Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn [1983]

Although a budgetary step up from his previous efforts (The Day Time Ended, End of the World, Parasite), this latest production from the prolific Charles Band seems just as aimless. The action is more or less non-stop, but the plot dawdles through its quest with a remarkable lack or urgency. The various spirited fights become as empty and tedious as the obvious borrowings from formula Westerns (drunken ex-Sheriff Rhodes steps in to help Dogen in a gunfight with a gang of varmints who have been beating up a one-eyed Indian) and the forays to an astral plane where burning bushes and bleeding trees are passed off as meaningful symbols. With or without its 3-D trickery, this is an imitation of an imitation (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone) of a film (Mad Max 2) that was highly derivative in the first place. Given that there is no mention of a metalstorm beyond the credits, it is hardly surprising that the script should go back on its promise of its subtitle by coming up with an ending in which Jared-Syn is not destroyed.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: Monthly Film Bulletin vol.51 no.602 [March 1984] p.80 [UK]

Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com