37 years ago, this movie tried to compete with Predator, but it was definitely not up to par!

In 1988, Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger came out a year earlier and approached $100 million on a budget of $15 million, and there is no doubt that the second cinema did not try something with such a good deal.

It is with his now customary opportunism that we find Italian director Bruno Mattei – here under the pseudonym Vincent Downey – determined to capitalize on the frenzy surrounding the heroes trapped in the jungle. He does not leave prey to the idea of ​​a commando sent on a mission and confronts a dangerous creature, but with an irony.

No similarities, a unique film!

In this movie called Robowar, the creature is not an alien with thermal vision, but an ultra-perfect robot in the art of war, Omega-1, with pixel vision. It’s like an indecipherable mess on the screen and the robot is talking, but we can’t hear anything because of the mixing of the “robot voice”.

Predator shots are reproduced identically, as well as some dynamics in Commando, we also find an appetite for “punchlines”. We see the commando leader throw a knife that knocks the opponent against the wall and says with a wink: “We’re not moving anymore.”

Filmed in the Philippines, we cannot escape the unhindered slaughter of the natives, who are shown as wild beasts and which the American heroes shoot with great good humor and disturbing ease. When it comes to Predator, we get shots of guns and big muscles, and the film’s construction is the same.

A blind encounter in the jungle, an attack on a native camp, the rescue of a woman in danger, the tracking of a monster, the slow elimination of team members and the confrontation between the leader of the group and the creature: everything is copied from Schwarz’s film.

Robovar’s execution is devastating. Bruno Mattei is far from John McTiernan’s talent for creating anxiety-inducing jungle climates. Despite the traps set by the robot, the actors and the visuals fail to convey the slightest tension. There remains the urge to shamelessly ride someone else’s success while trying to make a few bucks in the process. From the great Matthew!