Plot: It is the year 2036, and Earth is under harsh occupation by a reptilian alien race called the Teridaxx. Years before, all interplanetary warfare was reduced to a faceoff between two thirty-story-tall gladiator robots, each piloted by a single fighter. One of those fighters, a Robo Warrior from Earth, once upon a time, fought back against these invaders. But these are just dusty old stories, told by Charlie to his twelve-year-old grandson Zach, as the Teridaxx have eliminated all but one final Robo Warrior, Ray Gibson, who has been in hiding for years. Zach sets out on a perilous mission to find Gibson and the mythic Earth Bot, which is humankind’s final chance to free itself from the cruel Teridaxx and once again control its own destiny.
I remember watching Robo Warriors many years ago as a kid alongside movies like Robot Jox and Crash and Burn. They’re still huge fun but Robo Warriors is one of the better mech warrior movies. It holds up with awesome practical effects and the giant robots have a genuine sense of scale to them.
James Remar is one of those underappreciated actors who also gives a great performance no matter how outlandish a story may be. Kyle Howard shines as the young boy Zach who idolizes Gibson and wants to bring him out of hiding to defeat alien invaders in a huge battle with robots. It takes a while to convince him, but we know as the audience that they’re saving it for the finale showdown whish delivers everything you could want from a movie like this. It helps that one of the main villains is played by the legendary James Lew who even gets a fight at the end with Gibson.
At an hour and 29 minutes Robo Warriors is perfectly paced and is never short on action with several shoot-outs and of course large mechs fighting. It also has James Tolkan as the leader of the leader of the alien race who agrees to the final battle; I bet he felt silly in that make-up but he is as magnetic as ever.
The score is awesome but that’s because it’s basically the music from Predator changed just enough to avoid plagiarism accusations.
Overall, Robo Warriors is essentially the dream movie of any 12 year old boy as we all loved mech warriors growing up. It has some fun set-pieces, James Remar as the lead and an awesome if familiar score. It’s out on Blu-ray now from Vinegar Syndrome and worth adding to the collection.