America 3000

this film works for me. i know it wont work for everybody, but it is worth a go, and it probably is more enjoyable if you've had a couple of drinks and are in a forgiving mood. this film works for me because it is made with verve, everybody (for better or for worse) appears to have really thrown themselves into this film, and they understand that this is not brain surgery, nor is it gone with the wind. there is barely any plot, but they do not allow this to make the film slow, it moves along and its own good pace until it reaches a totally pointless climax which matches up with the rest of the film and thus completes it. it isnt really a laugh out loud film, more like 80 minutes of smirking. right up there with conan for the top silly loin cloth films.

I don't know exactly what to make of this. It's pretty obvious that you're not supposed to take it seriously, yet for a comedy it has far too much mayhem and not enough laughs. It's all quite stupid, really, and you might be tempted to shut it off even before the opening credits have finished rolling. But it has at least one charming sequence (when the female leader discovers for the first time what a "man" is), and some of the final scenes, showing the aftermath of a devastating battle, with fields littered with corpses, have a surprising impact. Be warned, however, that the movie DOES feature a shaggy mutant called "Aargh The Awful"! (**)

This totally wacky post-apocalypse comedy lets the viewer know right away NOT to take it seriously, and it provides a lot of good-natured humour in what is basically a tale of war between the sexes. Feisty Amazonian babes rule the planet in the 31st century, keeping some men as slaves and others as "seeders", or sperm donors. One of the men is Korvis (studly Chuck Wagner), who stumbles onto some pretty big discoveries when he finds an underground bunker. He encourages his male buddies, including Gruss (William Wallace) to think differently about the roles played by men and women. He also finds out how much fun it is to play prez-ee-dent.

The nutty dialogue is often hysterical; after a while you do pick up what certain words and phrases mean. This dialogue is delivered with the utmost sincerity by a great looking cast of guys and gals. The movie was filmed on location in Israel by those always reliable folk at the Cannon Group. It does lose its momentum, but regains it for an action packed finale. The actors and actresses are dressed sexily but never reveal anything, nor is the violence ever overly bloody. (This *is* rated PG-13.) Writer / director David Engelbach (who'd penned "Death Wish II" a few years previous) is having fun here, and that feeling is infectious. Some of the biggest laughs are delivered by a shaggy Bigfoot like character named Aargh the Awful (played by Steve Malovic); the final freeze frame involves Aargh and it's a howler.

The audience may find themselves in tears, or rolling their eyes, at the abundance of silliness here. It's very much the kind of thing you'd watch with beers and friends. It's also well worth watching for any Laurene Landon fan, as she looks absolutely fantastic as always. Also supplying eye candy are Galyn Gorg ("RoboCop 2") as Lynka and Camilla Sparv ("Downhill Racer") as Reya. Shaike Ophir is endearing as put upon character Lelz.

Accompanied by a quite appropriate cheese ball rock music score by Tony Berg, and effectively lit and photographed by David Gurfinkel, "America 3000" is overall just too hard to resist. It may not be "quality" stuff, but it sure as hell is entertaining.

Seven out of 10.

America 3000 is quite possibly the pinnacle of achievement in the post-apocalyptic genre. Yeah, right.

But, it's a silly film from a silly genre, so we can't be judgemental now, can we?

I especially liked the writers/producers/whoever the hell dreamed up the lousy script's attempts at futuristic 'slang' with words like "Nagy" and "Cold/Hard" meaning strange things.

See this movie. You will laugh.

And be sure to respect the "Prez-ee-dent", kids.

I won't write again what has been written by other reviewers, other than this is a very silly film, stuck somewhere between the uninentionally bad and the tongue in cheek. Every time I saw the radioactive mutant (a small-scale bigfoot that seemingly loves 80s rock music) I laughed my head off, and generally struggled to keep my face straight for an hour and a half. The acting, costumes, make-up, music contribute, to various extents, to the high level of silliness throughout the film. This is well-worth watching after a few drinks/jays. For those who like this, check out The Ice Pirates or Hell Comes to Frogtown. Both are in a similar vein, but not as as bad as America 3000.