Movie Review: The War of the Robots (1978)

After that B-movie gem Hands of Steel, we are back into the slog of the Sci-Fi Invasion set. It turns out that movie was just a tease. I can only hope that I stumble across more movies like that, or better, along the way. There are still a lot of movies to go. The next movie to play is another Italian production, The War of the Robots. It is another goofy outing that makes little sense, but I guess it still has a little charm, albeit not much.



The movie was directed by Alfonso Brescia going by the name Al Bradly. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Aldo Crudo. The movie, which has also gone by the title Reactor, was just another in a line of low rent Star Wars rips helmed by Brescia, coming after such memorable films as Battle of the Stars and War of the Planets.

As the movie starts, we are introduced to Lois (Malisa Longo). She is the love interest of Captain John Boyd (Antonio Sabato, Sr.) and the assistant of Professor Carr (Jacques Herlin). Carr has created some sort of reactor that could possibly create life and it turns out, some aliens would like to get their hands on this tech.

A bunch of robots that look like Abba rejects show up, kidnap the professor and Lois and high tail it back to space. Boyd then gathers his crew and set off in pursuit. They fly as fast they can, taking a little time to introduce us to Julie (Yanti Somer), a crew member who has eyes for Boyd, despite his pursuit of Lois.

Anyway, they have a space fight and land on some asteroid to recover. They are attacked by some other aliens, but are quickly joined by their leader, Kuba (Aldo Canti). They finish their pursuit only to find that Lois and Carr are actually working with the aliens! Lois is even their empress!

The rescue mission turns into a fight for their life. You see, the reactor Carr made is still running back on Earth and will explode of they don't get the shutdown codes from the professor.

The plot really is secondary, or rather non existent. It is true that a movie can exist without a plot, but in some cases it certainly helps. The Battle of the Robots is one of those cases where it would have been helpful to have a strong one.

The effects, acting, dubbing, writing, and direction are all poor and generally with comical effects. It is just all around silly and lacks explanation as to why the kidnapped suddenly change teams, or why that one guy with the bad Texan accent wears cowboy boots with his space outfit. How about the guns which are more like flashlights and are not always accompanied with a sound effect? Don't even mention the lack of actual visual effect.

The War of the Robots has a certain cache about it, if only to make fun of how bad it is, but even then, I can hardly recommend it to anyone.

Not Recommended.