MovieChat Forums > Robot Jox (1990) Discussion > Two of the dumbest moments in Robot Jox....

Two of the dumbest moments in Robot Jox...

posted 12 years ago by aalaap
7 replies | jump to latest

I saw this movie as a kid and I was fascinated by mechs ever since. Everytime something about a big robot comes up, the first movie I think of is Robot Jox and the first TV series, of course, is Giant Robot.

After all the hype about Pacific Rim (which I did enjoy, finally), I got hold of Robot Jox and decided to watch it again. Everything was pretty much as good as I remember it, but two things were too silly for me to digest.

First, the scene in which Achilles is down, but he is staring at Alexander's robots crotch, after which a chainsaw, clearly in the shape of a gentlemen's sausage comes out to finish the job...

Second, the scene (before the scene above?) in which Achilles just rockets off into space for no reason, with no clear plan, gets shot (duh!) and falls back down into the same arena, in spite of having traveled a significant distance up in space along the equator of the globe.

My questions are: 1) Did you think the chainsaw sausage was too crass? and 2) What was the point of going into space? Did they just want to show space because it's cool?

I still enjoyed the movie as much as I hoped I would.

[–] me-1523 11 years ago

Nah, the crotchsaw was great. Part of the appeal of these robots was that even when you think you've seen them do everything, they pull out yet another hidden weapon or technique from shoulder blade missiles to cutting ropes in their wrists or knees or whatever. These things had an immense array of secret weapons and caches and it was fun to see them always have a backup/contingency whenever it seemed like they were down and out. The fact that they could also transform into different vehicle modes, from tanks to jets, added to that.

And speaking of which: Yeah, the flight into space seemed kind of pointless, as if it was just done to demonstrate that these things could reach orbit. But there was one cool thing the space sequence did that you NEVER see in any other sci-fi movie: Realistic sound! There was complete silence in all the external shots which is what a space battle would actually sound like. Interesting stylistic choice to suddenly go for realism in a movie that has so little of it.

[–] JaySherman7 11 years ago

no, you're right. they're both pretty silly. the crotchsaw never bothered me cause it was so late in the movie, which was chock full of silly things. the space "fight" was obviously there to look cool. I remember the trailers having the shot of Achilles getting hit in the foot and I also remember thinking "whoa, these things go into space too!"

what's funny is I'm watching the movie right now and the two bits you're talking about just played a few min ago. what I also thought was funny was as Achilles was running on foot to the hand, Alexander is trying to shoot him with two miniguns. why are there miniguns aimed at the ground mounted on his Robot anyway? it seemes like they're only allowed long range weapons at the beginning when they're pretty far apart. those guns would be useless against another Robot

Ho! Ha ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!

[–] DoubleRD77 11 years ago

I always thought the space scene was dumb. It takes a great amount of rocket fuel to get a space shuttle into orbit, let alone a huge mech. The amount of fuel that thing would have to carry would be a lot, and make it more vulnerable. Not to mention the cost of the huge amount of fuel it would have burned up. Resources are supposed to be scarce, and that robot just gobbled up tons of pricey rocket fuel. Finally, what is the point of going into space, let alone giving the mech that capability in the first place? The whole point is to win the battle in the arena. All the wasted space on the mech in order for it to have that ability, would have been better used on extra weapons or armour.

[–] wallacesawyer 11 years ago

Stuart Gordon was a fan of stuff like TRANSFORMERS and ROBOTECH. He probably wanted the robots to be able to transform, and wanted to show off what they could do, regardless of any real meaning. When I was a kid, for some reason I always assumed they crashed on different planet. Yes, that was stupid of me.

http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/

[–] Ed in MO 11 years ago

This isn't Kubrick guys. It's a sci-fi movie made for the 10-16 boy market. Kids like that would love to have a chainsaw for a dick, and be able to rocket into space for no reason whatsoever. It's a kid's movie that adults can also enjoy, just so long as they suspend disbelief and keep their brains turned off.

[–] wallacesawyer 11 years ago

The writer wanted a movie for adults that kids could enjoy, while the director wanted the opposite. ROBOT JOX is not a kids film, although kids probably enjoy the robot battles.

http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/

[–] janoss (214) 4 years ago

When I was a little kid, about 11 years old I suppose, I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
On re-watch, just now, in my 40's, I think it's still better than Pacific Rim.
I like Pacific Rim, it's just got too much CGI and silliness. Not enough weirdos named Tex. Not enough incoherent love interests. Not enough evil Soviets. Not enough stop-mo and crotch saws.
Yeah it's stupid, but you have to watch it like you're 12. Put that in your head and you have a blast watching it.