Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Robot Jox Blu-ray Movie Review

One man's mecha is another man's giant robot.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 6, 2015

Anime lovers have their pick of so-called mecha outings, shows and standalone entries like Mobile Suit Gundam 00: the Movie - A Wakening of the Trailblazer, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone, Eureka Seven: Part One (and its more or less reboot Eureka Seven AO), Gurren Lagann Vol. 1, Full Metal Panic!: Season 1, and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. The fact that this is only a very abbreviated list perhaps indicates how popular this niche in Asian animation has been, something that makes its relative lack of prevalence in American productions all the more remarkable. About the closest thing that those on this side of the pond can claim as their home grown mecha would be franchises like Transformers, most especially with regard to The Transformers, the mid-eighties animated effort whose popularity was reportedly at least partially responsible for sparking the live action Robot Jox, a film which received a rather limited theatrical release in 1990 after having been finished in 1987 but then finding itself shelved with the bankruptcy of its studio, the little remembered Empire Pictures.

Fans of Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1 may remember an episode entitled “A Taste of Armageddon,” wherein the dauntless Enterprise crew stumbled across two neighboring planets which had stopped shipping untold millions off to battle and had instead “mechanized” a long running war between them, turning the battle over to a computer which simulated attacks and then decreed how many citizens of any given culture needed to be killed as casualties. Another first season episode called “Arena” famously pitted Captain Kirk against a kind of hybrid lizard dinosaur creature named Gorn, with both combatants representing their respective species. Robot Jox borrows a couple of elements from both of these episodes, positing a future society which has in fact outlawed warfare, and appointed representative scapegoats (in a manner of speaking) who fight each other in lieu of their societies going to war.

This “high tech” (a questionable term, given this film’s lo-fi special effects) Gladiator combat premise first plays out as the credits come to a close with two nemeses named Hercules (Russell Case), representing Western civilization, and Alexander (Paul Koslo), a kind of nefarious Soviet-esque fighter (as with many science fiction properties, the film comes replete with its own vocabulary describing the various factions at play). The good guy doesn’t end up coming out on top of this particular fray, and it’s thought that some dastardly snooping into the heroes’ various arsenals has had something to do with the villains taking the day.

The second major showdown is between Alexander and Achilles (Gary Graham), who are battling for ultimate control of Alaska, and unfortunately this fight, too, goes sour for the good guy. This time some innocent bystanders are killed, when Achilles actually attempts to prevent some mayhem launched by the robotic hands of Alexander. The match is considered a draw, but that sets up things for the rest of the film, where Achilles initially withdraws after the horror of his last match, replaced by Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson), who may or may not be up to the challenge of defeating Alexander, a fighter who it’s already been shown isn’t above bending the rules a bit in order to ensure his victory.

Robot Jox is actually perfectly acceptable on a baseline level as an admittedly fairly cheesy kids’ entertainment, but the problem is Joe Haldeman’s screenplay seems to want to inject more adult content as well, offering supposedly compelling interactions between various characters that actually tend to only slow things down. There’s a certain predictability to this entire enterprise which also tends to weigh things down, with a needless romantic subplot involving Achilles and Athena and that aforementioned “mole in our ranks” subplot played too floridly for its own good.

Oddly, one thing that probably helped sinked Robot Jox at the box office turns out to be one of its most charming (if undeniably retro) elements, namely the stop motion animation utilized to bring the mecha battles to life. This is not the near seamlessly fluid work that has come to define such modern masters of the art like Nick Park ( Chicken Run) or Henry Selick (Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas), but a relatively more “herky jerky” look that recalls some of the earlier work of icons like Ray Harryhausen or even the lower fi offerings of studios like Rankin Bass (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Ironically, this is one element that will probably appeal both to the kids, who will be delighted by its slightly wacky quality, as well as adults, who will be swept up in waves of nostalgia.

Robot Jox Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Robot Jox is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a film that utilizes an unusually large amount of opticals and special effects, and the results here often offer a somewhat inconsistent viewing experience in terms of sharpness, clarity, and grain structure. The opening credits sequence for example has baked in dirt and grain that is so ubiquitous as to seem virtually stationary. Later elements, especially the stop motion sequences, offer variances in sharpness and grain structure that are probably largely unavoidable. Some of the green screen and matte moments in this film can look fairly ragged, with the increased resolution of the Blu-ray easily pointing out the veritable seams involved. However, when moving away from stop motion, opticals and other special effects sequences, things look rather good, with accurate and nicely suffused colors and nice detail, especially in close-ups. Contrast and black levels are both solid in these moments as well, and while black levels stay fairly consistent throughout this presentation, contrast is another element that shows certain variabilities in the stop motion moments. All in all taken with an understanding of the filming techniques involved, this is a solid if occasionally problematic presentation which should easily satisfy this film's coterie of fans.

Robot Jox Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Robot Jox features a nice sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix which capably supports the film's sometimes silly dialogue as well as the glut of effects during the mecha battles. An above average score by Frédéric Talgorn is also rendered without any issues and provides a nice boost to several key sequences. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range wide in this problem free track.

Robot Jox Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Look Back With Paul Koslo (1080p; 10:14) is a fun reminiscence from the actor who portrays Alexander in the film.


• Archival Interviews:

  Director Stuart Gordon (1080i; 7:27)

  Pyrotechnic Supervisor Joe Viskocil (1080i; 7:57)

  Associate Effects Director Paul Gentry (1080i; 7:14)

  Stop Motion Animator Paul Jessel (1080i; 7:48)

  Animation & Visual Effects Chris Endicott and Mark McGee (1080i; 9:29)

• Behind the Scenes Footage (1080i; 14:16)


• Trailers:

  Theatrical (1080i; 1:25)

  TV Spot (1080i; 00:31)

• Still Galleries:

  On Location (1080p; 7:00)

  Illustrations (1080p; 3:40)

• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon. Gordon is hosted by Michael Felsher, and gives a nice overview of the production.


• Audio Commentary with Associate Effects Director Paul Gentry, Mechanical Effects Artist Mark Rappaport and Stop Motion Animator Paul Jessel. This is a much more technically oriented commentary and features a wealth of information about how various effects sequences were achieved.

Robot Jox Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Robot Jox is just good, old fashioned, lo-fi fun and should be enjoyed by kids of all ages who like basic storylines featuring good versus evil, not to mention outsized rock 'em sock 'em robots battling to the death. The film is undeniably silly some (most?) of the time, but that's part of its retro allure. Technical merits are generally very good to excellent and as usual Shout! has assembled a very commendable selection of supplements. Recommended.