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Film Review - Crash and Burn (1990)
4 years ago
Crash and Burn is often said to be the sequel to Robot Jox. In practice, it's got nothing to do with Robot Jox other than Charles Band being involved, and the inclusion of a giant robot, but even that's questionable.
Set after an economic collapse, computers have been banned for personal use and the mega corporation Uni-com has basically replaced the government. Our main character is a Uni-com courier making a delivery to a power plant converted into a TV station. A therma storm strands people there over night, during which time one the characters is murdered.
At it's core, the film is a murder mystery, but the solution to the mystery is spoiled in the trailer. The giant robot only appears briefly at the end of the film and doesn't really do much.
About three quarters to two thirds of the way into the film, the killer is revealed to be a Uni-com synth, which leads to a terminator like scene where the characters are trying to escape a robot of inconsistent toughness. Sometimes it seems bullet proof, other times guns work fine. It's the same shotguns and ammo too, so it's not as if they're using some special gun.
As said, the giant robot only appears briefly at the end. The design is good, and the effects look great. Having the realness of a model, without the jerky movement of stop motion, or the obvious artefacts of 80s blue screen effects. Unfortunately, it basically acts as a glorified fork lift. A metal tower falls over for no reason, landing on a character who is standing around in the open for questionable reasons, and the giant robot is called in to move the metal tower. Then it stomps on the bad guy. The end.
Another problem is the film doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Certain things don't make a lot of sense in retrospect. I won't get into spoilers, but it'll suffice to say that there were a couple of ways the bad guys could have won fairly easily that they don't take. You could argue that this is a flaw in the synth design, that they can't kill without a specific order, or that they tried to remain uncover and only turn hostile as a last resort, but that's a can of worms this film doesn't seem interested in opening. All we get is they can't kill until their contiousness chip is overridden by a virus.
Likewise, one major clue is a guy's finger getting infected after a cut, but the main character is not in there when the infection is revealed. Making it seem like he has sex so good that it gave him clairvoyant powers.
Overall, I say Crash and Burn is watchable. It's not painfully dull, but it's not something I'd recommend either. It doesn't deliver the giant robot goods, and the central mystery is let down by flaws in the script. Being a who-done-it also hurts any repeat viewings since a lot of the film is speculation and exposition. If you're here for the action and giant robots, watch the clips on YouTube or watch the trailer.
Set after an economic collapse, computers have been banned for personal use and the mega corporation Uni-com has basically replaced the government. Our main character is a Uni-com courier making a delivery to a power plant converted into a TV station. A therma storm strands people there over night, during which time one the characters is murdered.
At it's core, the film is a murder mystery, but the solution to the mystery is spoiled in the trailer. The giant robot only appears briefly at the end of the film and doesn't really do much.
About three quarters to two thirds of the way into the film, the killer is revealed to be a Uni-com synth, which leads to a terminator like scene where the characters are trying to escape a robot of inconsistent toughness. Sometimes it seems bullet proof, other times guns work fine. It's the same shotguns and ammo too, so it's not as if they're using some special gun.
As said, the giant robot only appears briefly at the end. The design is good, and the effects look great. Having the realness of a model, without the jerky movement of stop motion, or the obvious artefacts of 80s blue screen effects. Unfortunately, it basically acts as a glorified fork lift. A metal tower falls over for no reason, landing on a character who is standing around in the open for questionable reasons, and the giant robot is called in to move the metal tower. Then it stomps on the bad guy. The end.
Another problem is the film doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Certain things don't make a lot of sense in retrospect. I won't get into spoilers, but it'll suffice to say that there were a couple of ways the bad guys could have won fairly easily that they don't take. You could argue that this is a flaw in the synth design, that they can't kill without a specific order, or that they tried to remain uncover and only turn hostile as a last resort, but that's a can of worms this film doesn't seem interested in opening. All we get is they can't kill until their contiousness chip is overridden by a virus.
Likewise, one major clue is a guy's finger getting infected after a cut, but the main character is not in there when the infection is revealed. Making it seem like he has sex so good that it gave him clairvoyant powers.
Overall, I say Crash and Burn is watchable. It's not painfully dull, but it's not something I'd recommend either. It doesn't deliver the giant robot goods, and the central mystery is let down by flaws in the script. Being a who-done-it also hurts any repeat viewings since a lot of the film is speculation and exposition. If you're here for the action and giant robots, watch the clips on YouTube or watch the trailer.
