This cheap Italian rip-off of THE TERMINATOR is better than most as it has a fairly complex storyline, fun acting and special effects, and more action than you would expect from a film of this type. Although it's very low budget, it's a lot of fun, although hardly anyone seems to have heard of it, and it's not in any of the reference books I have. There are three major chase sequences through the film, the first with Nero running barefoot and getting his feet ripped up (kind of like Bruce Willis in DIE HARD), the second a well-choreographed truck chase with a nice explosion at the end, and the final run from the TERMINATOR-inspired alien villain. All of these moments are exciting and there are a couple of gunfights and punch-ups involved too.The rest of the film usually has Nero travelling somewhere or talking to somebody, and these are the typical filler moments. I thought it was going to be pretty boring and at the start it was, but don't worry, it soon picks up into a fun cheapo film. The plot involves lots of government organisations and a buried spaceship which is pretty cool, and in the last twenty minutes the aliens make their long-overdue appearance, which is also a blessing. The 'alien terminator' is pretty funny, a guy with curly hair and a red shirt who nonchalantly walks down your local street carrying a machine gun! The makeup effects for when half his face is ripped off (just like in THE TERMINATOR) are, while low budget and crude in the extreme, imaginative, and I love the way his eyeball moved around with a whirring noise.With some brief topless women and cheap, synthesiser-like music added into the brew, this keeps the attention fairly well, helped by the performances of Franco Nero as the cool writer hero who spends most of the film running around (he looks a bit like Richard Dreyfuss in JAWS) and showing off his chest hair, like Burt Reynolds. George Kennedy has a small role as a chuckling villain and the rest of the cast are adequate, with the exception of the hilarious actor playing the terminator guy, who lifts his hands in a fighting style when he meets a bull! It's a riot. The only reason I wouldn't like this film was the atrocious sound quality and bad, jumpy, faded washed out picture, but that's hardly the film's fault is it? TOP LINE is a nice little picture which comes across as something of a minor gem. Watch it and see why.

The storyline is akin to hanging out with a drunk in Mexico. While you might want to respect the lore, to favor the new friend, in the end you know the story is full of crap, and holes. This is the experience of the movie: you hang around in the hope there is an ultimate payoff. The journey is not fun, as it is not stupid enough to be fun. It is more like watching Rockford Files on the cheap. If you want to hear the lizard-people's manifesto, zip to the end. Strange to me how the "advanced" races from space sweat slime and want to eat humans. Just can't see how they make advanced tech with clumsy talons, and appetites for sentient flesh.

This film's American title, ALIEN TERMINATOR, suggests that it would be set in outer space - but it's actually a jungle adventure for the best part of the duration! It's silly, cheesy and cheap (particularly the robot effects and the repellent make-up of the alien creature at the end) but oddly watchable.The cast, however, looks fairly uncomfortable: Franco Nero is amusing as a writer on the skids; William Berger's role is limited to the beginning and is quite brief; George Kennedy is hilariously out-of-place as an antiquarian with a silly German accent and an even sillier laugh - his death is therefore appropriately reminiscent of Dreyer's VAMPYR (1932)!; the three women with whom Nero is involved - among them Deborah Barrymore, not a member of the celebrated American family of that name but actually British, and the daughter of Roger Moore!! - are attractive but add very little to the proceedings (except for the twist ending involving Mary Stavin).A hilarious scene involves an unstoppable cyborg (in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger), belatedly introduced into the story, which gets into a scrape with a bull and is torn in half into the bargain! Also, the worldwide conspiracy theory brought up in the script - that aliens are already living among us and occupy important civil positions - is not only far-fetched but ludicrous! The film does have an eclectic electronic score (a feature of many a low-budget title from the 80s) which alternates between lounge music and disco-oriented vibes, not that this helps matters much...

This one´s quite original. Italians did not have enough money to make those big movies we all tend to like or at least watch. So they put cheap funny flics like this one together. There are Nazis, Extraterrestrials, Cyborgs, a Spanish gold treasure and of course there´s Franco Nero as the always drunk Soldier of Fortune, who has to pull it all off. As you can see, they didn´t let anything out. And, I think, it works. The FX are cheap but enjoyable, the pacing is fast (it has to be regarding the really dumb plot) and the acting is quite reliable (of course Franco Nero is great as ever and there´s also Hollywood veteran George Kennedy as a Nazi Villain). Director Nello Rossati did the also very enjoyable sequel Django Strikes Again before. A Movie you might check out, too.