Revolt of the Empire of the Apes

Mark Polonia's sequel to "Empire of the Apes" is, difficult to describe without breaking the rule of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

What's rough.

The masks seem to be from the same line I use for my monster ape in "Alien Vengeance: A Night Alone" and "Alien Vengeance II: Rogue Element".  The fact that I use similar masks should mean that I am completely accepting of them on screen.  I think part of the problem here is that they're on screen constantly and on creatures that speak lines.  Lots of lines.  They're lead characters, not just plodding monsters.  So, while I won't trash a movie for sub-par make-up or F/X (that would eliminate many of my favorite classics), I will say that you'll need to get over the obvious masks and suspend that disbelief for the entire movie.  A bit more difficult than ignoring a shortcoming that rears its ugly head in a shadowy scene every twenty minutes or so.  

The "inspiration"  "Revolt of the Empire of the Apes" draws from the better known "Planet of the Apes" franchise is obvious on the face on it.  However, if you're expecting a clever twist on that original franchise, you'll be disappointed.  This is straight forward man vs ape stuff.

The movie plods along a bit.  At just 67 minutes, being an action movie it should have felt like it was over before it started, but to be perfectly honest, I dozed off at one point and woke up just before it ended.  I rewound enough to make sure I didn't miss any devastatingly important plot devices (maybe I still did), but if I had guessed the length I would have put it closer to 80 or 90 minutes.

What works.

Let me get back to the masks.  They're rubbery and recognizable as store bought masks, but they are some of the best ones on the market.  If you watch the movie through the eyes of a viewer of the 60s, you may be able to get used them being characters enough in order to concentrate on the story.  The original "Planet of the Apes" make-up was ground breaking at the time, but even the sequels wound up using plain over the head masks for less important characters toward the end.

I thought the spaceships and weapons were pretty convincing.

Establishing shots and newscasts were used to create a "vast" Ape Empire for the story to take place in.  How convincing these devices were varied.  One shot of an orangutan guard was used quite a few times, but as a way of establishing location, it worked.  When cut into action that he seemed to be ignoring, it didn't.

The acting, to be honest, I could place in either category depending on the talent I'm talking about.  Like most independent movies of a near zero budget, it's a mixed bag of dedicated, capable professionals and well meaning aspiring actors.  At least most of the talent seemed to be distributed into the roles they were best suited for so that the very talented ones carried the heaviest weights.

I would have liked to have seen more of Tina Krause.

The opening scene sets up a pretty creepy atmosphere and there's a "reveal" that really isn't a big surprise, but it gives  you an idea of how the movie will go.

In Summary.

Don't watch this movie because you're expecting a blockbuster high budgeted movie like "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".  Honestly, the biggest problem this movie probably has is that it's not made for kids.  They might get a kick out of it.  One reviewer said of the original that it was like the Saturday morning shows he remembers from being a kid and I guess this is a good comparison as far as the production values are concerned.  If you're up for a more violent version of the 60s and 70s live action TV shows that covered Saturday morning airwaves decades ago, then you'll enjoy this. If you're looking for Hollywood polish and CG characters, scroll on by.

Razorback!

A gigantic, killer, horned pig.  I have always thought wart hogs and such were pretty scary looking.  And I've always wanted to see one as a monster on  movie.  Apparently I missed this masterpiece when I was a teenager and it's not an easy movie to catch.

This is a bit of a cheat because it's not streaming free and the budget is kind of big to consider it "indie".  In fact, according to the IMDB trivia section, even back in 1984, they spent $250,000 on a full sized animatronic pig.

But, the movie is definitely "niche". I managed to DVR it when it ran on TCM.  You can currently RENT it on Amazon.

"Razorback" is a mix of  three revenge stories and a giant monster movie.  Two men have reasons to want to kill the  titular creature and at least one of those men, Carl Winters, played by Gregory Harrison, also has some human villains to contend with, although he doesn't know it.  You know me, I like to let you guys get the plot from watching the movie, but those are the bones of it.  Giant pig, bad guys, heroes out for justice and/or revenge.

The cinematography is just amazing.  Another trivia tidbit refers to this movie as "Ozploitation".  Australia was very popular in the 80s, I think mostly thanks to "The Road Warrior".  Cinematographer, Dean Semler, set a very dark, desolate mood.  The landscape became a character and every shot was more impressive than the last.  The movie is worth watching for some of the truly beautifully shot scenes alone.

Russell Mulcahy didn't do a bad job at directing either.  Another reviewer stated that he felt the action sequences were a bit hard to follow, but if you're used to 70s and 80s monster movies, you're familiar with the standard "Monster Cam" POV shots, not showing the creature in full much, if ever, and all of the tricks a good director will use to cause viewers to build the monster in their minds.  I think it's an art that CG has largely killed.  Audiences just expect to see the monster now.  The whole thing, jumping and climbing and running and eating people. Mulcahy relied more on atmosphere and suggestion most of the movie.  Giving us glances here and there until things really get moving.  It's an art form all its own and done well here. We do get some nasty close ups of the Razorback and it's actually not bad looking.  Good by the standards of the day.

The creature F/X are on point, but we're given very little explanation as to where a pig the size of a Buick came from.  "Interbreeding" is mentioned and we're told that it's bristly hair makes it hard to shoot. (Really.)  Aside from that, little explanation is given and little is needed.  We know it's strong as a rhino and hard to kill. A proper monster.

The human villains would be comical if they weren't so violent.  That's not to say that comedy can't be dark.  In fact, there are one or two scary moments in the movie that definitely have a comical tilt.

I  recommend this one for fans of cinematography, mutated animals, gigantic monsters or Australia. 
It slows down now and then, but the atmosphere is relentless from about the 20 minute mark, keeping you on edge even when not much seems to be going on.

Robowar - A Review!

Wow.  If you had asked me last week if Reb Brown had ever been in a bad movie my answer would have been, "Of course", but I would have quickly followed that with, "...but they're always entertaining."  I'm not so sure I can say that now.

"Robowar" is another of those "blender" style mockbusters from the 80s, when VHS was still a thing and cable ran almost any competently produced movie (meaning it had audio and visual that basically matched up), especially late at night.  Explosions, gunfire, a "name" and nudity ( I don't recall any in this movie) also helped get movies to your TV sets.

Another thing producers liked to do back then to ensure an audience is something many still do now.  They would take well known movies and sort of mix them together.  "Robowar" is "Predator" if you take the alien hunter out and put the robot run amok in his place.  So, "Predator" mixed with "The Terminator", or "Robocop", maybe a little bit of "Chopping Mall" or "Deadly Friend".

A bit of disclosure here: I spent a good portion of this movie checking updates on my phone.  So, while that didn't give the deep plot a chance to truly take hold of me, it also speaks to the movie's ability to capture my attention at 3 AM.  Honestly, I was paying enough attention to notice how many scenes were nearly direct lifts from "Predator".  I mean, there are bound to be similarities between movies about an unstoppable hunter chasing soldiers through the jungle and I'm the first to admit that the concept alone isn't really enough to say that this is a rip-off, but to have one character stay behind to "buy the others time" while facing this unstoppable hunter with a blade (a machete instead of a huge knife) seems like they just took the original script there and changed the names...and maybe the weapon a bit.  Perhaps it was more an homage, like our stuffed dog in "Stopped Dead".

I would say to watch the movie and judge for yourself, but I don't feel good recommending this movie to anyone.  It has its moments, as any Reb Brown action movie does, but the picture quality was mostly poor on the stream I saw and the sound was "eh".  I suppose if you have Amazon Prime, have watched your way through everything else you want to see and keep your finger ready on the fat forward button  you can give about 25% of this movie a watch and have a good time.  Or, watch it back to back with "Predator" and marvel at the fact that at least now we acknowledge when a movie is being remade.