L'ultimo guerriero (1984) Reviews

• Still yet another enjoyably trashy Italian post-nuke sci-fi picture

  Woodyanders2006-06-14

  Okay, we all know the post-nuke sci-fi action picture score by now. Well, here we go again. Once more what's left of society following a devastating nuclear holocaust has degenerated into total every-man-for-himself, kill-or-be-killed, survival-of-the-fittest barbarism. The callous, haughty upper class get their twisted sicko jollies off by hunting expendable contaminated poor folks. One team of contemptibly snooty wealthy scum nihilists, lead by vicious master swordsman Erasmas (a superbly hateful Harrison Muller) and arch bitch Idra (played to the eminently hissable hilt by Marina Costa), almost succeed in killing wimpy decent dude Allan (a likable performance by William Mang). Allan is saved and nursed back to health by tough, but tender-hearted ex-cop Sam (grizzled veteran macho man supreme Woody Strode in peak rugged form). Sam transforms Allan from a slow, clumsy pushover into a mean, fast, ultra-lethal fightin' machine through an especially harsh, painful and arduous bout of rigorous training. Allan, primed and ready to stomp some serious booty, tracks down the rich a**holes who nearly did him in and picks 'em off one at a time. Basically just another rehash of that much copied and ripped off hoary old chestnut "The Most Dangerous Game," this spare, gritty, very ugly and ferocious little number gets by on the basis of its raw, no-frills, rough-edged brutality alone, unnervingly blurring the line between the good guys and the bad guys by depicting a grim future where violence and savagery are an everyday part of life. Although marred by a tepid opening third and an all-too-apparent two-cent budget, "The Final Executioner" does possess the right sleazy materials to measure up as a properly hard-hitting and two-fisted up to speed action item: Besides the copious nasty and often unsparingly grueling violence, there's also a generous sprinkling of sex and nudity, plus rape, torture, degradation and even voyeurism. Now, that's exactly what low-grade exploitation trash is all about!

• Execute the director, stars, best boy etc.

  anxietyresister2006-03-21

  At the bottom end of the apocalypse movie scale is this piece of pish called 'The Final Executioner'.. at least where I come from. A bloke is trained by an ex-cop to seek vengeance on those that killed his woman and friends in cold blood.. and that's about it. Lots of fake explosions and repetitive shootings ensue. Has one of the weirdest array of costumes I've seen in a film for a while, and a massive fortress which is apparently only run by 7 people. GREAT job on the dubbing too guys(!) Best moment: when our hero loses a swordfight and is about to be skewered through the neck, he just gets out his gun and BANG! Why not do that earlier? It's a mystery. As is why anyone would want to sit through this in the first place. I'm still puzzling over that one myself now.. 2/10

• Passable post-nuke fare

  JohnSeal2004-11-21

  Earth has been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Well, parts of the Earth, because somewhere in Italy, a band of purebred survivors--those without radioactive contamination--are holed up in a massive mansion surrounded by lush grounds, waiting for the next opportunity to go hunting for those with polluted blood. The Final Executioner is the story of one of their would be victims, Alan (William Mang, who looks, not surprisingly, a lot like Kurt Russell), and his efforts to take down the legally sanctioned hunters, who are led by Edra (Marina Costa) and Erasmus (Harrison Muller Jr. ). Alan has been trained to kill by former NYPD cop Sam (Woody Strode) who mostly hangs around giving his pupil moral support and mooching for tinned meat. Strode is by far the best thing about the film, though he doesn't look at all well and only appears for about a third of the running time. As for the story, it's a blending of elements from better films and stories, including Ten Little Indians, The Most Dangerous Game, and Escape From New York. The Final Executioner moves along at a fair pace and provides reasonable entertainment for less discriminate action fans.

• Worst movie I've ever seen - period.

  cecsloth2003-11-30

  I cannot explain how terrible this movie is. I would normally not waste my time writing a review of something this bad, but people need know one thing: DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. This is not one of those "so terrible it's funny to watch and make fun of" movies, no siree. Instead this movie is awful in every sense of the word, for not only is the acting, plot and directing awful, but there is one particular scene which nearly made me vomit each time they showed it (3 times). In the scene a girl is raped and killed while people watch on, obviously turned on by this, and we're not just talking males, it is the female leader who commands the man to rape and kill the girl. I've seen and read American Psycho, and that is not disturbing - this is. I really don't know what else to say. This movie should have a much lower rating. Luckily for you, you'll probably never be able to find this god-awful movie, and please don't try. It has no redeeming qualities what-so-ever. None. So please don't try.

• It's the end of the world as we know it, but we don't care

  Coventry2019-04-25

  Perhaps I should state first that I'm an incurable sucker for the trashy Italian exploitation & rip-off cinema of the 1980s. I have seen all those "Mad Max" and "Escape from New York" imitations, and I can list several examples of titles that I enjoyed even massively more than the originals they are inspired by, like "Atlantis Interceptors", "2019: After the Fall of New York", "Fists of Steel", "Fighting Centurions 2072", "Endgame", etc. Most of these films are generally considered as worthless and irredeemable junk, but yours truly adores them! So, when I say that a certain title in this genre, say "The Final Executioner" is dull and forgettable, you can rest assured that practically nobody will enjoy it. "The Final Executioner" combines the contemporary overused post-apocalyptic concept with the (also numerously recycled) idea of hunting human beings for sheer entertainment value. In the apocalyptic wasteland that remained after an all-destructive nuclear explosion, direly illustrated through the same old stock-footage, there are basically just two types of people left alive. The uninfected elite and the infected trash. The elite permit themselves to rape, humiliate, hunt down and kill the infected survivors simply for fun and games. One man fights back, however, and when the elite viciously gang-rape and murder his girl right in front of him, he enlists the help of a former cop for his ultimate plan of revenge. I realize this sound cheesy and cliched enough to be entertaining, but for some incomprehensible reason Romolo Guerrieri ("Young, Violent & Dangerous", "The Sweet Body of Deborah") managed to make it very boring! There are too many long parts of sheer dullness, the lead villains aren't nearly freaky or maniacal enough and the supportive role of Woody Strode is sad and pathetic. The violence and bloodshed are tame and brief, whereas the rape sequence is too long and utterly provocative. There aren't any cool post-apocalyptic set-pieces, vehicles or gimmicks and hero William Mang tries too damn hard to look like Kurt Russell.