Protraph Lack of good storyline.

YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Witchfinder General 666 Ripping off popular American films and making cheaper, sleazier, gorier, more exploitative and violent cash-ins was very popular among some Italian filmmakers in the late 70s and 80s, and the results were often vastly entertaining. And while Sergio Martino "2019 - Dopo La Caduta Di New York" aka. "2019 - After the Fall of New York" of 1983 is not the only Italian Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi film that was not only obviously inspired by, but shamelessly rips off John Carpenter's "Escape from New York", it is one of the most entertaining and violent and simply bad-ass ones. Some people seem to be bothered by films of this kind copying American classics. And I won't deny that this film does so very obviously. What these people seem to forget is that many American cult-cinema genres were clearly inspired by typically Italian genres. This film, "2019 - After The Fall of New York", is criticized for ripping off Carpenter's "Escape From New York". Carpenter is most famous for factually creating the Slasher-genre with "Halloween" (1978), which was strongly influenced by the (superior) Italian Giallo, a genre of which director Sergio Martino is one of the supreme masters. Particularly Martino's film "I Corpi Presentano Tracce De La Violenzia Carnale" aka. "Torso" (1973) was a very obvious influence for the Slasher genre; yet I have never heard anyone bitching about how Slasher films 'rip off' Martino's films. Thus much for those who can't stop whining about "2019" ripping off a Classic.As a Giallo-fan, I will always admire Sergio Martino most for masterpieces like "Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key" (1972), "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1971) or "Torso" (1973), but, even when he operates outside the Giallo/Horror genre, Martino delivers, as proved by films like his violent latter-day Spaghetti Western "Mannaja" (1978), or this highly entertaining film. While "2019" is by no means a stroke of genius, and not nearly one of Martino's most memorable films, it definitely ranks among the better Post-Apocalyptic Italian Sci-Fi/Action flicks from the early 80s.2019: A nuclear war has extinguished a large part of the world's population and left the surviving women infertile. In fifteen years, no baby has been born. The winning party, a European/Asian/African federation called Eurax have proclaimed themselves the winners, whereas its enemies from the Pan-American Confederacy keep operating secretly from Alaska. Both parties are keen on finding fertile women in order to rescue mankind from its doom. When a fertile woman is spotted in New York, Parsifal, a tough and solitary race-driver and drifter, is sent by the Confederacy in order to recover her. The former American Metropolis, however, has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland reigned by the occupying Eurax and violent gangs, and once one is in there, it is impossible to get out... As admitted above, the similarities to "Escape From New York" are numerous (even the hero looks like Kurt Russell as Snake)and it also rips off other films such as the first two "Mad Max" films, but, as long as one isn't bothered by that, "2019" is a very cool little flick of its own right. As usual for Italian Exploitation rip-offs, this is quite a bit gorier and nastier than "Escape from NY" and includes some very gory scenes. Contrary to my expectations, there was hardly any sex or nudity, however. The post-apocalyptic scenario is done with style, and the action sequences are very well-done. My fellow Italian exploitation fans will be glad to see cult-actor George Eastman in a supporting role. Overall, "2019 - After the Fall of New York" is certainly no must-see, but it is definitely fun, and especially recommended to fans of Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Action.

Scarecrow-88 America, now a desolate wasteland from nuclear warfare that has left the remaining survivors of mankind infertile, yields two warring factions both seeking the answer for the plight of a dying race. The villains of this film are the Eurac corporation, experimenting on test subjects they pluck from the city of New York, hoping to find the answer to birthing a new nation on their own corrupt terms. Most of the Euracs dress like imitation Star Wars Storm Troopers, perhaps representing a Communist regime, setting up outposts and booby traps towards anyone getting in or out of New York. A desert racer, Parsifal(Michael Sopkiw, playing a more sympathetic version of Snake Plisskin, except donning a bandanna instead of an eye-patch), is taken to a top secret outpost in Alaska against his will and asked by the hidden President of the United States to seek out a fertile female housed somewhere within the ruins of a ravaged New York City, buried under rubble and filth. Parsifal once worked under his command in the Pan American Federation, and now the President hopes to start a new race on another world, not corrupted with radiation or war, Alpha Centuri, and promises Parsifal a seat on the ship heading off of Earth if he fulfills the mission by finding the young woman and getting her to them. Along with two assigned operatives to accompany him, a secret cyborg with a rag covering his robotic eye(..quite a wiz when using his stringed set of steel balls often knocking his foes out)and a hook-handed "human map"(..who lost his family to the evil Euracs and knows New York City better than just about anyone), Parsifal will attempt to infiltrate New York City, preferably the damaged Manhattan, to find the fertile woman. In his way are sewer crazies(whose head is a nutty Asian played by Hal Yamanouchi) who hunt rats as a food source, the prowling Eurac soldiers on horseback, and ape-men lead by the gargantuan Big Ape(George Eastman). Luckily Parcifal will find an ally in a dwarf named Shorty(Louis Ecclesia)who knows the location of the fertile woman, but also runs into trouble with the bald Eurac Commandant(Serge Feuillard)and his lieutenant Ania(Anna Kanakis). Parcifal also finds a love-interest in Giara(Valentine Monnier), thought, at first, to be the fertile woman sought found wandering with the sewer, rat hunting pack.Plucking ideas from multiple sci-actioners, this post-apocalyptic tale, from director Sergio Martino(..far removed from his 70's giallo heyday)moves along at a quickened pace, set to a cool rhythmic beat. Models are used for large shots of New York City and space ships. The outfits used to clothe the characters are mismatched scraps of this and that providing them with a hobo look(..or what I like to call, "junk-garb") while the Eurac officers often wear matching suits representing a type of totalitarian order dictating the kind of police state they're hoping to employ to the destroyed world(..which is perhaps why their purpose for gaining control over the fertile woman is essential). The heroes embark on their mission through flooded sewers, often containing red-eyed flesh-eating rats, bus-graveyards, and underground dwelling places for those with radiation burns, trying to hide from the Euracs. Good fun for non-discriminating viewers who accept the film's relatively low budget, burdened with rather cheap special effects, where the filmmakers try to bring to life an ambitious equivalent to films like "Escape from New York" and "Mad Max". There's no doubt where "2019" gets it's inspirations from..some scenes are directly aping near-exact moments from the aforementioned ESCAPE(..such as when Parsifal is stabbed in the leg, in practically the same spot as Snake Plisskin, or how both heroes face off with their foes, carrying a motley group of misfits).. but Martino knows how to add zing and zang to action scenes. The camera moves with the characters really well, taking off like a galloping horse during chases and hand-to-hand combats between our heroes and the Euracian forces. "Animal lovers" might take offense to the ways the sewer crazies hunt their rats. Only real problem I had was an abandoned plot resolution regarding Ania, who had taken control of the Euracian forces, yet you never see her again once she claims to take matters into her own hands regarding Parsifal.

Coventry Most people seem to go on and on complaining about how shamelessly this film imitates John Carpenter's "Escape from N.Y.". Well, duh…! Wasn't that the movie's sole mission? That's what clever Italian filmmakers did during the 1970's and 1980's! Whenever there was something new in Hollywood that hit big at the box-office, a bunch of Italian writers immediately began to work on scripts to cash in on these particular trends, only their movies were usually even more violent, sleazier and gorier than the milestones they were inspired by. Some of the best Italian (horror) movies are obvious rip-offs, like Fulci's "Zombi 2" and Deodato's "House on the Edge of the Park". Sergio Martino's "2019 - After the Fall of New York" also definitely ranks amongst the coolest, most unscrupulous movie-clones ever made! Carpenter's original is a terrific movie, but who's more eligible to come up with a dark, grim and graphically sadistic post-apocalyptic story then the Italian exploitation guys? "2019 – etc…" is a tremendously COOL movie and that pretty much summarizes it all. Once again, futuristic New York has turned into a dangerous wasteland where the few survivors of nuclear warfare feed on rats and get randomly executed for not volunteering as medical guinea pigs. Even worse here is that no children have been born in over 15 years and the entire human race is threatened with extinction. The outer New York federation sends the courageous race-car driver Parsifal to NY in order to bring back the last fertile woman on earth. Naturally, this won't be a pick nick trip, as he has to battle the evil "Euraks" and a troop of hairy circus freaks, led by "Big Ape" (a nice guest appearance by George Eastman). This movie certainly delivers loads of exhilarating action scenes, fabulous kitschy set pieces and a wide range of fascinating characters. The hero Parsifal is a likable Snake Plissken clone, with the exact same haircut and costume, only without the eye-patch (his sidekick wears one, though) and dry sense of humor. The supportive characters include Cyborgs, wild dwarfs and one gorgeous (albeit infertile) girl. The "human extinction" plot is reasonable ingenious and if you don't have problems with all the story lines that are "borrowed" from other cinema classics ("Mad Max", "Planet of the Apes", "The Omega Man",...), you're guaranteed to have great fun with this little-seen Italian cult gem.

Paul Andrews 2019-After the Fall of New York opens with a lengthy narration over extremely poor miniature models of an almost completely destroyed New York, and goes something like this "since the Nuclear Holocaust Twenty years have passed. The leader of the Eurac monarchy, the powerful Euro, Afro, Asian unity who pressed the fatal button claims to have won the conflict. But planet Earth has been reduced to a garbage strewn radioactive desert inhabited by humans devoid of all hope or future (a bit like it is now then?). Radiation could not have been worse, a few deformed creatures developed in the post war period then nothing. For nearly fifteen years now not one human child has been born. New York City, a huge pile of waste and rubble (a bit like it is now then?) is under the control of a Eurac military force, with the help of mercenary hunters are with deadly efficiency exterminating the locals and using the healthy ones for every conceivable kind of genetic experiment in a desperate attempt to find the key to survival to the continuation of the human race." This monologue explains things up to this point perfectly. Soon after this we are introduced to our hero, Parsifal (Micheal Sopkiw) who is an all round tough but fair sort of guy and just a likable kind of hero, you know the sort. He is kidnapped by a rival organisation to the Eurac, known as the Inter-American Confederation. He is flown to 'Alaska'. There Parsifal meets up with the federations President (Edmund Purdom) who offers him a deal. It appears that the only fertile woman left on the whole Earth is in New York. The federation needs her for the continuation of human life on several other planets in a galaxy called Alpha-Centuri that they are planning to travel to. The president promises Parsifal a seat on the spaceship if he brings the girl back safely. Either that or he dies now, not much of a choice really. For help Parsifal has two men, Bronx (Paolo Maria Scalondro as Vincent Scalondro) who is practically a living map of New York and he has a metal robotic hand. Parsifal also gets a guy called Ratchet (Romano Puppo as Roman Geer) who is the strongest man in the confederate, apparently anyway. They all gain entry to Manhattan and are attacked straight away by a gang called the 'Harlem Hunters'. On their travels they come across more gangs, a blonde woman named Giara (Valentine Monnier), a dwarf called Shorty (Louis Ecclesia), Big-Ape (Geaorge Eastman), an evil S/M leather clad Eurac babe Ania (Anna Kanakis) and a whole heap of trouble! Will Parisfal be able to find and recuse the girl and therefore save the entire human race from extinction? This Italian production was co-written and directed by the criminally underrated Sergio Martino under the pseudonym of Martin Dolman and I thought it was a good film that made the most out of it's obviously small budget, but Martino has made better. The script by Martino, Ernesto Gastaldi and Gabriel Rossini is very fast paced and quite entertaining even if it is rather silly at times. But I must admit I started to tire of it's slight repetitiveness after about the 40 odd minute mark. It just became Sopkiw and friends running through sewers and over piles of rubble occasionally stopping to have a fight with some Eurac guards who are under orders not to kill them so they never shoot or even try to fight back that much, and various gang members. The film became interesting again for the last 20 minutes when the main plot kicks back in and they find the last fertile girl on the planet and have to escape New York with her. I was disappointed by the ending which just leaves everything up in the air and left me somewhat dissatisfied. Martino's usual production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng does a good job with limited funds, the sets look quite good as do the locations if a little campy and cheap. The costumes look a bit silly at time though, a special mention goes to Anna Kanakis as the evil S/M babe who makes a great villianess and looks cool in her studded leather outfit! Even if she is very underused and just sort of disappears from the film and the viewer has no idea what happens to her, or the Eurac organisation as a whole. Martino's usual cinematographer is on board too, Giancarlo Ferrando does a fine and professional job generally speaking. The special effects are pretty poor but I've seen worse and are fun to watch on a 'bad' level. There's very little gore, but there are lots of fights with various types of weaponry. Also, for the animal lovers among you watch out as there are scenes of rats being chased and killed by being impaled with spiked poles. Martino directs the action scenes with pace and vitality, I especially liked the sequence where Sopkiw is attacked in a junk yard full of battered, wrecked and burnt out buses. Worth a watch for sure, but I found it a little dull after the fifth fight that looked exactly like the four that proceeded it. I'll sum up by saying that 2019-After the Fall of New York is good fun and should keep most Sci-Fi action/Euro exploitation rip-off fans entertained for an hour and a half without too much trouble.