NEON CITY
US/Canada, 1999, 99 minutes, Colour.
Michael Ironside, Vanity, Lyle Alzado, Valerie Wildman, Nick Klar, Juliet Landau, Arsenio ‘Sonny’ Trinidad, Richard Sanders, Monte Markham.
Directed by Monte Markham.
It is soon fairly clear that Neon City is a North American derivative of the Mad Max films. The setting is a future where Earth has been destroyed and very few humans live, healthy, because most have been transformed into mutants. The law requires the surrender and destruction of mutants.
Michael Ironside portrays a kind of Mad Max figure. Happily married, his child was taken from himself and his wife as a mutant. They separated and she has become dependent on men friends. In the meantime, he has gone out as a bounty hunter, rounding up those wanted by the government.
As the film opens, he arrives in a town and finds that his friend, the police captain (played by director Monte Markham) wants him to accompany a bus going north to Neon City. At this stage, some commentators note, the film turns into a variation of the classic Stage Coach.
The film is about the journey, its many hazards, the difficulties in the weather, strange phenomena in the desert with the sands, the heat, as well as encountering the outlaws who are preying on the people in the cities as well as travelling through the countryside. They also stay for shelter at various houses, bars – and the audience sees a range of characters, some sympathetic, especially children who are not mutants but whose parents are.
The bounty hunter also has a prisoner, played by model Vanity, who seems tough but has a very strong story when she finally recounts it. It also provides for some softening of the bounty hunter’s heart and the possibility of hope and love. In the meantime, his former wife is also travelling to Neon City to marry a friend. Others on the bus include a fake doctor who has murdered a real doctor, attempts to rape one of the travellers – a wealthy woman whose father is an authority in Neon City. More sympathetic is the bus driver, played by Lyle Alzado, the professional footballer who confessed to taking steroids and who died in his early forties from brain cancer which he attributed to the steroids. There is also an oriental man who seems mysterious – but, it is revealed, it is he who invented the particular compounds and chemicals which have led to the mutant experience. He wants to change and alter things but cannot get enough government and financial support.
When all this is put together, it is a variation on classic American film themes – but the presentation, and dialogue, is fairly rough and ready. The film seems to be somewhat inexpensive and not a lot has been spent on special effects.
While the film offers a vision of a problematic future, this theme has been done particularly well by many other films, an example of which, with some similarities of plot, is the Bruce Willis film, Surrogates.
1.The popularity of this genre? The influence of Mad Max?
2.The futuristic theme, the mid-21st century, the changes in temperature, devastation of the land, mutant people? Societies trying to survive? The outsiders and their harassing ordinary citizens? The role of the police?
3.The title – as a goal for the end of a journey and quest?
4.The landscapes, the desert, the squalid areas, the cities? The lack of special effects? The use of makeup for the mutants? Some colour effects to suggest the difficult future?
5.Harry M. Stark, the Mad Max figure, his back-story, his relationship with Sandy, the taking of their child, the separation of the couple, his despising of her, her trying to find other men for support? His being a bounty hunter, taking in Reno, his harsh treatment of her? Trying to get money, discovering that she was a valuable property? Wanting to take her to Neon City? His encounter with Captain Raymond, his blaming Raymond for not helping with his son, yet the friendship? His refusal to go on the bus, his finally agreeing? His accompanying the group, tough attitudes, with the driver? The clashes with Sandy? Protecting the group from the harassing attackers? At the bar, promising to save the child? The interaction with the doctor? The discovery of the truth, the violent confrontation? A tough hero? With Reno, hearing her story, the relationship? A conventional variation on Mad Max?
6.Captain Raymond, trying to keep order, the police, the bus to Neon City? The woman and her being accompanied, her important father wanting her to arrive safely?
7.Reno, tough, thought of as a prostitute, the reality, the hardships, her sacrificing herself for her family? With Harry, on the trip, the relationship?
8.Bulk, the sympathetic driver? His contribution? Doctor Tom, seeming to be a genuine doctor, helping? His attack on the young woman, being unmasked, the violent confrontation?
9.The rich woman, her background, part of the group, travelling to get married, to meet her father?
10.The inventor, from the Orient, keeping quiet, the discovery of the truth, his being let go – and his desire to remedy things?
11.The mutant characters, the sense of pessimism? The people owning the bar and their trying to protect their son?
12.The authorities, Captain Jenkins, Harry Stark’s criticism of him, the confrontation at the end?
13.The familiar ingredients for this kind of futuristic action film?
