If Neon City is an example of American-made post-apocalyptic science fiction that strives for a more realistic, bleaker tone than is usually seen in Road Warrior rip-offs, then Cherry 2000 is a very interesting companion piece that comes from the opposite end of the spectrum. It envisions a future not terribly different from the one in Neon City — in which some manner of apocalyptic disaster has left large swathes of the United States lawless and scoured, while pockets of urban civilization seem to chug along despite the blight surrounding them — but where Neon City is an exercise in bleakness and some cursory attempt at realism, Cherry 2000 gleefully embraces all the excess, quirks, and questionable art and design decisions that embodied the 1980s, resulting in a film that comes across sort of like a post-apocalypse film as imagined by Patrick Nagel.
#1 by Blake on November 13, 2010 - 5:03 am
Quote
There’s a cynical part of me that makes me wonder if the our protagonist, after the film’s events, will at some time regret not staying with his sexbot when he encounters the problems, arguments, etc. that all couples run into, not to mention that he won’t always be able to have sex whenever he wants to.
#2 by KeithA on November 13, 2010 - 10:48 am
Quote
I think it’s a question that the movie, goofy and cheery though it may be in tone, expects you to ask, and I think he probably doesn’t get very far in this, his first human relationship.
On the other hand, Mel’s acting is pretty robotic, so maybe those crazy kids have a chance.
#3 by Jen S on November 13, 2010 - 12:39 pm
Quote
This reminds me of Roger Ebert reviewing a similar kind of “human enough to get freaky with” robot movie, where he posited that after a few weeks, it wasn’t about the sex at all–“Honey, tonight I’d really like you to explain football and watch you clean your guns.”
The idea was not to have constant sex with a beautiful woman/robot, but that you didn’t have to change or improve yourself in any way to have a beautiful woman/robot. She would be endlessly impressed and fascinated by whatever boring thing you did while she was around: “Oh, now you want to watch Hawaii 5-0 reruns for six hours? Wonderful! You’re so great! I’ll be in the corner.”