Twenty years after a nuclear holocaust ravaged the Earth, the Euraks and the Pan American Confederacy continue the battle for supremacy. Mercenary Parsifal (Michael Sopkiw) is recruited by the Confederacy to try and locate the only fertile woman on Earth, hidden somewhere in the ruins of Manhattan. He is joined on his quest by warriors Bronx (Paolo Maria Scalondro) and Ratchet (Romano Puppo), pretty blonde Giara (Valentine Monnier), dwarf Shorty (Louis Ecclesia) and hulking half-man/half-monkey mutant Big Ape (George Eastman).One of many Italian post-apocalyptic action flicks to follow in the wake of Mad Max and Escape From New York, Sergio Martino's 2019: After The Fall Of New York is a wholly unoriginal, shoddily made, poorly acted crap-fest full of really badly choreographed action scenes, lousy special effects, manky props, amusing costumes, and seriously dumb characters. Opening with an unconvincing miniature model of nuked New York and ending with the launch of an equally cruddy model spacecraft, with all manner of cheap-jack nonsense packed in between, one might imagine the film to be hugely entertaining as a result, but Martino's uninspired direction and his cast's abysmal performances suck the life out of even the most silly of scenes.Possibly just about worth watching for the robot clown with a massive glowing eyeball on its head, Shorty's valiant death ("Bastaaaarrrds!"), Big Ape throwing his sword to decapitate several of his enemy, and the hilarious eye-gouging (seriously, how did he not see that coming?), but don't bank on it. 3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

If you are reading this, you probably are interested in post-apocalyptic movies and you probably already seen movies like Mad Max and Escape From New York. It's not a secret that this movie was inspired by those films, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Actually I think if you liked those films, you'll like this one too. Maybe it's not that good, but it has more gangs, more colorful characters and much more action sequences (mayebe even better action sequences). Since Mad Max have already showed us what the future is going to be like, this movie gives us an opportunity to travel around a post-apocalyptic wastelands to get to know better this kind of world and to experience all sorts of adventures. There's all sorts of different characters like cyborgs, lonely wasteland warriors, infected people and many others. Like I already have mentioned, this movie has a lot of great action. There's some great car-chase scenes, which were surprisingly well made and looked very exiting. Also there was lot's of fighting scenes, with some great acrobatic tricks and the fighters sometimes used strange looking weapons, which cosed lots of blood and some chopped-off limbs. Shoot-outs were great too, only there was too little of them. The acting (if you care about the acting) was good, actually there was lots of great actors in this film, though not many of them are known today. So if you are fan of post-apocalyptic movies, you just have to watch this one.

If it was popular in America, you can bet your life that there'll be at least one cheap Italian equivalent; and 2019: After the Fall of New York is, of course, the Spaghetti answer to John Carpenter's Sci-Fi action hit, Escape From New York. Like many Italian rip-offs, this one does it unashamedly; and just about every major plot point from Carpenter's film has managed to find its way into this one. We've got a mission into a New York that has fallen into the hands of the 'lower classes', a Kurt Russell look-alike, a climatic car chase and more; but it's all in good fun. It's actually a bit of surprise (and my main reason for watching) that this film was directed by the same man responsible for a number of Italy's best films; the great Sergio Martino, but I guess he was well paid by the end. As mentioned, the plot is almost identical to Escape From New York; only this time, the ultimate prize is the last fertile woman on Earth, which the 'New Confederacy' intends to regenerate the human race with. A noble cause, I'm sure you'll agree...This film features the first performance from Michael Sopkiw. His career was unfortunately very short, but given what I've seen here and in Massacre in Dinosaur Valley; he may well be on course for the title of Italy's most ridiculous actor. That being said, his looks and style suit this film very well, and it's actually a very good performance considering the type of movie. Sopkiw is joined by an array of unknown Italian actors, and a George Eastman; who makes a memorable special guest appearance as 'Big Ape'. 2019 has room for a number of over the top characters, and these provide the film with most of its plaudits. Aside from the obvious loss in quality between this and his more credible films, this also isn't the best directorial performance from Sergio Martino; as despite creating a bleak impression of the future, many of the action sequences are lethargic and the film plods along rather than moving swiftly. The final car chase is well ripped off, however. Overall, this film isn't brilliant and won't be turning up on any lists of great Italian films; but it's a decent Sci-Fi romp, and fans of cheap trash cinema will no doubt appreciate it.

Despite being a huge fan of cult and B-Movies and even though I really wanted and tried hard to enjoy this, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go against the general tide of opinion as regards this film.The ever likable Michael Sopkiw, who's career in B-movies was admittedly brief but so very fondly remembered, appears here as a sort of Mad Max/Snake Plissken type of guy who is coerced into rescuing the last fertile woman on earth from within the hell hole that has become Manhattan Island.Cue lots of fights, sludging through rat infested sewers, getting captured about every five minutes (!) a healthy splashing of gore and the appearance of perennial B-Movie fave big George Eastman as a simian character called 'Big Ape' and hey presto - you have what on paper at least sounds like a great movie.....On paper perhaps......To be fair, the movie isn't at all bad by any means and even boasts some pretty decent production values in fact, but sadly it just failed to enthral me.The biggest problem I had with this is that the action scenes are for the most part handled with very little flair. Added to this, the best scene in the entire movie (for me at least) was actually at the very beginning when our hero is shown banger racing in a heavily armoured car. Needless to say, after such an intro the remaining 80 or so minutes of the movie seemed pale in comparison.Still, as previously mentioned, the overall look of the film is very commendable indeed (bar one or two instances of very dodgy model work) and there's some great gross out moments (including one excellent head bashing scene!)I'm tempted to deduct another point from this film however, due to the all too common and sad trend of some Italian genre movies of the time that regretfully rears it's ugly head here - genuine animal cruelty/killing. In this case we are 'treated' to a display of some rats getting speared. Such a disgusting trend ostensibly stemmed from the cannibal themed movies of the same period as were pioneered by directors Umberto Lenzi and Ruggero Deodato - both of whom were more than capable of producing highly enjoyable films without having to resort to such repulsive, cheap shock tactics.Would you believe that I have actually spoken to people who have tried to justify such barbaric acts 'for the sake of art''?! I've also spoken to various other cretinous wretches who seem to be under the misguided impression that watching such acts of cruelty in films somehow makes them more 'macho' as it logically denotes that 'they can take anything' (!!!!)Still back to the film in question.....overall, whilst not unwatchable by any stretch of the imagination, After The Fall Of New York, for me, distinctly lacked enough intriguing scenes to raise it above the average mark.My advice is, if you're into the genre then watch it by all means, it does have a hefty fan base, however for much more enjoyment value, check out the far superior film it is copied - erm...I mean inspired from, Escape From New York.