As cheap STAR WARS rip-offs go, this isn't bad at all, and at least manages to be consistently entertaining trash. Full of typical '80s special effects (running the gamut from poor rubber suits to poor computer effects), wooden acting, and a light plot which is basically an excuse for a series of action sequences, and you have the making of a good, if cheesy, time. As an added bonus, the film was made at the peak of the 3D craze and was, thus, filmed in 3D, so expect lots of blocky titles flying out of the screen and objects flying at the camera at every moment.The two stars of the show are a wooden Peter Strauss and an irritating Molly Ringwald, who share lots of light banter. Same old story...the pair initially hate each other but eventually grow to love one another. Like we haven't heard that one before. Strauss' character is a blatant copy of Han Solo, right down to the same cocky manner and clothing. Ringwald plays some kind of desert urchin who hooks up with Strauss as a guide and manages to put herself in all sorts of danger.The location shooting is nice, offering up a realistic-looking alien planet, although sadly the inhabitants are less than convincing. Things kick off with Strauss riding around in his dune buggy (did I mentioned MAD MAX as another influence?) then discovering a Viking longship flying down a railway line (?!). A laser fight immediately ensues, the first of a couple in the film, which are really quite impressive. Some poor extra gets it ("we have blood loss here...") and Strauss loses his female helper, who turns out to be an icky android who melts at the touch of a button.From then on, it's one thing after another, with Strauss pairing up with Ringwald and together meeting all kinds of monsters and strange characters. An incredibly young, bald Ernie Hudson wanders around in a space suit and drives a shoddy-looking bulldozer which belches black smoke into the planet's atmosphere (can't be doing much for their ozone layer). A group of amphibious Amazons (!) wander around in little clothing and try to capture our heroes in giant nets - and fail. A patently plastic-looking dragon (not so much a dragon as a cardboard head on a wooden pole) puts our befuddled hero into yet another dangerous situation, while some obese rubber-suited people provide lots of mirth. In another unexplained incident, mutant children lob Molotov cocktails at our heroes from the top of a cliff.After these amusing incidents, our characters eventually arrive at Overdog's castle. Overdog is a menacing (ridiculous name aside) character, a cyborg with a human face and gigantic pincer arms. He's played by genre staple Michael Ironside, although you wouldn't recognise him under all that makeup. He's devised a tricky maze where unwilling contestants must face dangers like pools of acid, fire, pits of spikes, and giant swinging circular saw blades while being pursued by a giant steamroller. Inevitably, Ringwald finds herself in the maze and is luckily able to conquer it before being captured by Overdog, who has a thing for women you see. At the end, action man Strauss saves the day by electrocuting the baddie and shooting lots of things/people. The entire place explodes in a huge display of pyrotechnics which was also a convenient way to use up any of the budget that may have been left over.So, as adventure films go, this isn't bad at all. That is, as long as you know what to expect - fans of decent, high budget fare may think otherwise. For me, a film with plentiful action, a sprinkling of violence, and all manner of weird costumes and effects definitely passes the time in an entertaining way.

Three beautiful women survive their ship's destruction on an escape shuttle. They land on a war-torn disease-plagued planet and are quickly captured. Scavenger Wolff (Peter Strauss) and his android Chalmers go on a rescue mission for the massive reward. Ruthless ruler Overdog (Michael Ironside) has taken the women to the Forbidden Zone. Niki (Molly Ringwald) is the last survivor of an Earth medical expedition. She joins Wolff as his guide. Competitor former comrade Sector Chief Washington (Ernie Hudson) turns partner.This is one of those B-movie Star Wars wannabe with a healthy dose of Mad Max and a temporary revival of 3-D during the early 80s. I have forgotten how much cheesy fun this movie has. I remember the vehicles but I honestly forgot about the hang-gliders. The movie has the fattest mutants and midgets as well. It is utterly full-on B-movie. I actually like the adorable Molly Ringwald as a loud-mouthed pixie. I would have liked Chalmers in the group but the android gets nuked extremely early. It is a shame since Chalmers seems to be set up early on to be a lead. Ironside and his get-up with his maze is ridiculous and fun. I do not recommend this movie unless one is in the mood to see silly camp.

The effects are not great, it must be said, but given the budget and the fact it was made in 3D; I'll forgive that. What it has in its favour is a half decent story and a cast that actually (for me anyway) make it work. I must say I love the performance of the, quite young, Molly Ringwald as Niki; I thought she was great! I also thought Peter Strauss did a decent job as Wolff; yes, he borrows heavily from Harrison Ford as Haan Solo, but (again) I can forgive that. Other noteworthy performances came from; Ernie Hudson as Washington, Andrea Marcovicci as Chalmers and Michael Ironside as Overdog.A film that is not available on DVD here in the UK (much to my dismay), I catch it almost every time it makes it to the TV screens. As I've already said, the production is not the best, but (for me) the story and the performances hold it together. Yes, it does try a little too hard in places and some of the dialogue is a little strange, but I'd still rather watch this than 'The Phantom Menace' any day! If you haven't seen it I urge you to give it a go… If you have (& didn't like it)… Give it another chance, it grows on you!... RECOMMENDED.My score: 8.0/10IMDb Score: 4.8/10 (based on 2,419 votes at the time of going to press).MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 20/100 (based on 5 reviews counted at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 24/100 'Want to See' (based on 2,988 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

I saw this in July, 2008 for the first time and was surprised by the amount of mechanical devices and vehicles built for this one. And the attention to detail is higher than many modern productions.A funny thing about making movies in 1983 is your choice of either using miniature models or constructing full scale behemoths. This movie goes for the latter option, which is one of its strengths, almost everything you see is right there and not some blue screened effect or shoddy computer graphics. This investment carries very well still today some 25 years later. It is like watching Road Warrior with all of the bikes, cars and trains and it all looks authentic because its actually there. Speaking of Road Warrior, it must be said that Spacehunter has an apparent look and feel of a post-apocalyptic desert world similar to that of the Mad Max films.Striking are the interesting locations which are thrown at the viewer at a fast pace where new environments show up around every corner during their hunt in the forbidden zone. While short scenes in themselves, they come together nicely in creating the feel of a good adventure movie reminiscent of the Indiana Jones movies.Not sure of the budget here, many things look really nice, some space scenes are awful but very, very short. I've mentioned two series of other films in this review, don't expect to find either one of them in Spacehunter, rather expect to find elements of all of them combined.