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The impoverished industrial underground is a much bleaker post-apocalyptic setting than you’d expect from an otherwise campy premise. Well done. It’s additionally juxtaposed with a bizarre, hedonistic upper class. We’re also given Mad Max-y villains a la No Escape and Waterworld. Meaning: a set of over the top louts surrounded by the most token extras a couple of bucks and a sandwich can buy.
The costumes and ramshackle pseudo-tribal sets work too, but the makeup crew might’ve been watching too much Star Trek. The juggers are weathered, leathery-faced ruffians, but they can occasionally come across as undeveloped Klingons and/or pig faced lepers. If they had cigars, they might even be inclined to share with Steve McQueen.
I saw this years ago, but don’t remember much apart from loving it. It certainly appealed more to my teenage mind at the time, still riding that Mad Max II high. It’s a pretty fun movie that goes out of its way to be ‘badass,’ consequently subjecting itself to action clichés. I typically find this stuff groan-inducing in modern action flicks, but when it’s accompanied by 80s grit, violence, and Rutger Hauer, it can be worth a look. It may take itself a tad too seriously though, and the extended version does drag a bit.
Takeaways:
In downtrodden post-apocalyptic future, instrument of choice is accordion. Oompah=brutality.
The juggers engage in harsh battle, not just whacking each other with maniacally devised weapons, but also hurling malicious trash talk at each other, such as “I’m gonna hurt your leg.” Clearly not a movie for kids.
Rutger Hauer’s pastimes seem to include picking scabs, studying American Gladiator footage, and standing in shadows while watching his teammates fornicate.
Wrestlers get cauliflower ears, juggers get cauliflower foreheads.
This man’s right eyelid has just embarked on a tumultuous facial migration, bravely going where no un-melted eyelid has gone before:
Side note: This is popularly known as The Blood of Heroes, but the version I reviewed was technically the extended one called Salute of the Jugger.
The Blood of Heroes (1989)
We’ve all wondered what it’d be like to see Mad Max play violent ring toss-joust-gong-lasso-rugby with an animal skull. Apparently, this movie actually incited a now legitimate sport… yep.The impoverished industrial underground is a much bleaker post-apocalyptic setting than you’d expect from an otherwise campy premise. Well done. It’s additionally juxtaposed with a bizarre, hedonistic upper class. We’re also given Mad Max-y villains a la No Escape and Waterworld. Meaning: a set of over the top louts surrounded by the most token extras a couple of bucks and a sandwich can buy.
The costumes and ramshackle pseudo-tribal sets work too, but the makeup crew might’ve been watching too much Star Trek. The juggers are weathered, leathery-faced ruffians, but they can occasionally come across as undeveloped Klingons and/or pig faced lepers. If they had cigars, they might even be inclined to share with Steve McQueen.
I saw this years ago, but don’t remember much apart from loving it. It certainly appealed more to my teenage mind at the time, still riding that Mad Max II high. It’s a pretty fun movie that goes out of its way to be ‘badass,’ consequently subjecting itself to action clichés. I typically find this stuff groan-inducing in modern action flicks, but when it’s accompanied by 80s grit, violence, and Rutger Hauer, it can be worth a look. It may take itself a tad too seriously though, and the extended version does drag a bit.
Takeaways:
In downtrodden post-apocalyptic future, instrument of choice is accordion. Oompah=brutality.
The juggers engage in harsh battle, not just whacking each other with maniacally devised weapons, but also hurling malicious trash talk at each other, such as “I’m gonna hurt your leg.” Clearly not a movie for kids.
Rutger Hauer’s pastimes seem to include picking scabs, studying American Gladiator footage, and standing in shadows while watching his teammates fornicate.
Wrestlers get cauliflower ears, juggers get cauliflower foreheads.
This man’s right eyelid has just embarked on a tumultuous facial migration, bravely going where no un-melted eyelid has gone before:
Side note: This is popularly known as The Blood of Heroes, but the version I reviewed was technically the extended one called Salute of the Jugger.