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Robowar

Original title: Robowar - Robot da guerra
  • 1988
  • TV-14
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
4.4/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Robowar (1988)
A clone/mix of PREDATOR, RAMBO, and ROBOCOP gone nuts jungle flick with an international cast, exotic locale and good electronic music.
Play trailer2:40
1 Video
38 Photos
Jungle AdventureActionAdventureComedyHorrorSci-Fi

A special forces unit known as BAM is tasked with a mission: tracking down the rogue Omega-1 cyborg unit in a dense jungle, without being told their exact objective. Soon they find themselve... Read allA special forces unit known as BAM is tasked with a mission: tracking down the rogue Omega-1 cyborg unit in a dense jungle, without being told their exact objective. Soon they find themselves the hunted rather than the hunters.A special forces unit known as BAM is tasked with a mission: tracking down the rogue Omega-1 cyborg unit in a dense jungle, without being told their exact objective. Soon they find themselves the hunted rather than the hunters.

  • Director
    • Bruno Mattei
  • Writers
    • Claudio Fragasso
    • Rossella Drudi
  • Stars
    • Reb Brown
    • Catherine Hickland
    • Massimo Vanni
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.4/10
    1.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Bruno Mattei
    • Writers
      • Claudio Fragasso
      • Rossella Drudi
    • Stars
      • Reb Brown
      • Catherine Hickland
      • Massimo Vanni
    • 25User reviews
    • 45Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:40
    Trailer

    Photos38

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    + 32
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    Top cast12

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    Reb Brown
    Reb Brown
    • Maj. Marphy Black
    Catherine Hickland
    Catherine Hickland
    • Virgin
    Massimo Vanni
    Massimo Vanni
    • Pvt. Larry Guarino
    • (as Alex McBride)
    Romano Puppo
    Romano Puppo
    • Cpl. Neil Corey
    Claudio Fragasso
    Claudio Fragasso
    • The Hunter
    • (as Clyde Anderson)
    Luciano Pigozzi
    Luciano Pigozzi
      Max Laurel
      • Quang
      Jim Gaines
      • Sonny 'Blood' Peel
      John P. Dulaney
      • Arthur 'Papa Doc' Bray
      Mel Davidson
      • Mascher
      Curtis Carter
      • Boat Captain
      • (uncredited)
      Michael Welborn
      • Co-Pilot
      • (uncredited)
      • Director
        • Bruno Mattei
      • Writers
        • Claudio Fragasso
        • Rossella Drudi
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews25

      4.41.5K
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      Featured reviews

      5BA_Harrison

      Robo-predator.

      From Italian trash director Bruno Mattei (Hell of the Living Dead) and writer Claudio Fragasso (who gave us the legendary Troll 2), Robowar is a blatant cash-in on the success of Predator, with a touch of Robocop for good measure. Reb Brown stars as Major Murphy Black, leader of a group of mercenaries with very silly (nick)names (Diddy Bop, Killzone, Blood, Papa Doc, Quang) who are sent on a mission about which they have very few details, but which sees them coming face-to-visor with a high-tech renegade humanoid killer robot called Omega One.

      As the soldiers explore the jungle, encountering the charred corpses of victims of the malfunctioning machine, as well as groups of hostile guerrilla fighters, Mattei and Fragasso miss no opportunity to blatantly ape the aforementioned Schwarzenegger classic, with entire scenes and chunks of dialogue mimicked throughout (silliest moments: Brown throws his knife at an enemy and quips 'Don't move!', inadequately aping Arnie's 'Stick around' gag; Quang's utterly pointless sacrifice).

      As with many a Mattei film, there are plenty of unintentional laughs to be had at the sheer goofiness on display: Reb Brown, in his blue, sleeveless, cropped T-shirt, who looks ready for a pride parade; the supposedly cutting-edge Omega One, equipped with low resolution pixelated visual sensors and a garbled Speak and Spell voice-box that Stephen Hawking would laugh at; the group of marines wasting countless rounds of ammo shooting at the jungle while screaming; and Quang referring to himself in third person.

      Great film-making it most definitely isn't, but one can't help but be entertained just a little.
      Serpent-5

      Italian low-budget PREDATOR rip-off!

      Viewing this film on Japanese video, I can see why this film never made it to America. (I hear bootleg copies are now on sale, so be warned). There is some scenes that rip-off PREDATOR as Reb Brown and Catherine Hickland battle a mumbling robot that doesn't stop. Romano Puppo (aka Gus Stone) being in this film was a tip-off that this was another italian film. This is one of the last few films made before the italian action craze ended in the late 80's. It's a shame for Italy had lot to offer, but United States video companies stop picking them up.
      10udar55

      Another one of Mattei's xerox classics (two-for-one this time)!

      "Reb Brown stars in this action-packed adventure story of fighting men pitted against an unseen enemy, a force more powerful than the fiercest weapons. Recruited by the CIA to rescue hostages held by guerrilla fighters in a Central American country, Brown and his men encounter an enemy unimaginably more deadly than any on Earth - because the Omega One is not of this Earth!"

      What you have just read (save the references to Reb and Omega One) is the VHS plot synopsis of the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle PREDATOR (1987) because that is exactly what this Bruno Mattei flick rips off! Why waste my time cooking up a synopsis, right? A virtual scene-for- scene, shot-for-shot remake of the big budget sci-fi epic, ROBOWAR is bad. So bad that it is amazing. There are some liberties taken with the "source" material though. Reb Brown's top secret unit is named B.A.M. (Bad Assed Mutherfuckers). When they assault the village, Brown throws a smaller knife into a mercenary and then quips, "Hang around!" as opposed to Arnold's "Stick around." Oh yeah, and the group's native empath is named named Quang and of Filipino descent. Sadly, no "What's got Quang so spooked?" line. Mattei usually wouldn't settle for just one flick to rip off and throws us a curve ball by also copying 1987's other classic sci-fi flick, ROBOCOP. You see, Omega One turns out to be part man, part machine. Even funnier, the human chunks inside are Brown's old Nam buddy Woodrig. And, yes, Brown does say, "Woodrig, it's you!"
      6Aylmer

      completely devoid of imagination, but with lots of explosions and 80's music!

      Bruno Mattei must be the only person in on his own joke. I simply cannot understand how he made such a career out of such blatant ham-fisted ripoffs of famous Hollywood movies. Sure, Italy and The Philippines are known for cashing in on the latest trends - like with all the post-nuke flicks to flood out of both countries immediately after MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR. But no one until Mattei had the gall to just brazenly ape a popular movie scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot, line-by-line.

      ROBOWAR is an obvious remake of PREDATOR, only changed slightly to accommodate the total lack of budget. Here it's a government-engineered cyborg out destroying massive amounts of stock footage from DOUBLE TARGET and STRIKE COMMANDO. Thankfully, the bulk of the actual film is largely stock-footage-free though you'll recognize a lot of the locations from other Mattei/Fragasso Filipino films like the old hut from AFTER DEATH.

      The great cast (including Romano Puppo, Massimo Vanni, Jim Gaines, Max Laurel, etc.) actually turn in surprisingly good acting. Even star Reb Brown performs much better here than in his other Italo-Filipino outings. Not Olivier-quality of course, but COMPARATIVELY good. It's amazing too considering Mattei stages them either theatrically (everyone crammed into a master-shot) or shoots them shot-for-shot like scenes in PREDATOR. Good, yet idiotically staged action scenes come fast and furious but are interspersed with more than enough filler shots of Reb Brown and Co. wandering through the jungle.

      The only real kudos go for the pyrotechnic crew for plenty of lovable slow motion explosions, as well as Al Festa and his wonderfully cheesetastic 80's synthesizer spectacular score. While nothing as heinously 80's as AFTER DEATH and COP GAME, it's in a pretty similar league.

      People who like this film and get a kick out of line-by-line ripoffs should also seek out Mattei's not-quite-as-fun-but-still-hilarious SHOCKING DARK, which did the same thing with ALIENS and TERMINATOR.
      5ma-cortes

      Very average rip-off set in Philippines jungles with lots of noisy action , shootouts and explosion

      Standard and mediocre cash-in on known American films taking parts here and there , dealing with a platoon : Massimo Vani, Romano Puppo, Mel Davison , Max Laurel, Gaines led by Major Murphy : Reb Brown assigned to a dangerous mission in the lush jungle . Along the way they meet and save a prisoner woman : Catherine Hickland, who at the time married David Hasselhoff, and all of them take on a lethal cyborg with fateful results .

      This Robowar 1988 contains thrills , chills , gory scenes, jungle landscapes from Philippines , crossfire, violent deaths and lots of blown-up. It results to be an exploitative clone , rip-off of boxoffice successes , mixing scenes from expensive Rambo by George Pan Cosmatos with Stallone , Missing in action by Joseph Zito with Norris , Robocop by Paul Verhoveen with Weller and especially Predator by John McTiernan with Arnold . Played by an international cast and starring the hunk Reb Brown as one army man , giving a lousy performance and overacting, at times , as he's usually shouting and shooting . His best movie was Uncommon Valor , following several similar roles as brave heroes who frequent eliminate villain people such as : "Yor the Hunter from the future" , "Captain America" , "Captain America 2 death too soon" , "Death of a Soldier" , "Strike Commando" , "The Cage" , "The Firing Line" , "Street Hunter ," Last Fight to Hell", "Mercenary Fighters" , "The Cage 2 Arena of Death", and "Space Mutiny" . Support cast is formed by regular secondaries of the Italian B-movies, such as : Massimo Vanni , Romano Puppo , Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins , though the scenes of the latter were eventually deleted . And screenwriter Clyde Anderson or Claudio Fragasso himself who often used to play as cameos and brief interventions , in fact here performing the deadly Cyborg and he fainted at times , due to the real warm. All actors lost a lot of pounds when she worked on the film due to the sweaty , hot conditions of the Philippines jungles and extremely heat.

      It displays an atmospheric cinematography by Riccardo Grassetti , shot on exotic location in Pasanjan, Laguna , Philippines Islands. Catching and thrilling electronic musical score from Al Festa , composed by means of synthesizer . The motion picture was regularly directed by Bruno Mattei , assisted by his habitual collaborator Claudio Fragasso who also wrote the screenplay along with his wife Rosella Drudi . Bruno Mattei was a hack professional who directed a lot of cheap films in all kind of genres, such as : "Cage Women" , "Hell of the Living Dead" , "Seven Magnificent Gladiators" , "Rats" , "Strike Commando I", its sequel "Strike Commando II" and several others . Rating : 5/10 , a regular and disconcerting production that will appeal to Reb Brown fans .

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      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        The actor who played the cyborg fainted twice during the shooting of the film due to the extreme heat.
      • Goofs
        The closing credits switche Massimo Vanni with Jim Gaines.
      • Quotes

        [Murphy pins an enemy soldier to a wall with his knife]

        Maj. Murphy Black: Don't move.

      • Alternate versions
        While uncut in terms of violence, the German version is missing over four minutes of storytelling. The FSK-16 rated German version is even shorter by additional eight minutes to not only the story but also have almost all violent scenes shortened. Only in 2020 did Germany get this movie completely uncensored, though released unrated as the distributor didn't do a rating retesting with the FSK.
      • Connections
        Edited from Section d'assaut (1987)
      • Soundtracks
        Break It Up
        (1985)

        (From "Metallo Italia")

        Composed by Mark Rossetti

        Lyrics by Maurizio Cerantola

        Performed by Shout

        Lead Vocals by Maurizio Cerantola

        Mark Rossetti (Lead Guitar)

        Mario Zaccagnini (Bass Guitar)

        Massimo Marchione (Drums & Percussions)

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      FAQ13

      • How long is Robowar?Powered by Alexa

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • 1988 (Italy)
      • Countries of origin
        • Italy
        • Philippines
      • Languages
        • Tagalog
        • Filipino
        • Italian
        • English
      • Also known as
        • Robot de guerre
      • Filming locations
        • Pagsanjan, Laguna, Philippines
      • Production company
        • Flora Film
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Tech specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 32 minutes
      • Color
        • Color
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.85 : 1

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