It is a consistent rule of post-apocalypse movies that whatever is in shortest supply is used most recklessly. Mad Max and The Road Warrior are all about the scarcity of gasoline, yet everyone spends all their time driving around and into one another. Raiders of the Sun continues in this tradition by having a shortage of gunpowder at the centre of its plot, yet everyone spends their time engaging in massive, unnecessary shootouts. There's no mention of a gasoline shortage, but we can assume there is one too, because in one scene a bunch of dudes dance around a family of dwarfs splashing tanks of it on them. This is the movie's chilling message: in a world without the internets, we would set fire to little people for our entertainment. The sequel will be about a dwarf shortage.
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| Even after the nuclear holocaust, dwarfs carry axes. That's racist. |
The opening narration actually suggests the world was getting better, under the organisation of good guys "The Alpha League". Unfortunately they're now in a state of civil war against a rebel faction led by this guy:
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| "I do not want things to get better. I want to blow things up and be a bad guy :(" - actual dialogue. |
You can tell he's the leader because he's the only one who put any effort into his outfit. In the post-apocalypse, it's clearly not tactical skill that grants leadership, but the size and extravagance of your shoulder pads. The only exception to this rule is the Lord Humungus, but that's because he was fucking huge.
In their quest to get more gunpowder to prevent the civil war from sort of awkwardly winding down, the main bad guy allies with another bad guy, whose name I also can't remember, who does nothing all day but half-assedly attempt to rape the women his minions bring him. He's the most laid-back rapist I've ever seen in a movie. When the Main Girl is brought before him she kicks him in the face and knocks out a tooth, and he just kind of chuckles and sends her away. He's like the rape equivalent of a Bond villain: in no hurry.
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| "Alas, poor molar. I knew it well" - not actual dialogue |
The problem with this movie is that it's more like GI Joe than Mad Max. There are too many pitched battles and not enough chases. There is, however, a cool scene where Main Girl's husband joins Bond Rapist's gang to rescue her, and has to undergo an "initiation" that involves swinging from ropes in a duel to the death with another of Bond Rapist's henchmen. Now, I'm no mathematician, but it strikes me that if everyone who joins his gang has to kill one of his guys, his gang is never going to get any bigger. Fortunately, this is set after a nuclear war so no one questions stupid shit like that.
Post-apocalypse checklist:
MOHAWKS: none.
SHOULDER PADS: only the main bad guy has them, but they're very large.
CUSTOM CARS: the spiky one from Wheels of Fire makes another appearance and is knocked off the cliff in the same way, probably because they reused the footage, and the dwarf family drive some kind of station wagon type effort with a bunch of crap piled on.
MUTANTS: none.
GOGGLES: Main Bad Guy has some that he perches on his military-style hat.
TOTAL: 3/5 - naht very post-apocalyptic.
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