Two for One
L. Cabos | planet earth | 10/06/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A deal between Warner Home Video & Best Buy, one of a group of double titles. BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH, starring Kerwin Matthews and several refuges from early Bond films -- including the late Ed Bishop -- is non-remarkable tale of a renegade Chinese general burrowing through the earth to invade and topple America.
THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR from 1975 tells of a world 37 years in the future when society has collapsed and the survivors live in barracaded communities. It is a brutal place (it actually takes place in 2012!) where cannibalism is rumored to be happening. In the immediate story you have the Baron (Max Von Sydow) the leader of one such community trying to stave death. Against them are the savage group led by Carrot (B-movie Legend William Smith). Into this mix comes a killer for hire named Carson (Yul Brynner). He throws his lot in with the Baron and ultimately is asked to take the Baron's pregnant daughter and the surviving crop seeds to an island Carson knows of off of North Carolina.
This is a relatively low budget effort written & directed by Rober Clouse (ENTER THE DRAGON). Fairly entertaining, it is, however typical of the apocalyptic films of the time in how badly it imagined the human race slipping: A BOY AND HIS DOG, SOYLENT GREEN, DAMNATION ALLEY, et al. Von Sydow turns in his usual measured performance. Brynner is ok as Carson, albeit too old. What can you say about Big Bill Smith? The best crazed, over the edge psycho in movies. A glimpse into how the future was forseen by the people of the 1970's. Score is Gil Mille, best remembered for KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER tv series."
