Movie Review: The New Barbarians (1983)
Set in 2019, this Italian Mad Max ripoff is very nearly everything I would want in a low budget action movie. It’s got explosions, vehicle stunts, a fun score from Claudio Simonetti of Goblin, and it’s got Fred Williamson.
Specifically it’s got Fred Williamson wearing Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet while shooting exploding arrows that blow off people’s heads.
Something that awesome can make up for just about any flaw a movie might have, and don’t kid yourself — this movie has plenty of those.
I found the first half to be a bit dull aside from the opening couple of scenes, and the action is never as exciting as it could be, because whenever there’s a stunt they use slow motion. It’s repetitive and it gets exhausting after a while. It’s just not an exciting way to shoot this stuff.
But I’ve seen plenty of worse Mad Max ripoffs (even some starring Fred Williamson), so overall I would say I enjoyed the movie quite a bit.
Rating: 6/10