Review: Cheezy, low-fi sci-fi ‘Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter’ takes on A.I.
Falling just short of being so bad it’s good, “Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter” is a shameless low-budget “Terminator”/“Star Wars”/“Mad Max” knock-off that will have to settle for being merely godawful.
This serving of sci-fi sludge, set “a few decades from now,” presents a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has been overthrown by the A.I. Scourge, a mechanized army intent on taking over the universe.
Determined to stop the evil robot empire in its artificial tracks is Sienna (Tracey Birdsall), a take-no-prisoners arms dealer with a murky past and the heart of a rebel beating beneath her considerable cleavage.
While writer-director Neil Johnston, whose previous cinematic nuggets include “Alien Armageddon” and “Starship: Apocalypse” serves up the sort of cheeseball visual effects that wouldn’t have passed muster on a first-generation PlayStation console, it’s clear that distributor Sony Pictures is hoping Birdsall’s young male following will give it a much-needed cult boost.
Summoning Pamela Anderson circa 1996’s “Barb Wire,” the Van Nuys-born Birdsall, whose bio makes note of her 15-year run on a Maxim Hotel electronic billboard in Las Vegas, skillfully manages to kick evil robot butt without a hint of muss or smudge of her silky blond hair or carefully applied makeup.
The raging hormone sector aside, viewers will likely have a hard time finding any pleasure here, guilty or otherwise.
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‘Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter’
No rating
Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Playing: Downtown Independent, Los Angeles
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