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Six-String Samurai (1998)
The opening text scroll details an alternate timeline wherein the Russkies ended up dropping the bomb in ’57, and have long since conquered America. Vegas became the West’s last respite, and The King was pronounced King. Following Elvis’ death, Vegas has descended into a pissing contest for a successor. Movie… please don’t screw up this premise.
In the opening scene, a sharply dressed man makes quick work of some baddies while the camera does its impression of a Mexican jumping bean. We’re immediately introduced to our two main protagonists: the suit sporting, sword brandishing, rockabilly guitartial artist……… and hoooly f*ck… THE. MOST. ANNOYING. G*DDAMN. CHILD. I’VE. EVER. SEEN. IN. A. MOVIE. His nonchalant screaming makes the ‘oh my God’ kid from Troll 2 enviable, and he moans more than a ward full of burn victims.
Given a presumably low-budget, the acting is understandably amateurish, and some of the players can’t really pull off the over the top Python-esque humor without going overboard. There are also more wavering close-ups than a 90s MTV show directed by a cocaine-fueled Terry Gilliam (… maybe a bit of an exaggeration). Moreover, it sounds like the star of the movie couldn’t pull off the low-pitched Snake Plissken voice at an adequate volume, so all of his dialogue is irritatingly dubbed and amplified a few decibels higher than it should be.
On the bright side, the film really has an awesomely fleshed out post-apocalyptic world. It seems like the developers of the later Fallout games had their eyes glued to this for reference, even though this has an even more bizarre dichotomy between the nuclear apocalypse, 50s pop culture adoration, and spaghetti western/martial arts movie satire. Additionally, the supporting characters are original, diverse, and easily the movie’s funniest quality. They include clean energy-powered spacemen, polka loving commies, a beefed up Cholo midget, mace-wielding bowlers (just try to guess what’s on the end of their maces), and heavy metal Death.
Yes. That is a leg.
The rockabilly soundtrack is pretty great, but it plays for about 95% of the movie. A little bit of breathing room wouldn’t have hurt. Unfortunately, the pervasive dubbing also gave the filmmakers the idea that no action scene should go without a slew of piped-in cartoon sound effects. Sometimes it seems the only thing drowning out the ever-present music and Looney Tunes samples is the kid’s incessant whining.
It’s not bad by any stretch; just disappointing. Given its absurd imagination, I wanted to like it so much more. The premise is obviously self-aware, and it does have a modicum of funny bits, but it’s just not as cool as it wants to be. The one-liners are mostly lame, and despite some fun characters and action scenes, there are too many groan-inducing irritations that drag the movie down. As contradictory as it is to the spirit of the movie, I think it would’ve been better if it was somewhat more serious, as the comedy seems to try way too hard. Nevertheless, this is still primo cult material.
The opening text scroll details an alternate timeline wherein the Russkies ended up dropping the bomb in ’57, and have long since conquered America. Vegas became the West’s last respite, and The King was pronounced King. Following Elvis’ death, Vegas has descended into a pissing contest for a successor. Movie… please don’t screw up this premise.
In the opening scene, a sharply dressed man makes quick work of some baddies while the camera does its impression of a Mexican jumping bean. We’re immediately introduced to our two main protagonists: the suit sporting, sword brandishing, rockabilly guitartial artist……… and hoooly f*ck… THE. MOST. ANNOYING. G*DDAMN. CHILD. I’VE. EVER. SEEN. IN. A. MOVIE. His nonchalant screaming makes the ‘oh my God’ kid from Troll 2 enviable, and he moans more than a ward full of burn victims.
Given a presumably low-budget, the acting is understandably amateurish, and some of the players can’t really pull off the over the top Python-esque humor without going overboard. There are also more wavering close-ups than a 90s MTV show directed by a cocaine-fueled Terry Gilliam (… maybe a bit of an exaggeration). Moreover, it sounds like the star of the movie couldn’t pull off the low-pitched Snake Plissken voice at an adequate volume, so all of his dialogue is irritatingly dubbed and amplified a few decibels higher than it should be.
On the bright side, the film really has an awesomely fleshed out post-apocalyptic world. It seems like the developers of the later Fallout games had their eyes glued to this for reference, even though this has an even more bizarre dichotomy between the nuclear apocalypse, 50s pop culture adoration, and spaghetti western/martial arts movie satire. Additionally, the supporting characters are original, diverse, and easily the movie’s funniest quality. They include clean energy-powered spacemen, polka loving commies, a beefed up Cholo midget, mace-wielding bowlers (just try to guess what’s on the end of their maces), and heavy metal Death.
Yes. That is a leg.
The rockabilly soundtrack is pretty great, but it plays for about 95% of the movie. A little bit of breathing room wouldn’t have hurt. Unfortunately, the pervasive dubbing also gave the filmmakers the idea that no action scene should go without a slew of piped-in cartoon sound effects. Sometimes it seems the only thing drowning out the ever-present music and Looney Tunes samples is the kid’s incessant whining.
It’s not bad by any stretch; just disappointing. Given its absurd imagination, I wanted to like it so much more. The premise is obviously self-aware, and it does have a modicum of funny bits, but it’s just not as cool as it wants to be. The one-liners are mostly lame, and despite some fun characters and action scenes, there are too many groan-inducing irritations that drag the movie down. As contradictory as it is to the spirit of the movie, I think it would’ve been better if it was somewhat more serious, as the comedy seems to try way too hard. Nevertheless, this is still primo cult material.