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| ENTERTAINING |
We
narrowly survived the Bronx. Now, will we be able to “Escape From the Bronx“? Oh
yeah, the “Action Movie Time Machine” is synched into the appropriate time
stream. All aboard to visit the sequel to “1990: The Bronx Warriors“. Now I don’t want to hear any
complaining. This parallel time destination was very difficult to pinpoint
since it didn’t take place during any specific time. Just “several years
later”. I had to fast-forward through nearly an entire decade before I
found it. Even if it’s fast forwarded, a decade is WAY more time than I ever
want to spend in the Bronx.
The year
is 1983. James Woods grew a tummy vagina in “Videodrome”, Michael Jackson &
Vincent Price hit the MTV airwaves in the form of “Thriller”, and NASA’s
Challenger space shuttle takes flight for the first time. All this and Henry
Silva commits genocide in “Escape From the Bronx”.
THE
SKINNY
Picking
up where we left off, several years later, the General Construction Corporation
is another god sized corporation, much like the Manhattan Corporation of the
first film. They have managed to pay off the governor of New York who in turn
has granted the GCC permission to forcibly relocate the inhabitants of the
Bronx to a cookie cutter suburb in New Mexico. With the people gone, the GCC
will build a new, lavish city for the rich on top of the ruins of the old one.
It’s like the Delta City from “Robocop”.
The only
problem with this is, the people don’t want to move from their urban homes and
when they resist they are either shot or set on fire by the “Disinfestation
Annihilation Squad“. Oh and one more thing, there is no cookie cutter suburb in
New Mexico. That is all just a story to tell the media. As the residence are
being relocated, the GCC keeps coming up with clever ways for “accidents” to
happen. Accidents that kill everyone.
The gangs
of the Bronx have banded together and have found refuge in the underground
tunnels of the Bronx. Trash has been keeping busy collecting ammunition for the
immanent war against the GCC.
It’s just
another day in the hood for Trash, until he returns home to visit his parents
and finds their home is being looted. He fights past the looters to find that
his mother and father, the people who brought little Trash into this world, the
only parents in the world willing to hang a poster of their gang leader son in
their living room… So he finds them dead. The DAS set them on fire when Trash’s
father fought back against their eviction.
Trash is
enraged and flees to the tunnels to gather support from the remaining gangs.
Trash is out for blood.
Meanwhile,
a nosey reporter, Moon Grey, ventures into the Bronx to conduct some hard
hitting detective work to expose the GCC killings. Once she finds her way into
the tunnels she happens into the underground lair of the Bronx Warriors (the
various gangs). Together Moon, Trash and the rest discuss a plan of action.
They decide to fortify the tunnels with weapons and booby-traps to protect
themselves from the DAS while Trash, Moon and a man named Strike venture to the
surface to kidnap the President of the GCC. With President Henry Clark in their
grasp they will be able to hold the DAS and the GCC at bay while getting the
attention of the media.
The
leader of the DAS, Floyd Wrangler, Henry Silva, is one bad dude. He’s
the type who isn’t interested in the finer things in life, just killing. He is
the one behind all of the so called “accidents”. Wrangler is hip to the
underground tunnels and starts to mobilize units for an invasion. Scratch that.
It’s not an invasion, it’s an extermination.
While the
DAS mobilization begins, Trash, Moon and Strike, who is now accompanied by his
nine year old bomb making son, snake their way through the tunnels to a ground
breaking ceremony where they grab President Clark. Moon creates a distraction
and gets shot in the process. Trash & Strike pull Clark into the tunnels and
lead the DAS and police into a maze of bombs cleverly placed by Strike’s son.
After the
kidnapping heroes reunite with the Bronx Warriors, they are soon joined by the
DAS and police. A battle breaks out and for a while the Warriors seem like they
are going to win. This brings Wrangler to call for “the gas”. They begin
pumping poison gas into the tunnels and those who survive move above ground
where the fight continues.
Now I
know your worried about President Clark, wouldn’t the gas get him too? Well he
managed to escape during the fighting but when Wrangler finds him his is shot
twice in the chest. As it turns out, Wrangler had a side agreement with the
Vice-President of GCC. Like I said, Wrangler is one bad dude.
The
battle continues and much like the first film, it’s hard to tell who the winner
is. Everyone is dead except Trash, Strike and his son. The goals of the Bronx
Warriors and the GCC were never reached. The Bronx is all but leveled and
burning and then the credits roll. The End.
THE
VERDICT
I like
that our protagonist and hero is named Trash. He is written off by the police,
the government, and the upper class as some gutter rat because, well, that’s
more or less what he is. A piece of garbage blowing through the Bronx streets.
But this is also what has made him a survivor. Living on the mean streets is
has made him tough and has taught to fight and win. He is the victor of the
proletariat against the untrustworthy and murderous bourgeoisie. Viva Trash!
In a nut
shell, this class warfare concept is the heart of “Escape From the Bronx”. This
idea has been done before, but as a sequel to “1990: The Bronx Warriors”, it
really stands out. Most sequels offer up little more than “more of the same”,
especially when there is a decrease in budget. But this film expands upon the
original in a way that makes me want to watch third Bronx movie. If there was
one.
Using
words like “proletariat” and “bourgeoisie” implies some European philosophy.
Don’t forget that these films are Italian, and it shows. While the action in
this film is more developed with shootouts and explosions, it still has a
somewhat subdued feel. Things explode, but they explode slowly. This isn’t
really a fault of the film, but a noticeable cultural difference in the way
American and Italian filmmakers work their craft. This is something that is
seen quite a bit to those who watch many European films.
Also, the
dialogue, again, is dubbed. While it sounds good, there are some bits of
dialogue that… aren’t natural. In the scene where the President of the company
is kidnapped, a police officer comments on the way Strike runs. “Look at him
run…he‘s such a fag!”. LOLWUT?! It’s like if a character, ANY character is
on screen the dubbers felt compelled to have them say something. Many laughs
can be had at the expense of this mostly good film. Just add a few tasty brews.
I have to
say, for all the post apocalyptic flicks of the VHS era, there were only a
handful that were memorable. And for good reason. I can’t quite wrap my head
around why a production studio would even attempt to create such high concept
environments that rely so heavily on special effects, props, futuristic
vehicles and weapons. They almost always look like such crap. Fortunately the
two Bronx Warriors films are better than most. Maybe because they tried to keep
it simple. For more on the Bronx Warriors, visit the official website.
There are
a LOT of post apocalyptic, straight to video, buckets or boring shit, and most
can be found conveniently on YouTube. So to do this action movie sub genre
justice we will be paying a visit to whatever no budget, boring, nothing crap
that I can dial in on the ol’ “Action Movie Time Machine”. I’ll save the
“Terminator” films and others for another time. It’s only fair.
I’m Cory
Carr and this concludes another trip on the “Action Movie Time Machine”. Until
next time, Semper Fi Punk!
For more
from Cory, check out his website slaughterfilm.com, where
he and his good friend Forest Taylor record weekly podcasts, reviewing the
films that are legendary, even in Hell!
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