Robot Jox is basically Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie. In the post-nuke future, the remaining nations of the world settle their conflicts by putting two dudes in giant robots and letting them duke it out. “Robojox” Gary (Alien Nation: The Series) Graham (the movie would’ve been called Robojox, but MGM threatened to sue because it sounded too much like Robocop) walks away from the giant robot fighting circuit when his mech accidentally kills a bunch of spectators. The government wants to replace him with a test tube baby pilot (Anne-Marie Johnson) who is viewed as the future of the sport. Naturally, she can’t handle the pressure, so Gary has to hop into to cockpit and fight the Russian baddie (Paul Koslo) to the finish.
Robot Jox was directed by the great Stuart Gordon, but if you go in expecting another Re-Animator you are going to be severely disappointed. (Re-Animator star Jeffrey Combs also appears as one of the fans in the stands.) At $10 million, this was Empire’s biggest budgeted film. However, Gordon probably needed double that to fully achieve his vision. The stop-motion special effects and robot battles are pretty good. It’s just that there aren’t all that many of them. Most of the running time is dedicated to dull espionage drama and predictable sports movie cliches.
Although I liked Gordon’s other forays into science fiction (Fortress and Space Truckers) better, this one isn’t too shabby. Even when things bog down, there’s still plenty to enjoy. I liked that in Gordon’s future, everyone wore face masks when they leave their house. The scene where the Jox use a dual gender locker room also predates Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers by several years. And the fact that the test tube babies were called “Tubies” made me smile since I’ve been watching Tubi non-stop since the new year.
Oh, and if you take a shot of your favorite alcoholic beverage every time a character says, “Crash and burn!”, you’ll be ready to check into a psych ward before the end credits roll. That motto was also the title of the spin-off. Robot Wars was the real “sequel”. Sort of.
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