Firebird 2015 AD

I never heard about this obscure piece of apocalyptic Sci-Fi trash before, until I watched a few clips and fragments in a documentary called "The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made", and it instantly looked like something worth checking out. Well, just to safe you a lot of time and trouble: "Firebird 2015" is definitely NOT something that is worth checking out! Quite the contrary, it's a terrible film. Not so much because it says so in the aforementioned documentary but merely because it doesn't make a lick of sense and everything about it just plain stupid. In the year 2015, it's prohibited by order of the US Government to drive around in any type of oil-consuming vehicle. To supervise whether or not all citizens obey this unpopular law, the government founded the Department of Vehicular Control, who naturally cruise around on oil-consuming motorcycles. Their job is to hunt down the so-called "Burners", which is a common term for elderly guys living in the desert and racing around in Firebirds that use up copious gallons of gasoline. See, this could have been the plot of a potentially fantastic post- apocalyptic adventure in the vein of "Mad Max", but instead it became a really tedious, incoherent, unmemorable and extremely pointless Canadian exploitation effort. The film is a big fat piece of nothing, with chases that are lame and car stunts that are embarrassing. It even becomes worse when the script fully begins to focus on the developing love-story between the Burners' son and daughter instead of on the rebellion against the system. The portrayal of the year 2015 is weak and cheap- looking. If you seek thrills and exhilarating vehicle action, you better stick to the original road movie "Mad Max" or one of the numerous wacky (Italian) rip-offs, like "The Atlantis Interceptors", "The New Barbarians" and "Survival Zone".

Firebird 2015 A.D. is meant to be a futuristic yarn about a period in which cars are illegal and the government sends out hit men to blow up the cars that are still being illegally operated. Sounds like a decent premise but what really sinks this movie is the incredibly low budget. The whole thing was shot outdoors in the woods and in the country (which don't cost anything to rent of course) What's worse, this film only has about ten characters or so with speaking parts in the whole movie! It's like watching a TV western from the 1950s. The special effects are in short supply and pretty laughable on their own. Firebird 2015 AD at least is good for some unintentional laughs. If you look closely at the actors, you can clearly see the discomfort on their faces. Who can blame them?

I love Darren McGavin, but I couldn't make it past the first twenty minutes of this film--and that included a lot of fast-forwarding past the tedious driving scenes. Boring premise, cheesy dialog, and pacing that made me rather watch my clock's hour hand move. And come on--if the hero is going to restore some classic automobile, why would he ever waste his time and effort on a crappy Firebird?!

I literally threw away the videotape when I was done. Lucky for me that it was a gift from a friend (who also saw no reason to hang on to it). If you're looking for a silly high-speed movie, watch Smokey and the Bandit or any Steve McQueen movie. There's no reason to waste time with this drek.

In 2015 AD there is a law against car ownership, which creates conflict.

In the 70s I was a fan of McGavin in Kolchak The Night Stalker and the actor has not changed much since that series so it is a struggle not to think of this as - Kolchak in 2015 AD.

However, this is a flawed flick as just too much screen time is given to a pointless plot about a young couple falling for each other.

Yes, the cars are good, the filming locations are wonderful, but this needed about 30 minutes edited out of it.

There is only one way to watch this movie - late at night when you are winding down and will put up with anything.

Well... This was an awesome movie when I first saw it. Unfortunately that was when I was six years old. So, if you're a six year old looking for a taught sci-fi thriller then this is your movie. If you are an adult looking for a weird reverse-jingoistic slow paced film with a budget that hovers somewhere in the low hundreds then this is your film. This movie is easily categorized as being hard to find for a reason. And despite all this, I want to see it again. On the upside it has a relatively decent quality cast, most of which appear to be mortified by having to take part. And as another poster mentioned, the batcave-style barn is pretty neat regardless.