Robot Jox (1989) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

50 years after a nuclear war, war has been outlawed and disputes between the two superpowers, The Market and The Confederation, are now settled in one on one combat using giant robots piloted by Robot Jox, humans trained from birth to be perfect soldiers. Market Robot Jock Achilles (Gary Graham) 10th and final fight in his contract ends in a draw when Confederation Robot Jock, Alexander (Paul Koslo) uses an illegal weapon that results in the deaths of several spectators. While the match ends in a draw, Achilles resigns having fulfilled his obligation of 10 fights. When a test tube bred Robot Jock is slated to take his place, Achilles suits up and tries to reclaim his honor by taking on Alexander in a rematch.The fourth feature film from director Stuart Gordon, Robot Jox marked a rather large departure for the man who'd made a name for himself with comedic slanted horror films like Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Dolls. Gordon was apparently inspired by the success of Transformers and wanted to do a movie about giant robots in live action after noticing most giant robot properties were animated. Gordon teamed with science fiction author, Joe Haldeman (The Forever War) to write the script after their success producing a stage adaptation of the Forever War and found themselves at odds over the tone. Haldeman, a veteran of the Vietnam war who often used his experiences to inspired his work wanted to take a more grounded approach to the material, while Gordon was more interested in making something more audience friendly which Haldeman charitably described as "Saturday Morning Cartoon stuff". The clash of ideas is definitely apparent on screen as there's definitely some over the top elements that feel at odds with considerably more serious stabs at the material (including subplots on genetic engineering and espionage, as well a subtext of soldiers being replacable pawns for political superpowers that isn't given the breathing room it needs). When the movie was released in 1990, the Bankruptcy of Empire pictures resulted in the film sitting on a shelf for a year with not only the cold war themes losing relevance, but Transformers was waning in popularity and giant robots wouldn't be in vogue for another 3 years until Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in 1993. Columbia acquired distribution rights and unceremoniously dumped the movie into theaters via their Triumph label while Home Alone and Dances with Wolves were dominating the box office and disappeared within a week. With that said, Robot Jox is an entertaining silly film that I just can't help but love.The movie is definitely a very cold war era film, with its two superpowers vying for control of various territories presented in a way that makes Rocky IV's approach to the Cold War look subtle by comparison. Paul Koslo's Alexander is basically the same character as Dolph Lundgren's Ivan Drago only instead of being playing as a stoned faced stoic he's played as a gleefully sneering sadist who loves destroyed his enemies. Gary Graham plays Achilles as a burnt out stiff who's grown weary of the gladitorial matches between the Market and the Confederation and it definitely has the fingerprints of Haldeman as that was often a trait the soldiers in The Forever War had being conscripts who were away from home and separated from their homes not only by distance but time dilation. It's not a bad performance at all, but the tone the movie strikes with its bright color pallet and silly Sci-Fi designs makes it feel strangely out of place in a world that looks not too dissimilar from one of Gerry Anderson's futuristic worlds. There's also a subplot involving a character named Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson) and she has a kind of sort rivalry/love interest relationship with Achilles that feels like a leftover remnant from what may have at one point been a bigger arc. Considering how often the script was re-written it wouldn't surprise me if there was a version where this character got a better pay off story-wise but as is she feels both confusing and unnecessary and makes you wonder why so much time was spent watching her train and interact with Achilles.The true star of the movie is definitely the Robots and the fighting sequences. The Robots are absolutely gorgeous in terms of not only their designs but also in the way they movie. There's real thought and care put into how these giant machines work with crazy weaponry, transforming abilities, even the ability to go into space (with strangely accurate science including a lack of sound during the fighting in orbit around the Earth). The stop motion effects to bring the Robots to life is simply incredible and definitely the main reason to watch this movie.Robot Jox is definitely silly in its execution and dated in its themes and subject matter, but it more than makes up for it with energy and enthusiasm as well as some really good special effects. It's a shame the movie didn't find an audience upon initial release, but it has gone on to develop a cult following and continues to be discovered and appreciated for both its strengths and its flaws.

Title: Robot Jox (1990) Director: Stuart Gordon Cast: Gary Graham, Anne Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo Review: Stuart Gordon who we usually associate with extremely gory horror films such as Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon and Castle Freak, took a small detour here and did a little sci-fi flick. I stress the word "little" since this is a very low budget flick, and there in lies its main weakness.The story takes place in the future. A world in which the great superpowers (that according to this movie are the United States and Russia) duke out their differences not by going on a full blown world war...but by fighting gladiator style battles with gigantic robots. Our hero Achilles must go up against the evil Russian robot fighter called Alexander. Lots of cheap stop motion animation ensues.Well, the idea is awesome I guess. The great nations settleling territorial disputes with giant robots? Interesting premise and one that could have been handled properly if the proper budget had been available. Unfortunately what could have been a fun movie ends up being an embarrassment for an otherwise great director.I as a kid loved this movie, and I guess if you want any enjoyment out of this movie, you'll have to revert back to little kid mode to have some fun with it. I showed this film to some of my friends and as the movie progressed my friends where like "what the hell is this piece of crap franco?" And I'm like well this movie is a sci-fi by one of my favorite directors Stuart Gordon?" But as the movie progressed into corny territory I almost felt like pressing stop and not having them go through that torture. I could go through it, cause I loved this film as a kid, and there's still a little nostalgia attached to watching it. But everyone else was just not going to get it.And I myself realized that the movie isn't really that good. First off. The movie is about giant robots kicking the hell out of each other. And in order to achieve this in a credible fashion you'd have to use some damn good special effects to make it work, expensive effects that would help us the audience suspend disbelief. But unfortunately this being a small scale movie, from a small scale company (Empire Pictures, which went bankrupt after making this film!)the effects only help us giggle and laugh at them. Heck even the sets and some of the wardrobe looks unfinished or half assed.OK granted, once you accept that you are watching a mixture of moderate stop animation and miniatures well you can sort of give in to the film and even enjoy the big robots kicking the hell out of each other. There are certain scenes when the robots are fighting that are kinda cool, and made me go "thats why I liked thid movie!" But every know and them, some crappy effect will take you right out of that protective little cocoon you were trying to hide in. And boom, your right back into realizing this film just doesn't live up to its premise.And heres another thing that sort of bothered me a bit about the movie. This movie is basically a movie for kids. You know, giant robots duking it out? Stop motion animation? Hello? But this movies dialogue had a lot of sexual innuendos and the violence gets a little bloody. So I kept asking myself is this a kids movie or not? After a while I just came to the conclusion that basically this was a kids movie with adult sensibilities, which really isn't a good mix.So for those of you who don't feel that certain naive childlike charm of watching two robots fighting each other and if you don't have a nostalgic connection to this movie (like I do) well Id suggest you steer clear away from this one. Gordons a great director, but this movie he made, just didn't do it for me. Well, at least not now that I'm a full grown adult.Rating: 2 out of 5