Stylish but barely mediocre overall

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

When I heard that there was a movie based on one of my favourite book series, I had to see it. Sadly I have to say I needn't have bothered.I understand that in the land of low budget films, changes have to be made to stay under the salary cap. A few tweaks to certain events or the storyline which are relatively subtle are fine. But when a story is already set out, like that of Deathlands: Homeward Bound, these changes just lead to disappointment. Where was Doc, and that girl Lori Quint who was with them in the novel? Could they not afford to pay the actors? They didn't even mention the MAT-TRANS systems from the novels, but I won't dwindle on that. It's better unmentioned then completely changed, like Jak for instance. What was going through the screenplay writers head when he turned the albino youth into a raging mutant.I thought the acting was quite good, not how I imagined but that's understandable. Except for J.B, but that's probably because his character is so different to that of the novels.The sets were impressive and I was delighted to finally see a "wag" portrayed outside of literature.The soundtrack was great, fit the theme perfectly. The camera work however didn't live up to that standard, the angles and movements just didn't seem lively enough. Some of the effects were completely unnecessary, such as the chemical haze, which I don't believe was in the books at all, it just gave the film a dull and dreary feel. I actually enjoyed the intro more than any other part of this film.All in all it was mildly entertaining. It has that never meet your heroes mentality about it, although I remain hopeful that one day, a fully fledged well budgeted series based on Deathlands is made. I give it four out of ten.

In 2084, a nuclear war wasted Earth, making the sky red of chemicals and the former United States of America becomes Deathlands. Breeds of mutants and half-mutants share what was left on Earth with humans. The vile of "Front Royale" is ruled by a good man, but he is killed by his wife Lady Rachel Cawdor (Traci Lords), and his evil son Harvey Cawdor kills one of his brothers and blinds one eyes of his fifteen years old brother Ryan, who escapes. Twenty years later, the one-eyed leader Ryan Cawdor (Vincent Spano) returns to "Front Royale" with his girlfriend and half-mutant Krysty Worth (Jenya Lano), his human friend and specialist in weapons JB Dix (Cliff Saunders) and the teenage mutant Jak Laurent (Nathan Carter) to face his brother and his stepmother."Deathlands" is another entertaining post-apocalyptic story à la "Mad Max" and probably a pilot of a show. In spite of the bad reviews, I found this low-budget movie very reasonable and in the end I liked it. The lead character Ryan Cawdor recalls Snake Plissken, from "Escape from New York" and "Escape from L.A" and the red-haired Jenya Lano is very gorgeous. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Deathlands – Terra em Fogo"("Deathlands – Earth on Fire")

Unfortunately, this film doesn't sink to the level of truly horrendous, which would have made it much more enjoyable. The characters aspire to be cardboard cutouts but don't rate quite that high. The occasional scenery chewing actually comes as a relief. The dialogue could have been generated by a word processor set to "bland". The kingdom, or "ville", being fought over resembles an abandoned shoe factory. The henchmen, or secman as they are known, couldn't put a beat down on a sack of kittens. One of the heroes, the Armorer, looks like an accountant going to a Halloween party dressed an Indiana Jones, and is about as dangerous.One of the only barely original touches is to kill the sound whenever there is an explosion or action sequence. After discovering I hadn't accidentally muted my TV this was interesting for 5 seconds or so, then just became annoying. The ending credits were probably the best done part of the movie.All in all, go to your local community theater instead of watching this. It'll be time much better spent. I just don't understand how movies like this get made.

It wasn't that bad and it wasn't that good either. I rated it a 5. I was curious to see what Traci Lords was looking like these days. It was a disappointment in that her role is relatively minor.