IR Film Review: WARRIORS OF THE WASTELAND [Well Go USA]
The context of apocalyptic movies is that in order to work they have to be bathed in myth. "Warriors Of The Wasteland" takes into account the fact that fuel would take on a key part of any survival. "Waterworld" did similar in a way. Here the film is bookended by a drifter playing a lute covered in bandages speaking of a man who challenged a city. The backstory involves a clan ruled by the all-seeing sword and a village that was burned to the ground by a rival force. The sword was a means of status but also revenge. We begin to follow the story of another drifter named Jovan (Igor Benčina) who get pulled into a village (like an atoll) where he is taken to a matchmaking event (which is more like a connective breeding space). But in reality it is about one village stealing from another. John hijacks a bride who ends up being a woman Ande (Isidora Simijonović) not even connected to the village who is forced into slavery. Jovan buys her debt to try to track down the sword. This leads to an arena in the desert where the first of the best sword fights happen. Jovan has virtue but protection means little in this world. It is more about power.
The film jumps back and forth to the pub in the middle of the wasteland so the endgame makes sense. There is also a balance of power going back and forth in the city. Jovan’s sister is a bounty hunter of sorts but her true position is not as well formed as is Ande whom Jovan saves from impending doom (and yet he gambles her life like a marker -- though he tells her she doesn't have to worry). The move towards showing dominance in the city through the siege of the throne seems visually cool but nonetheless derivative in many ways of other tales like this. Jovan is always after the sword but it is never made clear what he and his family stand for except to protect the sword and build their clan around it. The final battle on a rooftop as acid rain falls is a neat idea but nevertheless is more conceptual than practically executed. Some of the landscapes are breathtaking with some great shots of the Serbian horizon while other scenes like the industrialized city is done as a mix of FX but not with an interrelation to the land. “Warriors Of The Wasteland” is a fairly fun watch. The visuals are good though the sound and ADR (obviously because different languages were spoken on set) could have been much much better. That said, the film tries to be ambitious despite an uneven mythology . C+
By Tim Wassberg
