularly when Beck takes one of his all to frequent motorcycle runs across the desert.

I have no favorite scene in this cheesy, Sci-Fi rip-off.

WARLORDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY will be watchable only for the most easily amused, (or least easily bored), Sci-Fi, action-adventure fans. Others, in the mood for this kind of material, should simply watch "The Road Warrior." Max will thank you!

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