Interceptor

Insanely entertaining post-apocalypse garbage from those always dependable Italians is good for some excitement and *many* laughs. Robert Iannucci, looking like American actor Martin Kove, stars as sleazy lone wolf "Alien", roaming the desert landscapes and making trouble. He makes the acquaintance of the young Tommy (Luca Venantini), who was tagging along with others of his community on the quest to obtain water. You see, in this vision of the future, H2O has become the most precious commodity. What Alien really wants to do is turn a profit, and it remains to be seen if he'll really step up to the heroic plate.

Iannucci is an enjoyably gruff protagonist, and the supporting cast is just tremendous fun. Tommy, who definitely takes his lumps, turns out to have a most amusing secret, leading to some priceless gags. The movie co-stars the beautiful Alicia Moro as Trash, the excellent Luciano Pigozzi as "Papillon", Eduardo Fajardo as the Senator, Beryl Cunningham as Shadow, and the true scene stealer in this gloriously goofy escapist flick, Fernando Bilbao as Crazy Bull. Being made to utter some hysterically dumb lines, and looking like he wandered off the set of "The Road Warrior" to appear in this, he provides great entertainment value. Some viewers may find the sequence in which Tommy gets drunk to be in poor taste.

Production & costume design and music are good, if rather standard, for this sort of thing. This movie is far from being original, but it still manages to show its audience a good time. The action is often genuinely exciting (dig those vehicle stunts!), and there's one hilarious, amazing segment in which Alien and Trash infiltrate the building housing the water source and must contend not only with booby traps (shades of Indiana Jones), but mutated guards wielding flamethrowers.

If you can't get enough of the whole "post nuke" genre, then don't pass this one up. It's a *real* hoot.

Eight out of 10.