Bad Movie Monday: Rome 2072: The New Gladiators

1984's Rome 2072: The New Gladiators is basically the same film as The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger except the new gladiators ride motorcycles as they kill each other. A world wide television station has a hit TV program by the name of Kill Bike. Drake, the hero of Kill Bike, is framed for the murder of his wife and is thrust into a gladiator type show with the worst criminals from around the world. The winner of the show gets a full pardon and is free from prison.

The motorcycle scenes take up almost half the movie. Who would think that men fighting to the death on motorcycles would be so boring? Director Lucio Fulci achieves this with flying colors.

Highlights: Shots of the futuristic city of Rome are beautiful; The murder of Drake's wife is one of the most confusing scenes I've ever seen; No bras in the future; Kill Bike is a battle to the death and at the beginning of each episode the announcer introduces each motorcycle rider and mentions that each participant is "undefeated." Uh, no shit.