Too many fans seem to be blown away

just watch it!

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

50 years after a nuclear war, the superpowers handle disputes in a different way. Giant robots fight one-on-one battles in official matches, each piloted by a man inside, known as robot jockeys. The contest for possession of Alaska will be fought by two of the best. Achilles for the USA, Opposing him is a Alexander, a ruthless Russian adversary who has killed his previous nine American opponents. With a traitor feeding the Russians secret weapons information and new, genetically- engineered jox looking to take his place, Achilles faces obstacles at every turn in the hardest battle of his life.....Like Arena, and Crash and Burn, the movie is cheaply made, badly acted, and choc full of bad effects. But its like a really bad accident, you cannot keep your eyes off the screen.The film is set in four locations, Achilles Room, the local bar, the holding wing for the robot, and the fighting arena. It ventures off to space once where the Russian can fire a rocket, and that's it.Its fun when the robots fight, as the actors don't really say anything, but other than that, its pretty pants. Almost like a really poor relation to Rocky IV, in its layout, its novelty soon wears off after a while, leaving you with a film that has nothing new to offer you.But it is the best film ever featuring a traitor in a Stetson jumping from a height and still screaming long after he landed and died....

The antagonism between Haldeman and the director is easily understood: one wanted a thoughtful conjecture about robots, faithfully transposed on screen; the other wanted mindless fun, and the director got his wish fulfilled, won. It was a clash of intentions and views. But regardless, the flick can very well be enjoyed for what it is, a yarn about robot jockeys. In terms of low—budget Sci—Fi, it's likable and exciting. Merely ordinary low—brow Sci—Fi; I used to search for such things. (Remember the Hauer Sci—Fi, the Van Damme Sci—Fi? Well, it's as mindless, and as likable.) Haldeman feels his chance was wasted. So give the director a break. It's not as if he had betrayed some matchless script; anyway, Haldeman's script can still be shot by another director. There are other two robot flicks from the early '90s, unrelated—but enjoyable as well.In his autobiography, 'Interim Report. An Autobiographical Ramble' (which every Sci—Fi fan should read), Haldeman wrote at length about the movie; he seems only moderately grudging. He enjoyed working with the leads—Graham and Mrs. Johnson.

There are a number of problems with this movie, but the bottom line is that it tried to do too much with too little. The base story is quite good, but the money just wasn't there to do the story justice. The non-existent budget really killed this movie. Stuart Gordon (the writer/director) has writing credit on 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids', which was a box office smash. However, that movie had some serious cash backing from Disney. Honestly, this is a good example of when to not make a movie. Had he waited a few more years, technology would have made it cheaper to do many of the effects. (not to mention he could have found a company with money.)

OK this movie had a terrible premise. Be serious according to the movie they had just been through an apocalyptic war yet they have money to buy huge robots and pit them against each other. Each country decides instead of investing into rebuilding their country they would rather fight with robots no one could afford. Here's a better idea, lets rely on our most inept resource,jocks, to fight our battles. Everyone says what about the director, what about him. He makes a good movie, he makes a bad movie. There is no reason to give this movie some credit just because of the director, maybe he was asleep? I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, because it was so cheesy and ridiculous I had to laugh. I actually had a good time watching it, well except for the cowboy mentor who turns out to be an assassin(trust me no one would see this guy as an assassin, so it is a surprise, however lame) What kind of training exercise is a jungle jim anyway. I was sad to see Mst3k had not done this one. I am giving a two star rating however because nothing could be as bad as "manos the hands of fate."The budget does not matter either, I have seen plenty of reasonable movies that had nothing for budgets like cube. The storyline was not even plausible and I have seen better acting in school plays. Surly they could have afforded an eleven year old from any middle school play.Anyway pick it up, it is a fun movie to watch.