The Final Executioner (1984)

Overrated

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

And here we have more Italian post-apocalyptic trash for masochistic fans of the genre. Kicking off with some stock footage of nuclear explosions and volcanoes (?), a monotonous voice-over tells us that society has been contaminated by radioactivity. Those free of the contamination now hunt the others for sport. It's an interesting premise and one that undoubtedly helped to influence THE RUNNING MAN.Yes, we're in cheap B-movie territory here, and while this film is indeed poorly-made, it also turns out to be quite watchable and exciting at times. We are introduced to yet another violent society and watch as a group of helpless survivors are massacred in slow-motion by a cruel gang of armed men and women. The slow-motion is obviously intended to give this scene some kind of epic proportions, and manages to be somehow effective. Two survivors remain; our stony-faced hero, and his wife. Inevitably the two are captured, the woman is raped and shot dead, and the man shot and left for dead.Thankfully, though, help arrives in the form of Woody Strode, the black actor who appeared in SPARTACUS all those years ago. Strode is still in fine shape for a man reaching 70 and shows off his mean fighting skills during the film's progress. His screen presence certainly makes the film easier to bear, as he stands head and shoulders over all the charisma-free non-actors filling the rest of the cast (incidentally, they're all a sweaty bunch of losers, I guess nobody really washes in the future).From then on, our hero, played by William Mang, must build up his strength and his cunning to take revenge on the murderers and become the figure of the title. This involves running through a corridor of swinging sacks, crawling along a bridge covered in barbed wire and running through a pipe also filled with barbed wire. What relevance these moments have for later in the film I don't really know; he doesn't encounter any obstacles faintly resembling these at all when he finally takes his revenge. They are certainly amusing though. The latter half of the film sees Mang picking off the scum who did his wife in one by one.The makers of this film ought to have some kudos for making each death scene creative, and not just standard bang-bang fare. One bad guy gets a knife in the stomach, another is blown up and an escapee is blown up by a booby-trapped motorcycle (amusingly the rider of the bike is seen to catch alight BEFORE the bike does!). In the end there are just two of the hunters left, a creepy miserable woman and an extremely flamboyant hunter, played by Harrison Muller, who likes to wear a long white scarf for some reason. Mang fights dirty and Strode turns up to save the day. They all live happily ever after. The end.One thing that you cannot say this film is, is boring. There's plenty of action to keep things moving along, a lot of fist-fights and gun battles. The film is not particularly gory although there is some blood, and there is also a high dose of sex and nudity which seems somewhat surprising considering the genre which this film is in. Okay, so the acting is bad and the music is annoying, but fans of this trash would probably see these as plus points anyway (that includes me, sadly). THE FINAL EXECUTIONER is a fun, light and meaningless film which is a different way to spend an hour and a half, but is also quite forgettable.

This film is absolutely appalling and awful. It's not low budget, it's a no budget film that makes Ed Wood's movies look like art. The acting is abysmal but sets and props are worse then anything I have ever seen. An ordinary subway train is used to transport people to the evil zone of killer mutants, Woddy Strode has one bullet and the fight scenes are shot in a disused gravel pit. There is sadism as you would expect from an 80s Italian video nasty. No talent was used to make this film. And the female love interest has a huge bhind- Italian taste maybe. Even for 80s Italian standards this film is pretty damn awful but I guess it came out at a time when there weren't so many films available on video or viewers weren't really discerning. This piece of crap has no entertainment value whatsoever and it's not even funny, just boring and extremely cheap. It's actually and insult to the most stupid audience. I just wonder how on earth an actor like Woody Strode ended up ia a turkey like this?

Here's a decidedly average Italian post apocalyptic take on the hunting/killing humans for sport theme ala The Most Dangerous Game, Turkey Shoot, Gymkata and The Running Man.Certainly the film reviewed here is nowhere near as much fun as the other listed entries and is furthermore dragged down by poor voice over work, generally bland action sequences, a number of entirely tasteless scenes such as a prolonged rape sequence and some truly stupid and illogical points throughout.Take for example towards the end of the film, when our hero manages to infiltrate the compound of the villains. He initially kills a sentry and leaves him in his jeep. Upon discovery of the said corpse, the villains response? (bearing in mind that our hero has come to brutally murder them all) – They resolve to wait until the next morning to look for the culprit (!!!!!!!!!!)However, I suppose to be fair the film remains nonetheless about watchable if you can suspend your disbelief during such stupid scenes and does benefit immensely by the presence of the always excellent Woody Strode (even if his screen time is very limited)Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but still just about worthy of a watch for Italian B-Movie enthusiasts.

Earth has been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Well, parts of the Earth, because somewhere in Italy, a band of purebred survivors--those without radioactive contamination--are holed up in a massive mansion surrounded by lush grounds, waiting for the next opportunity to go hunting for those with polluted blood. The Final Executioner is the story of one of their would be victims, Alan (William Mang, who looks, not surprisingly, a lot like Kurt Russell), and his efforts to take down the legally sanctioned hunters, who are led by Edra (Marina Costa) and Erasmus (Harrison Muller Jr. ). Alan has been trained to kill by former NYPD cop Sam (Woody Strode) who mostly hangs around giving his pupil moral support and mooching for tinned meat. Strode is by far the best thing about the film, though he doesn't look at all well and only appears for about a third of the running time. As for the story, it's a blending of elements from better films and stories, including Ten Little Indians, The Most Dangerous Game, and Escape From New York. The Final Executioner moves along at a fair pace and provides reasonable entertainment for less discriminate action fans.