{"id":5136,"date":"2018-09-29T11:49:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-29T15:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5136"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:07:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:07:42","slug":"spacehunter-adventures-in-the-forbidden-zone-1983-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/spacehunter-adventures-in-the-forbidden-zone-1983-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is bad and bonkers, but never boring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lamont Johnson’s Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone<\/em> is definitely a bad movie, but also definitely not a boring movie. Possessed of a slightly bonkers energy, the plot races from one crazy incident to the next. I’m not sure if today’s action movies have this many — or this varied — set pieces: a wild steampunk train raid, an escape from subterranean amazons & their pet sea-snake, a nude zombie attack, a torturous obstacle race, and on and on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes across as shamelessly derivative, until I realized that most of what I thought it was ripping off had not even come out yet: Dune<\/em>‘s desolate landscapes, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome<\/em>‘s vehicle design, and Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/em>‘s borg (note Michael Ironside’s costume). Most notably, it manages to prefigure the basic plot of Mad Max: Fury Road<\/a><\/em>: reluctant male hero helps woman rescue female captives of a pervy, despotic cyborg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were it not for the flat staging, witless dialogue, and atrocious acting all around, this might be better remembered as some kind of mad cult classic. Sorry, Molly Ringwald! You were miscast. Love you forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lamont Johnson’s Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is definitely a bad movie, but also definitely not a boring movie. Possessed of a slightly bonkers energy, the plot races from one crazy incident to the next. I’m not sure if today’s action movies have this many — or this varied — set pieces: a wild […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2],"tags":[1795,1794,1791,1541,1793,1792,85],"class_list":["post-5136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-star","category-movies","tag-1795","tag-ernie-hudson","tag-lamont-johnson","tag-michael-ironside","tag-molly-ringwald","tag-peter-strauss","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/spacehunter.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1kQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6443,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/rutger-hauer-lives-on-anxiety-coffee-and-chocolate-in-split-second\/","url_meta":{"origin":5136,"position":0},"title":"Rutger Hauer lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate, in Split Second","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"?? Tag yourself: \"He lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate.\" It me; can relate. Tony Maylam's Split Second is probably forever doomed to be a cult favorite, but it's a pity it's not better known. It has a wild, sometimes even manic electricity that covers up most deficiencies. 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After the warm fuzzies of yesterday's list of the Best Movies I Saw in 2007, it's time for a little meanspirited snark. I might be committing professional suicide for publishing this list, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spider-Man 3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/spider-man-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/spider-man-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/spider-man-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/spider-man-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/spider-man-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8183,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-long-forgotten-comic-book-villain-black-adam-makes-for-a-quickly-forgotten-movie\/","url_meta":{"origin":5136,"position":2},"title":"The long-forgotten comic book villain Black Adam makes for a quickly-forgotten movie","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Jaume Collet-Serra's dreadful Black Adam is damning evidence that Hollywood has forgotten why kids like superheroes in the first place.","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Adam movie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-adam.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-adam.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-adam.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-adam.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-adam.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5828,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dreadful-jack-the-giant-slayer-is-soullessly-engineered-escapism\/","url_meta":{"origin":5136,"position":3},"title":"The dreadful Jack the Giant Slayer is soullessly engineered escapism","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Director Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer is almost unbearably dreadful. It continues a recent trend in the fantasy genre: fairy tails used as raw material for soullessly engineered all-ages escapism. See also: Snow White and The Huntsman and Tim Burton's appalling Alice in Wonderland. It's hard to understand how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jack the Giant Slayer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/blazing-saddles\/","url_meta":{"origin":5136,"position":4},"title":"Cleavon Little is the new sheriff in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"On rewatch as an adult, Blazing Saddles didn't quite live up to my childhood memories. For instance, I recall the infamous bean-induced fart sequnce being a veritable symphony of bad taste; alas, the real thing is just a minute or so long at most. But it turns wonderfully crazy near\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blazing Saddles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/blazing-saddles-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/blazing-saddles-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/blazing-saddles-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/blazing-saddles-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/blazing-saddles-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7988,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/a-muggle-tries-to-make-sense-of-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince\/","url_meta":{"origin":5136,"position":5},"title":"A muggle tries to make sense of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As Pottermania began some years ago, I recall being amazed at how similar it all seemed to Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic, which predates J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel by about five years. 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