2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK
AKA: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK
"I don't have time to jaw with anyone who won't
identify themselves." Remember that line of dialogue if you run into
"actor" Michael Sopkiw by chance as it is one of many memorable lines
from this hilarious (unintentionally of course) Italian rip-off of Escape from
New York. I actually first found out about this film when I was a freshman in
high school because I was told this was released in some countries as an
unofficial sequel to Escape From New York. Being a huge fan of that film I had
to hunt out this Italian rip-off and low and behold I scored the original
Vestron video as an ex-rental (I miss Vestron). The film threw me for a loop at
first as it was a truly awful film... but upon second viewing I discovered the
films grand entertainment value and over time 2019 has become one of my
all-time biggest guilty pleasures.
Like I mentioned the film is a complete rip-off of John
Carpenter's dystopian action flick and it opens with an awful model of a post
nuke New York City (with a mutant playing a sax over the visuals!). An awkward
narration starts up telling us that two warring nations had a nuclear war and
that all women in the world have been rendered sterile. Then a long sequence
begins with soldiers (wearing ridiculous outfits) killing mutants within the
city wan guns that fire rounds with an AWFUL whining sound. This sound does
become incredibly annoying after a while and each time I watch the film I
always have the erg to quick draw the remote for the mute option. Soon we are
introduced to our anti-hero Parsifal (what a name!) who wins a road warrior
type demolition derby. He is then captured by military tycoons and flown to
Alaska where he is given a do or die option to go into New York (sound
familiar?) in order to find the last fertile female. Lots of action ensues as
our hero and his sidekicks try to get her out alive.
Our "hero" really is a cheap clone of Snake
Plissken without the patch. Michael Sopkiw may have only made four Italian B
films but he's actually adequate in the role. The rest of the cast is very
colorful for a B-film and all are unique. We get a one-eyed muscle guy, an
ex-school teacher with mechanical arm, and even a midget, get this, named
Shorty! There are all sorts of weird situations our heroes get into including
coming across a village of midgets living in the sewers and even a group of
de-evolved apelike humans. The action is decent even if it rip-offs other more
popular action films. There's even a sequence at the end where our hero has to
drive through a mined tunnel that completely rips-off the mined bridge sequence
from Escape From New York.
To be honest there isn't anything good in this film but it
all somehow comes together to make a fun time. The dialogue is embarrassingly
awful yet at the same time very quotable. The worst part of the film however
has to be the insanely bad model effects and everything from the worn torn city
to flying spaceships look like they were taken directly out of an old Godzilla
film. Even with all the awfulness the concept behind the film is actually quit
good and I always thought the idea would actually make a good sequel to Escape
From New York. Can you imagine Snake Plissken given another due or die mission
to go back into New York after a nuclear holocaust to find the last fertile
female? I sure can! Ironically the concept of this B film would be sort of reworked/ripped-off
in the 2006 film Children of Men. Yes even "B" movie concepts can be
"A" movie material!
Bonus Rant (Spoiler): At the end of the film our hero, his
girlfriend and his muscle bound sidekick survived New York and are driving away
while Parsifal confronts him for being a cyborg. The cyborg then goes nuts and
kills his girlfriend. I understand Parsifal didn't like cyborgs but the damn
thing helped him survive New York! Why confront and provoke it when it helped
you! His girlfriend died of his own bullheadedness!
Written By Eric Reifschneider
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