2019: After the Fall of New York (1984)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Dreadfully Boring

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Undemanding, ultimately just plain fun post-apocalypse addition to the Italian cycle of sci-fi films, and another feather in the cap of director Sergio Martino (ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN) – so far I haven't seen an unenjoyable film directed by this underrated man. The menu for this particular outing is cheese, cheese and more cheese, with action thriving on an incredible low budget (although not a zero budget) and the plot being pretty much ripped off from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK: a man is sent into a futuristic New York, has to acquire the last fertile woman on earth, and escape again.It's as simple as that, although there are lots of companions along the way, a couple of twists, conspiracies and supposed shocks which aren't really too surprising after all. Martino is one of my favourite of the Italian trash directors and here he shows a firm hand regards the pacing, which throws in plenty of action throughout to make the film fly by. As a result it far surpasses the Carpenter film which it ripped of in the first place.Just about every Italian post-apocalypse film cliché is thrown into this blender of a film at some point or another : we have the masked bad guys riding around on horseback (see also SHE); the cyborgs or androids (any post-1980 sci-fi film, although they predate THE TERMINATOR by a year here); the attractive female companion; the souped-up vehicles and chase scenes a la MAD MAX 2 (relegated to a single pointless car battle at the film's opening); cheap and cheesy laser beam shots (popular in any post-STAR WARS sci-fi film), weird sound effects, dwarfs and even a few gore effects which are fleeting but fun (the eye gouging and head explosion are notables).The emphasis is on action, with a ton of surprisingly efficient chase scenes, shoot-outs, fist-fights and plenty more shenanigans of this variety. Okay, so its not gonna equal the scope of TERMINATOR 2, but at least it is enjoyable in a cheap kind of way. Martino fills his movie with miniature effects work which is surprisingly decent and while many of the film's props are cheap-looking, I always appreciate the effort that goes into their creation – far better than just throwing in a CGI effect shot created on the computer as with today's cinema.Trash fans will have fun spotting the various familiar cast members. That's Haruhiko Yamanouchi (ENDGAME) as a rat-eating gang leader; lean elder Romano Puppo (GUN LAW) as the tough ally; overacting wannabe-thesp Edmund Purdom (PIECES) as the dying President; handsome, Bruce Campbell-lookalike Michael Sopkiw (BLASTFIGHTER) as the long-haired leading man; plus big George Eastman (ANTHROPOPHAGUS THE BEAST) as the hilariously – and simply – titled 'Big Ape'. It's all good and undemanding fun for fans of this particular sub-genre, and you could do a lot, lot worse.

A Mad Max-like rogue soldier is asked by the President of the new world, to go to New York (Which is of course a wasteland) and rescue the last fertile woman on earth, while on the mission he runs into a band of good mutants, savage cannibalistic gangs and a good midget who knows the location of the last fertile woman, while on the way the totalitarian establishment conducts experiments and also want to find the last fertile woman on earth. 2019:Fall Of New York actually predates Hell Comes To Frogtown and Cyborg which basically borrow plot elements from this movie. Of course the main inspiration here is Escape From New York and Mad Max, in fact the main lead looks sort of like Kurt Russell, but with that said this is actually a fun movie. Indeed I was shocked at how invested I was in the hero's plight. I also found many elements interesting, the first one being that our heroes are aided by those devastated physically by the nuclear holocaust, usually they serve as villains but here they aid the heroes in their fight against the normal looking soldiers in the employ of a ruthless cult. Sure the message doesn't mean much and the film is goofy but this element adds likability to the characters and I found myself strangely engrossed in the hero's mission. In fact, for a no-name cast this is actually pretty decently acted. The movie could've used a tighter pace, and the ending seems rushed but as far as Escape From New York rip offs go, this is a very enjoyable product.**1/2 Out Of 4-(Pretty Good)

Ripping off popular American films and making cheaper, sleazier, gorier, more exploitative and violent cash-ins was very popular among some Italian filmmakers in the late 70s and 80s, and the results were often vastly entertaining. And while Sergio Martino "2019 - Dopo La Caduta Di New York" aka. "2019 - After the Fall of New York" of 1983 is not the only Italian Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi film that was not only obviously inspired by, but shamelessly rips off John Carpenter's "Escape from New York", it is one of the most entertaining and violent and simply bad-ass ones. Some people seem to be bothered by films of this kind copying American classics. And I won't deny that this film does so very obviously. What these people seem to forget is that many American cult-cinema genres were clearly inspired by typically Italian genres. This film, "2019 - After The Fall of New York", is criticized for ripping off Carpenter's "Escape From New York". Carpenter is most famous for factually creating the Slasher-genre with "Halloween" (1978), which was strongly influenced by the (superior) Italian Giallo, a genre of which director Sergio Martino is one of the supreme masters. Particularly Martino's film "I Corpi Presentano Tracce De La Violenzia Carnale" aka. "Torso" (1973) was a very obvious influence for the Slasher genre; yet I have never heard anyone bitching about how Slasher films 'rip off' Martino's films. Thus much for those who can't stop whining about "2019" ripping off a Classic.As a Giallo-fan, I will always admire Sergio Martino most for masterpieces like "Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key" (1972), "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1971) or "Torso" (1973), but, even when he operates outside the Giallo/Horror genre, Martino delivers, as proved by films like his violent latter-day Spaghetti Western "Mannaja" (1978), or this highly entertaining film. While "2019" is by no means a stroke of genius, and not nearly one of Martino's most memorable films, it definitely ranks among the better Post-Apocalyptic Italian Sci-Fi/Action flicks from the early 80s.2019: A nuclear war has extinguished a large part of the world's population and left the surviving women infertile. In fifteen years, no baby has been born. The winning party, a European/Asian/African federation called Eurax have proclaimed themselves the winners, whereas its enemies from the Pan-American Confederacy keep operating secretly from Alaska. Both parties are keen on finding fertile women in order to rescue mankind from its doom. When a fertile woman is spotted in New York, Parsifal, a tough and solitary race-driver and drifter, is sent by the Confederacy in order to recover her. The former American Metropolis, however, has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland reigned by the occupying Eurax and violent gangs, and once one is in there, it is impossible to get out... As admitted above, the similarities to "Escape From New York" are numerous (even the hero looks like Kurt Russell as Snake)and it also rips off other films such as the first two "Mad Max" films, but, as long as one isn't bothered by that, "2019" is a very cool little flick of its own right. As usual for Italian Exploitation rip-offs, this is quite a bit gorier and nastier than "Escape from NY" and includes some very gory scenes. Contrary to my expectations, there was hardly any sex or nudity, however. The post-apocalyptic scenario is done with style, and the action sequences are very well-done. My fellow Italian exploitation fans will be glad to see cult-actor George Eastman in a supporting role. Overall, "2019 - After the Fall of New York" is certainly no must-see, but it is definitely fun, and especially recommended to fans of Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Action.

If you are reading this, you probably are interested in post-apocalyptic movies and you probably already seen movies like Mad Max and Escape From New York. It's not a secret that this movie was inspired by those films, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Actually I think if you liked those films, you'll like this one too. Maybe it's not that good, but it has more gangs, more colorful characters and much more action sequences (mayebe even better action sequences). Since Mad Max have already showed us what the future is going to be like, this movie gives us an opportunity to travel around a post-apocalyptic wastelands to get to know better this kind of world and to experience all sorts of adventures. There's all sorts of different characters like cyborgs, lonely wasteland warriors, infected people and many others. Like I already have mentioned, this movie has a lot of great action. There's some great car-chase scenes, which were surprisingly well made and looked very exiting. Also there was lot's of fighting scenes, with some great acrobatic tricks and the fighters sometimes used strange looking weapons, which cosed lots of blood and some chopped-off limbs. Shoot-outs were great too, only there was too little of them. The acting (if you care about the acting) was good, actually there was lots of great actors in this film, though not many of them are known today. So if you are fan of post-apocalyptic movies, you just have to watch this one.