Robot Jox (1990)

It is sometime in the future. In what's left of the world after WW3, the U.S. and communist Russia fight it out on a battlefield/arena with 40-foot tall robots (stop laughing, this is serious). In the head of each robot is a human operator. In the opening sequence, an evil Commie robot knocks down one of the American robots and stomps it's head, killing the human inside. The American team members are outraged, though it's "not against the rules." Don't remember seeing ROBOT JOX (aka Robojox) in the local drive-in? Maybe it's cause the Berlin Wall came down that year and the Soviet Union collapsed soon thereafter, making WW3 commie-ruskie movies less popular. I'm afraid it's a far cry from Yul Brynner as the killer robot in Westworld or Arnold the Barbarian as the Terminator. So pop up some cheese corn and watch this strait-to-video story of the future as it might have been. Maybe. Rated PG

By the way, Gary Graham stars in this as one of the robojox, Achilles. He played Detective Sikes in the Alien Nation TV-series, Capt. Ken Hetrick in the MANTIS (1994) TV-series, and Vulcan Ambassador Soval in the Star Trek "Enterprise" TV-series. Paul Koslo plays the evil Alexander, you may remember him from MonsterVision movies "Project Shadowchaser" and Xtro II: The Second Encounter, as well as playing the Mayor in the flop "Heaven's Gate" (oops). He also did a lot of TV including: The Incredible Hulk (2 different characters), Knightrider, Greatest American Hero, Mission Impossible (1972), Buck Rogers, (Battlestar) Galactica 80, The Flash (1990), and MacGyver. Most recently he played Terok in an episode of Stargate SG-1 (2000). Rounding out the top three stars is Anne-Marie Johnson as Athena. She played Mariah Cirrus in an ep of Babylon 5, was one of the voices in the 1994-1998 animated Spider-Man series, U.S. Representative Bobbi Latham in several eps of JAG, Lt. Alison Fawkes in "The Pretender" TV series, and a regular cast member of In Living Color (1993-1994). Her movies include Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Asteroid (1997), and Through the Fire (2002) with Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis

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Trivia (courtesy the Internet Movie Database)

* Empire Pictures went bankrupt during the film of this, its most expensive film ever. The film was bought by Epic Productions and finished and released nearly two full years after having been first started.
* Filmed in Italy
* Referenced in: The Incredibles (2004)
* Sequel: Robot Wars (1993)
* Tagline: "The ultimate killing machine. Part Man. Part Metal"

© Bill Laidlaw. All Rights Reserved. That's my 2½¢ worth

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