Solarbabies
Solarbabies | |
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Directed by | Alan Johnson |
Written by | Walon Green Douglas Anthony Metrov |
Produced by | Jack Frost Sanders Irene Walzer Francisco Molero (co-) Mel Brooks (executive) |
Starring | Richard Jordan Jami Gertz Jason Patric Lukas Haas Peter DeLuise Charles Durning Sarah Douglas Bruce Payne Alexei Sayle |
Cinematography | Peter MacDonald |
Edited by | Conrad Buff |
Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | November 26, 1986 (USA) |
Running time | 94 min. |
Country | ![]() |
Language | English |
Budget | $7,500,000 |
Box office | $1,579,260 |
Solarbabies (also known as Solarwarriors) is a 1986 science fiction film, made by Brooksfilms and directed by Alan Johnson.[1] It was released on DVD on March 6, 2007.[2]
The movie was the second and final film directed by Alan Johnson, who is better known for his work as a choreographer.
Synopsis
The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which most of Earth's water has been controlled. The future is bleak and is controlled by the Eco Protectorate (a para-military organization that governs the planet's new order). There are also children, mostly teenagers, living in orphanages created by the Protectorate, designed to indoctrinate new recruits into their service. The protagonists consist of Jason, the group's leader played by Jason Patric; Terra, played by Jami Gertz; Tug, played by Peter DeLuise; Rabbit, played by Claude Brooks; Metron, played by James LeGros; and a young deaf boy named Daniel, played by Lukas Haas. The orphans play a rough sport which is a hybrid of lacrosse and roller-hockey. Playing is the only thing that unites them other than the futile attempts of the Protectorate to control them.
While hiding in a cave, Daniel finds a mysterious orb with special powers. The orb is an alien intelligence called Bohdai, who miraculously restores Daniel's hearing and has other powers, such as creating rain indoors. Another orphan, Darstar, played by Adrian Pasdar, takes the orb, hoping that he will be able to use it. He leaves the orphanage on rollerskates and Daniel soon follows. The rest of the group chase after Daniel. The E-police learn of Bohdai while chasing the teens and catch Darstar with the sphere. The teens are eventually rescued by a band of older outlaws called the Eco Warriors. They have retired from fighting and are led by Terra's long lost father. The teens leave the Eco Warriors and using their rollerskating skills, break into the Protectorate's high security Water Storage Building. The teens discover the E-Police are trying to destroy Bohdai and they manage to recover the alien, but as soon as they do the sphere dematerializes and destroys the facility and releasing the water back to where it belongs as they rush out. As they all gather on a nearby hillside, Bohdai sparks the first thunderstorm the teens have ever seen and returns to space, but not without leaving a bit of himself behind in each of them. The movie ends with the teens swimming together in the newly restored ocean, Darstar being fully accepted into the group and Jason and Terra sharing a kiss.
Cast
- Richard Jordan as Grock
- Jami Gertz as Terra
- Jason Patric as Jason
- Lukas Haas as Daniel
- James LeGros as Metron
- Claude Brooks as Rabbit
- Peter DeLuise as Tug
- Peter Kowanko as Gavial
- Adrian Pasdar as Darstar
- Sarah Douglas as Shandray
- Charles Durning as The Warden
- Frank Converse as Greentree
- Terrence Mann as Ivor
- Alexei Sayle as Malice
- Bruce Payne as Dogger
Critical response
Reviews for Solarbabies were very poor, with film historian Leonard Maltin describing it thus: "An appalling stinker; the 1980's teen jargon doesn't exactly capture the futuristic mood of this junk."
Joe Kane, the "Phantom of the Movies", was even less kind: "A pathetic Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome rip-off, working from a script which must have been scrawled in Crayola, with every futuristic cliche you could possibly imagine. Lacking in originality, but rich in brain-dead dialogue; when Jami Gertz snarls, 'Get out, you creature of filth!', consider that a subliminal message."
The film presently holds a score of 4.4 on Internet Movie Database.
See also
References
- ^ Canby, Vincent (November 26, 1986). "Screen: 'Solarbabies'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ [1]
External links
- Official website at MGM.com
- Solarbabies at IMDb
- Solarbabies at AllMovie
- Solarbabies at Rotten Tomatoes