Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Leofwine_draca A movie released during the imminent downfall of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, which of course would become Full Moon Pictures instead. Fans of films from these studios will no doubt pleasantly enjoy this silly little science fiction flick with an interesting premise, although those who are fans of less obscure fare will find their patience tested by the poor acting and low budget, two factors which combine to make this a less than satisfying experience.Personally, I enjoyed it, in a kind of lame-brained way. I've always been a fan of post-apocalyptic movies and this one starts off well, with a roving view of a barren wasteland. Sadly, this film quickly degenerates into lots of scenes of people shouting at each other and far too much talk, when reliance on the action instead would have made it a much easier experience. The action is this film's highlight, and wonderful it is. Imagine the television series TRANSFORMERS. Imagine those robots increasing in size a thousand times and fighting each other. The image you have in your mind is ROBOT JOX in a nutshell. Forget human gladiators, the fighters of the future are gigantic robots who shoot lasers at each other and smash bits from their enemies.The robots themselves are a mixture of convincing models and some truly excellent stop-motion animation, which reaffirms my opinion that stop-motion is the greatest special effect ever invented. It even made a totally bad film like THE STRANGENESS watchable. Watching these two robots striding around is truly a cool sight, and it's just a shame that these moments occupy so little of the film (it runs at 80 minutes as it is, and an hour of that time is made up of chit-chat). If this film had been made today with CGI effects replacing the robots, it just wouldn't have been the same.For the rest of the film, we have some boring plot about honour, justice, and sabotage. To be honest I couldn't care less. A group of actors and actresses you've never seen before emote a lot to little effect. The appearance of Jeffrey Combs ignited a spark of hope in my mind, but sadly he's in it for seconds only, his face obscured by a hood as it is. Gary Graham is the gurning, idiotic hero who looks like a teenager. Anne-Marie Johnson is the irritating female lead. Everyone else in the cast is merely continuing their career in low-budget, straight-to-video trash. I noticed one old woman cast member popping up from a comic kid's TV series broadcast ten years ago in the UK.So, basically, what I'm saying is that aside from the few robot fights, this is pretty worthless stuff. There are a few okayish fist fights, a fun training scene where the participants have to climb up a giant, shaking metal frame, but not much else in the way of excitement. Unless bad acting does something for you that is. The violence is kept to a minimum although nudity does pop up here and there (the film still managed to scrape in with a PG rating in America; on our shores, the censors saw fit to rate it 15). ROBOT JOX is a wasted opportunity with a fun idea behind it, only worthwhile for viewers with very high tolerance levels.

ironhorse_iv Before there was Pacific Rim, Real Steel, Power Rangers, and others. There was Robot Jox. This sci-fiction fighting robot concept has two federations fighting over territory using giant mechs in a post- apocalyptic world. The two federations are the Russian Confederation & the Western Market after fifthly year after a nuclear holocaust between USSR & USA, open war is forbidden by the surviving two nations. To resolve conflicts, the Market and Confederation hold gladiator-style matches between giant robots, piloted by "robot jox". The most successful powerful robot jox Market has is Achilles (Gary Graham) whom supported by robot designer "Doc" Matsumoto (Danny Kamekona), a walking, talking Japanese stereotype. Talking about stereotypes, there is the strategist redneck, Tex Conway (Michael Alldredge). Tex is the only jock to win all ten of his contract fights, and Achilles is closing in his record. Achilles' tenth fight will be against his bitter rival, the Confederation's Alexander (Paul Koslo) in a desert land. The desert land was created when the nuclear war wasted the ozone layer, causing deserts and drought to pop out. Without much trees to give oxygen, outside the cities, people either have to wear protective clothing or stay under panels. Those rich enough are able to watch the fight in roof bleachers. Front row tickets to see a giant robot death match with stray missiles and lasers. What could possibly go wrong? During the battle, Achilles attempts to intercept a wayward projectile launched by Alexander, and his robot collapses on top of the bleachers full of spectators, ending the fight. This is where, there is two version of the film comes in. After Achilles' robot falls on the spectators, there are more shots of both Achilles' bloody face and of the dead bodies in the stands. The Motion Picture Association of America film rating system database indicates that Robot Jox was originally rated PG–13, but trimmed to obtain PG. In the PG version, these shots were cut. In a post-match conference, the referees decide that the match is inconclusive and schedule a rematch. Achilles, shaken by the accident and the deaths of the spectators, insists the fight was his contractual tenth match and retires, much to the disapproval of his fans. A group of genetically engineered "gen jox" also known by their slang name 'tubies' are breed just to fight. Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson) a gen jox is chosen to replace Achilles. Concerned that she may not win, Achilles agrees to fight Alexander again, which infuriates Athena trying to seek glory. I don't know if this is cause by him having a thing for Athena or just the fact he realizes that a female genetically engineered athlete, Athena, will replace him, and he might be a sexism pig. He just goes ahead and steals the spot light, and take over when Athena is quickly defeated. Without giving too much away, the movie is interested with pseudo-science terms, there seem be a bit of racism conflict between tubies and normal humans. I would love to see more of that, but the ending leaves a bad taste in audience. It's ends when things are not clearly solves and a very cheesy ending with both sides agreeing to not fight each other after what it seems like them nearly killing each other for minutes. The film is supposed to be a science fiction adaptation of the Iliad, but after watching this movie, it is clears it is not. The film seems to be a bit of rip-off of the Battle Tech series from the 1980's. I do like seeing good old fashion stop motion and animatronics. While, it is outdated, it's was pretty good at the time. Check it out if you're a fan of fighting robots with your own risk. While it's a good B-list movie, I would rather play Rock 'n Sock Robots than watch the movie multiply times.

merklekranz Take a trip down memory lane without the now overused C.G.I. The stop motion robots may seem crude, but their crunching and bashing is more believable than the cartoon-like computer generated images. Think of "Robot Jox" as sort of a cross between professional wrestling, and "Rockem Sockem Robots". The idea of settling wars with giant robot battles is a good one, and the rivalry between genetically engineered fighters and normal men is interesting. There is even an attempt at character development, as relates to the major combatants. So what you get is a sci-fi storyline that works, along with the battle visuals, which are totally acceptable for what they are. - MERK

Coventry If you're going to make a cheap and cheesy post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi flick, set fifty years after a devastating nuclear war and revolving on political disputes being resolved through giant robotic fights, then you better do it right and make sure it's completely 100% over-the-top and absurd. This is what I missed in "Robot Jox", actually. The idea is totally bonkers, but the film's elaboration and overall tone is rather weighty and even a bit dramatic. At least, that's how I interpreted it. I've seen enough post-nuclear popcorn flicks to know that they should feature lunatic supportive characters as well as flamboyant vehicles and absurd set pieces. This movie has two robots, … and that's it. Apparently Stuart Gordon meant for his film to be a lot more light- headed and clichéd, but ran into artistic differences with the scriptwriter who had ambitions for something a little more sophisticated. See, I don't get that. You're talking to Stuart Gordon here! The man directed two of the coolest 80's horror flicks, namely "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond". Let him do whatever the hell he wants; he probably knows best! The rudimentary idea of "Robot Jox" is downright awesome. I'm sure everyone remembers the tense finale of James Cameron's "Aliens", when Ripley battles the extraterrestrial monster from inside a gigantic mechanical device that mimics her movements? Well, "Robot Jox" pretty much copies that idea and turns it into a 90 minute movie. After WWIII, only the Western Union and Russian Confederation remained, but at least they're no longer sacrificing the lives of human beings in wars when they encounter a conflict. Whenever there's something at stake like, say, the state of Alaska, there's a showdown between two hi-tech equipped robots and their intensively trained jockeys or "jox". The last fight ended inconclusive, as one of the robots tripped over and crushed 300 spectators, but the American jockey refuses to replay the match. The organization wants to replace him with a genetic clone, but she might not be able to defeat the notorious Russian jockey Alexander. The story somehow wants us to have empathy for the slowly (very slowly, actually) developing romance Achilles and the cloned chick, but that's less than interesting. The best parts of the film include Paul Koslo as a mad- raving Russian deliberately crushing people with a robotic foot, and even that footage should have been crazier! Oh well, at least it's still much better than Michael Bay's version of "Transformers".