Raiders of the Sun

Brodie (Norton) is a warrior in a post-apocalyptic world. He works for the Alpha League, a democratic society trying to keep the madness and the roving bands of scavengers at bay. The leader of the bad guys, Clay (William Steis), is a traitor to the Alpha League cause. Since there is constant shooting between the factions, it is discovered that there is a shortage of gunpowder in this barren world, and whoever finds any will rule the wastelands. So the Alpha League sends Brodie in search of the now-precious material. Along the way, he falls in love with a native, mountain girl named Sierra (Lani Lobangco). The primitive society she comes from, of course, has a mine full of gunpowder. They use it for religious ceremonies. Oh, and most of the people in the mountain village are midgets. The baddies just want to plunder it all but now Brodie and his midget army must defend the mine. Meanwhile, the warrior Talbot (Blake Boyd) wants to get back to his wife Vera (Stenberg), but she's kidnapped by the baddies and jailed. Will they reunite? Will the good guys get the gunpowder? Why is this all happening...again? I'm not sure if it should be applauded or condemned that they were still making Mad Max (1979) knockoffs in the 90's. This Corman production left it in the capable hands of mainstay Cirio Santiago, and I suppose that's the wisest possible decision under the circumstances. He does a competent job, nothing great. If Richard Norton wasn't involved, this would be a real slog. He doesn't do a ton of martial arts in the film. It's different to see him with a beard. That's obviously a character choice, as you can't really shave after the apocalypse and you must protect your face.

The baddies, like in Karate Cop (1991), wear football equipment. There are some interesting antagonists this time around, such as Nick Nicholson from No Dead Heroes (1986), and characters such as Hog Head, Meat Ball and of course the duel between Talbot and Gonzo Gonzales (Ned Hourani) where they swing back and forth on ropes swiping at each other is, well, not memorable, but...something.

Yes, there is the constant shooting and blow-ups, and the standard post-apocalyptic stuff like wacky costumes and cars with weird things attached to them. And yes, it is pretty dumb. It doesn't add much to any of its post-nuke forbears. It holds your interest, only just barely. But it's not really meant as anything other than cheap entertainment, so you can't judge it that harshly.

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I've seen a number of low budget post-apocalypse movies, and the majority of them haven't been that good. I have also seen a number of movies directed by the prolific Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago, and the majority of them haven't been good. "Raiders of the Sun" is a Cirio H. Santiago post-apocalypse movie, and it's a bit better than average for both categories. The production values for the most part aren't bad, with sets and props that obviously took some time to build, and other attributes like dozens of extras. Also, some of the action sequences are fairly decent. However, the movie has some big problems. There isn't much of a story here, and even at just 80 minutes there is a lot of padding. Also, not much is given to flesh out Richard Norton's hero or the main bad guy. You shouldn't go out of your way to see this movie, but if you are finding it hard to find a better movie and this movie crosses your path, it'll help 80 minutes of your time pass by relatively painlessly.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The point of the movie is that there is a shortage of gunpowder in a futuristic nuclear waste land, however throughout the whole movie gunpowder is just shamelessly wasted. Mortar shells are used on helpless peasants, and each person is shot over 10 times. Also the sound and stunts are so off that people fall over dying before shots are even fired. The side love-story is also a complete joke. Also why is it that only football pads survive nuclear war. Not a single bulletproof vest exists in this movie. If you have the choice of killing yourself or watching this movie, killing yourself might be the better choice.

Bloodthirsty factions rule the barren earth. It's the 21st Century and a biological disaster has ruined the planet. Here, in a world where gunpowder is more valuable than gold, a few hundred survivors wage the final conflict for power and control. Yet among them rises a new warrior, destined to shape the aeons which will follow -- a man who stops at nothing to achieve his ends, and for whom courage is the only thing.

Goofball reworking of MAD MAX that seems strangely competent for Cirio Santiago, but it's still a mess. Instead of gasoline, warring factions battle for gunpowder. It's all highly watchable and relatively painless, and actually contains some lively characters. Who would have thought? It's still a big mess, though.....