Warriors of the Year 2072

• Release Date: January 28, 1984
• Directed by: Lucio Fulci
• Written by: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti, Cesare Frugoni and Lucio Fulci
• Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

After Conquest turned out to be his second botched production in a row, Lucio Fulci decided to switch producers once again and try to take a swing at a different type of cash-in film that was catching on at the time. At the same time that a slew of sword and sorcery films were being churned out in the wake of Conan the Barbarian, a whole bunch of dystopian sci-fi / action films were being made to cash in on the success of two hits from 1981: The Road Warrior and Escape from New York. Many other Italian genre filmmakers at the time were also dipping their toes into this wave: Enzo Castellari gave us 1990: The Bronx Warriors along with two follow-ups, Joe D'amato spat out 2020 Texas Gladiators and Endgame, and Sergio Martino delivered my favorite of these rip-off titles, 2019: After the Fall of New York. Warriors of the Year 2072 was Fulci's addition to this collection of post-apocalyptic cheese, and when I first heard about the movie, I thought it had a bit of potential behind it. With my favorite Italian genre filmmaker behind the camera of a rip-roaring futuristic action movie, I was expecting something that combined thrilling car chases with the same caliber of bloodshed and out-there violence that Fulci's best works are known for. Sadly, this didn't turn out to be the case...

The plot of this one is super simple: in a futuristic Rome, a group of criminals are brought together to fight in a gladiator-style motorcycle battle at the Roman Colosseum for a big TV telecast. Past that, I really can't say much more about the story or characters of the movie simply because there isn't a lot to latch onto at all. The main character is Drake, the reigning champion of several previous "death bike" games who is serving a sentence for killing the three men who murdered his wife. Beyond this backstory and the fact that audiences in-universe seem to like him, there is nothing interesting about this character in the slightest. The actor's performance is extremely flat and one-note, with no memorable lines of dialogue or noteworthy action bits in the entire movie. While I would normally excuse that type of thing if the other actors were mildly entertaining, every single character in this movie is equally uninteresting! Not even Fred Williamson's involvement can bring some fun factor to the cast, since he isn't given a whole lot of dialogue or much to do in the story. The pacing of this thing just drags on and on, and a large chunk of it just consists of some TV control room executives planning the big event while the gladiators are in training. In fact, other than the opening action scene, it takes over an hour for them to finally get into the arena and do any sort of motorized battle. Between getting bored, distracted or falling asleep waiting for something to happen, it took me about five or six viewings before I was finally able to make it through this entire movie. Not since Manhattan Baby have I had such a hard time trying to get engaged in a Fulci production, and man, I really hate to have to make that comparison.

Even though this movie gets lumped in with the other post-apocalyptic cash-ins that I mentioned before, I don't think it really belongs in the same category of things like 1990: The Bronx Warriors or 2019. Instead of trying to replicate Mad Max's desolate wastelands or Escape from New York's sprawling abandoned cityscape, Fulci and his crew were clearly looking more towards Blade Runner for their vision of the future. This version of Rome features numerous towering skyscrapers that dominate the city's skyline, complete with giant screens that play TV programs and advertising, which instantly calls to mind the famous Coca-Cola ad shot in Blade Runner. The shots of the city are actually some of the standout moments for me, since they're usually accomplished via long tracking shots through a large model city made up of miniature buildings and little flying ships. This was only the second time that I noticed such extensive usage of models in a Fulci film - the first being when Aenigma used them to show a spirit flying around. Along with this sort-of-cyberpunk style, the movie also lifts a few elements from other well-known dystopian or sci-fi films. One early scene of three men dressed in white who break into Drake's house and kill his wife made me think of a couple of ultra-violent highlights in A Clockwork Orange, even if it may not have been an intentional rip-off. In addition, the evil TV corporation uses a large, room-sized computer named Junior that hides some crucial pieces of information from the characters. This could be a riff on MUTHUR from Alien, but I'm just guessing on that one. I think I was just so uninterested in this movie that I was spending my time thinking of much better things that I could be watching instead.

I’ve been pretty hard on this one so far, but there are still a few small things here and that I got some enjoyment out of. The big battle scene at the Colosseum is actually a lot of fun to watch, and after so much buildup to the main event, it’s pretty exciting to see the titular warriors racing around on motorcycles and hacking at each other with axes, maces and various other weapons. There are several bloody moments to take in, including a hilarious one where one rider has his head lobbed clean off with razor wire of some sort. There isn’t a lot of Fulci’s signature imagery or camerawork in this movie, but there are still a couple of points where he either teases what he’s best at or does a funny twist on something he’s done before. For example, his trademark eyeball violence makes a return when a side character is shot with a laser gun. Their head slams backwards, hits the wall behind them and knocks their eyeball out – along with the tiny spy camera that was embedded behind it. I do have to admit that I got a chuckle out of seeing the old eye trick subverted like that. But beyond these small parts, there’s not a whole lot here that you would typically expect from a Fulci film. I’m not sure if he was being restrained by his new producers, or if he simply wanted to take a different approach for his first sci-fi / action movie. But because his signature style is gone, it leaves the movie feeling limp and lifeless. Other than his name on the credits, it feels like it could have been directed by any other Italian filmmaker who was playing around in this genre at the time.

Warriors of the Year 2072 is definitely one of the bottom-tier entries in Fulci’s filmography for me. It may be more well-made than something like The Sweet House of Horrors, but in terms of entertainment value, I’d rather watch almost any other movie of his than this one. Between this and Conquest, it’s kind of obvious that going outside of his new comfort zone wasn’t working very well for him, which is probably why he returned to horror the next year with Murder-Rock. It’s such a shame that these experiments turned out the way they did, since I would have loved to see him keep putting his stamp on genre after genre. While Conquest was very flawed but still entertaining, I can only recommend this one to Fulci completionists who will buy anything with his name on it. If you’re not one of those people, steer clear of this one.