Despite being a huge fan of cult and B-Movies and even though I really wanted and tried hard to enjoy this, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go against the general tide of opinion as regards this film.
The ever likable Michael Sopkiw, who's career in B-movies was admittedly brief but so very fondly remembered, appears here as a sort of Mad Max/Snake Plissken type of guy who is coerced into rescuing the last fertile woman on earth from within the hell hole that has become Manhattan Island.
Cue lots of fights, sludging through rat infested sewers, getting captured about every five minutes (!) a healthy splashing of gore and the appearance of perennial B-Movie fave big George Eastman as a simian character called 'Big Ape' and hey presto - you have what on paper at least sounds like a great movie.....
On paper perhaps......
To be fair, the movie isn't at all bad by any means and even boasts some pretty decent production values in fact, but sadly it just failed to enthral me.
The biggest problem I had with this is that the action scenes are for the most part handled with very little flair. Added to this, the best scene in the entire movie (for me at least) was actually at the very beginning when our hero is shown banger racing in a heavily armoured car. Needless to say, after such an intro the remaining 80 or so minutes of the movie seemed pale in comparison.
Still, as previously mentioned, the overall look of the film is very commendable indeed (bar one or two instances of very dodgy model work) and there's some great gross out moments (including one excellent head bashing scene!)
I'm tempted to deduct another point from this film however, due to the all too common and sad trend of some Italian genre movies of the time that regretfully rears it's ugly head here - genuine animal cruelty/killing. In this case we are 'treated' to a display of some rats getting speared. Such a disgusting trend ostensibly stemmed from the cannibal themed movies of the same period as were pioneered by directors Umberto Lenzi and Ruggero Deodato - both of whom were more than capable of producing highly enjoyable films without having to resort to such repulsive, cheap shock tactics.
Would you believe that I have actually spoken to people who have tried to justify such barbaric acts 'for the sake of art''?! I've also spoken to various other cretinous wretches who seem to be under the misguided impression that watching such acts of cruelty in films somehow makes them more 'macho' as it logically denotes that 'they can take anything' (!!!!)
Still back to the film in question.....overall, whilst not unwatchable by any stretch of the imagination, After The Fall Of New York, for me, distinctly lacked enough intriguing scenes to raise it above the average mark.
My advice is, if you're into the genre then watch it by all means, it does have a hefty fan base, however for much more enjoyment value, check out the far superior film it is copied - erm...I mean inspired from, Escape From New York.
