I went into this knowing practically nothing about it, either with it’s original title or AKA of “Rebel Waves”. Given the amount of post-apocalyptic nonsense I watch, and the number of books I read on the subject (like the rather excellent https://pulsestore.net/produit/after-the-world-ends/?lang=en After The World Ends by Claude Gaillard, that I encourage all fans of the genre to check out), that surprised me, but after about 10 minutes I’d worked out why. And for the cynics amongst you it wasn’t because it was yet another low cost Mad Max lite
“I live, I die, I live again!”
The reason this film isn’t that well known, even in niche nerd natterings, is two-fold. Firstly, it’s an action comedy, along the lines of Thunderdome mixed with Brazil. It has, throughout, solid gags and decent comedic performances. As you’d expect for a film about a collapsed America under theocratic dictatorship, it’s mostly gallows humour, but the two principle actors (Wayne Crawford and Zach Galligan) have respectable comedic resumes for a reason. The rest of the cast is also either leaning in to things just enough to give you some giggles or playing it absolutely straight to give you even more. Not bad things in and of themselves, but you don’t expect a film to start with a riff off of the Blues Brothers opening scenes and then end with the populace rising up and eating it’s oppressor.
“Did you feed it after midnight?”
The other reason I think it’s not on more “best of” lists is that it is unrelentingly of its time, so you will need a solid knowledge of American culture in the 18 months before it was made to get half the gags. The precision of its attacks and critiques can feel arbitrary and a bit too zany without that extra bit of context. It’s nice to see something try and be that fresh, but it clearly had a detrimental effect on its shelf life.
“Says here he mostly makes low-budget horror. Are you sure he’s worth calling up?”
Which isn’t to say you can’t enjoy it without that, it sticks solidly enough to the light-hearted bad-guy-turned-hero yarn to keep you locked in. It also, very worryingly, shows how much American society hasn’t changed, as a number of the concerns are still, sadly, quite relevant now. And it has a strong enough ensemble cast with enough well rounded characters to carry things through on their own merits. Whilst you can probably spot the ending in the first ten minutes, there are multiple occasions where you will be solidly and very fairly caught off guard.
“Did I leave the gas on?”
So please consider this a hidden Treasure. Some moments may look rather MTV, but that’s intentional, and some of it’s concerns rather dated. But if you have a thirst for something a bit different and a bit more satirical than the usual dust-and-dirt-bikes road movie, along with a young John Rhys-Davies playing a villain, then source this as soon as you can.
Raggedyman
*This isn’t a spoiler and you know it
Trash or Treasure 