Solarbabies
1986 Directed by Alan Johnson
Synopsis
Who will rule the future?
In a future in which most water has disappeared from the Earth, we find a group of children, mostly teenagers, who are living at an orphanage, run by the despotic rulers of the new Earth. The group in question plays a hockey based game on roller skates and is quite good. It has given them a unity that transcends the attempts to bring them to heel by the government. Finding an orb of special power, they find it has unusual effects on them. They escape from the orphanage (on skates) and try to cross the wasteland looking for a place they can live free as the storm-troopers search for them and the orb.
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Every so often, you come across a movie where it seems like the only participants who weren’t putting in a serious effort were the ones in charge. Solarbabies is such a film, where it seems like the director, producers, and screenwriters just didn’t care enough to put any polish on it. It’s too bad, because the actors — led by Jami Gertz and Jason Patric, who would pair up again a year later in The Lost Boys — all seem to be taking the film reasonably seriously, putting in honest efforts at making their characters believable when the script isn’t actively working against them. Even so, I can’t deny that I had fun watching this film, so I can’t give it a truly bad score. But it has far too many flaws for me to give it a truly good score either. Read full review.
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92 of 365 in 2013.
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94 of 365 in 2013.
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An attempt at an awesome premise but doesn't even get close.
Pole-vaulting a gate while on roller skates.
Well trained hawks.
Some sort of roller derby style game that never gets explained or bears any weight.
This is an attempt at best. Watch Dune instead. -
If this film had come out after the advent of inline skates, it would have been an unmitigated catastrophe. Instead, the sight of those clunky four-wheelers on everyone's feet just helps make every scene unintentionally hilarious. And where did they find that title?
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A wonderful 80s guilty pleasure film with Richard Jordan's amazing, over-the-top performance as the villain.
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I avoided this in the 80s as I'd heard it was terrible, but seeing in now it definitely is bad in a very entertaining way. Definitely a case of "you got your Roller Ball in my Road Warrior! You got your Road Warrior in my Roller Ball" with a side of E.T.
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Jamie Gertz and Jason Patric in a pre Lost Boys post apoc kinda sci-fi where all the kids seem to whazz about on roller skates, despite the post apoc terrain. An odd couple appearance from Bryce Payne & Alexie Sayle as bounty hunters add some novelty value, but it's all a bit pants really. Will appeal though if you're hankering after an 80's teen mainstream sci-fi lite film with a glowing blue ball in it.
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How I never saw this movie in 1986 is beyond me. I would have loved it as a 14-year-old kid. As a 40-year-old man, it's more of a lark and throwback to the decade. "The Road Warrior" meets "Rollerboogie" sees a group of teens fighting back against water-hoarders in a post-apocalyptic future. Some great stars though very much out there in terms of concept and story. Silly but strangely compelling.