America 3000 (1986) Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Verdict

Summary

Though it bears the mark of being a corny eighties movie, it still has relevance and a high entertainment quotient. The bits with the character named Aargh the Awful, a mutant specimen left over from the nuclear blast, are pretty silly, but if I can take it smiling, then so can you.

Kino Lorber brings America 3000 to Blu-ray in a new 2K scan, making the film look the best it ever has on home video. Fans of the film can enjoy this movie until doomsday in this superior presentation, so it’s time to rejoice and enjoy! The disc comes with a new audio commentary by the director, a new interview with star Laurene Landon, a trailer, and a slipcover.

Plot:

Emasculated men rise up against warrior women in a post-nuke America.

Review:

One of those unheralded little gems you’ve probably never heard of, America 3000 is a whole lot of fun. It follows the theory that if a civilized world is destroyed, with all means of learning taken from it, then that world and its various languages and cultures will degenerate into something new, and yet somewhat familiar. As in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the characters in this movie have a different English vocabulary, but it still sounds pretty similar to our own. 900 years after The Big Nuke, the world is ruled by warrior women. They kill or capture men, ruling the wastelands with an iron fist. After the death of their Tiara (queen), the warrior women elect a successor named Vena, who has competition in the form of Morha, the woman who feels that she should have all the power. Meanwhile, at Camp Reagan, a band of emasculated men get together to plan on avoiding becoming “seeders” to the women. Their leader, Korvis, finds a bunker (circa pre-bomb 21^st century) and recovers superior weapons (laser guns and grenades, as opposed to the crossbows and powder bombs that the women use). When he reveals what he found, he is hailed as the prophesied savior – “The President” – to usher in a new world order and to make peace with the women, which obviously can only be achieved by sleeping with the Tiara. But Morha, who leads an opposing group of women, cannot accept that a man can be a decent person, so the good warrior women (led by Vena) and the men join forces to battle her to the death.

I enjoyed this movie very much. It’s funny and it has some pretty good action scenes with better choreography than you might expect. Though it bears the mark of being a corny eighties movie, it still has relevance and a high entertainment quotient. The bits with the character named Aargh the Awful, a mutant specimen left over from the nuclear blast, are pretty silly, but if I can take it smiling, then so can you. Written and directed by David Engelbach.