OK, so, here I ago again with another Michael Pare movie on DVD. (Actually, I watched two of them
but I'm really only going to discuss one in any detail.)
Saturday evening I watched
Solar Force (1994) aka
Lunarcop, and I have no idea why the two titles. I've seen the movie described as a
Mad Max rip-off, and even though I've never seen the
Mad Max movies, I expect that's accurate because the plot features guys in leather on motorcycles riding around a post-apocalyptic Earth. (In this case the bikes never seem to need refueling. I don't know what the situation is with the
Mad Max movies.)
You can call it a rip-off if you like, but, funny enough, this movie reminded me of
The Magnificent Seven (itself a Kurosawa rip-off but still one of the greatest Westerns ever made). While there is only one hero, Joe Brody (Pare), he helps the residents of a farming village defend themselves against the outlaw bikers, just like the guys in
The Magnificent Seven. And there is one scene that I really choose to call a salute or a homage to
Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of the bad guys is going after Brody, swinging something over his head with which to clobber our hero; Brody whips out his gun and shoots him, just like Indiana Jones with the Arab with the sword. I got a big smile out of that one.
By 1994 Pare had really muscled up, and whoever did the costumes really knew how to show him off, because for about half the movie, the only shirt he's wearing is a black tank-top (for the other half he's in a leather jacket). Actually, in general I thought the costumes were pretty good. I thought the sets and the cinematography were pretty good, too.
This ain't Shakespeare, but it's not intended to be. It's just a fun action flick. And like in any good Western, at the end, the hero rides off into the sunset. Well, in this case, it's into the rain, and he's on a motorcycle instead of a horse.
A peculiarity (besides the two titles): The text on the box art (is that the correct term?) names the heroine Xena, but her name is actually Thora.
Incidentally, the other Pare movie I watched (Sunday night), has, as far as I know, gone by three--count 'em--three titles:
Instant Justice, Madrid Connection, and
Marine Issue, the last being the title by which I bought the DVD.