Omega Doom (1996)

Director: Albert Pyun

Writers: Albert Pyun, Ed Naha

Composer: Anthony Riparetti

Starring: Rutger Hauer, Shannon Whirry, Norbert Weisser, Tina Cote, Anna Katarina, Jill Pierce, Simon Poland, Cynthia Ireland, Jahi J.J. Zuri, Early White

More info: IMDb & www.albertpyun.net

Tagline: Robots rule the Earth. Only one man can stop them.

Plot: After earth is taken over by an army of robots, the small number of humans left are forced into hiding. In the nuclear winter, only droids walk the face of the earth, in fear of the rumored human resurgence, and in search of a hidden cache of weapons. One robot, his evil circuits destroyed, enters a small town where a robot civil war is taking place. He tries to convince both sides to join forces in search of the weapons, all the while having a hidden agenda, and an affinity for one of the local droids.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

What you've basically got here is YOJIMBO (1961) (and then A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) which this film has a riff on the "apologize to my horse" bit) in a post-apocalyptic world with humanoid robots calling the shots...that is until badass motherfucker Rutger Hauer, I mean Omega Doom, walks into town.  Hauer is his usual action flick, soft talking badass schtick which works well for the picture.  Norbert Weisser as The Head was great and he added some much needed comic relief.  Most viewers, myself included, will take issue with the picture's pacing. It's in need of a good bit of tightening.  It's not that bad of a picture but editing it to pick up the pace would do wonders.  Just shaving off ten minutes by turning the screws a little could fix that, but then you wouldn't have a near-90 minute film which, for some damn reason, seems to be the magic number for most pictures.  Another annoyance was the constant sound of the droid's servo gears or whatnot.  It's all over the place.  You'd think this problem would have been fixed by then.  This isn't the 1930s for cryin' out loud.  It could have used a better score, one that wasn't filled with slow, undercurrent pop/rock guitar riffs.  There are cues that I really dug but the overall vibe didn't help the film's biggest offender, the pacing. It's one of the better minor films Rutger Hauer made and it's not as bad as the internets are want to tell you.  Fans of BLADE RUNNER (1982) will have some fun with some off-the-beaten-path references.