There are films that fail simply for being made before their time. One of the more drastic examples is Solarbabies, 1986 science fiction film directed by Alan Johnson, known as one of the more infamous flops of its time and dark chapter in the otherwise impressive producing career of Mel Brooks.
The plot is set decades after the catastrophe that cause massive drought, turning most of the Earth into desert. Survivors depend on water which is mostly controlled by oppressive Protectorate, which, among other things, runs orphanages where children and adolescents are indoctrinated into obeying its police state. Some of those youths, however, use every opportunity to rebel, like the small group that plays “skateball” – game which is combination of lacrosse and hockey on roller skates – and proudly call their team “Solarbabies”. One of their fans is Daniel (played by Lukas Haas), young deaf boy who accidentally finds strange glowing orb, which is actually an alien with telepathic and other abilities, including bringing water out of thin air. Darstar (played by Adrian Pasdar) is an adolescent who came to orphanage from Tchiganis, nomadic people living in the desert, and he is convinced that the orb, called “Bodhi” by Daniel and his friends, is something out of his people’s legends. He takes Bodhi and goes to desert, only to be followed by Daniel. Daniel’s friends – Terra (played by Jamie Gertz), Patric (played by Jason Patric), Metron (played by James LeGros), Rabbit (played by Claude Brooks) and Tug (played by Peter DeLuise) – escape the orphanage in order to find the boy. They are pursued by Strictor Grock (played by Richard Jordan), Protectorate’s police commander who would stop at nothing to catch them and destroy the orb.
Production of Solarbabies was beset with all kinds of logistical and technical problems, which resulted in bloated budget that made financial disaster at box office inevitable. For Brooks even bigger problem was in terrible reviews which made this film into one of the more notorious failures of its time. Critics’ hostility, however, can be best explained with the idea of post-apocalyptic and dystopian film with teen protagonists looking preposterous in 1980s. Three decades later that same concept, embodied in films like Hunger Games and TV series like The 100, was winning formula. Another complaint of the critics was the lack of originality, with script borrowing concepts and iconography from E.T., Dune and Mad Max films that were somewhat too fresh in the memory. Solarbabies suffers a lot during inevitable comparisons with those films, looking quite bad. There are, of course, serious flaws in it. Villains are laughably one-dimensional, and that includes mad scientist played by sinister-looking Sarah Douglas. Composer Maurice Jarre delivers another uninspired and forgettable score. Adrian Pasdar is terribly miscast and, despite all of his efforts, looks unconvincing as half-mystical young nomad. Some of the special effects, despite taking a lot of film’s budget, look quite dated. Same can be said for the hairstyles, that easily hint that the film was made in 1980s.
On the other hand, there are some elements of that badness that help this film cross the line between bad and “it’s so bad it’s good”, especially near the end when protagonists use their roller-skating skills in order to defeat Protectorate in its main base. The script, like in all good action films, does try to flesh out the protagonists and the young cast is mostly enthusiastic, especially young Lukas Haas. The production design, costumes and props are well done and help this film depict realistic and, at times, interesting version of the future. There are some hints that this film could have been deeper, like the script using some of the concepts from the world’s religions like Christianity and Buddhism, but this opportunity wasn’t properly used. There are some hints of brilliance, like the comical characters of desert bounty hunters played by Alexei Sayle and Bruce Payne. Yet, those moments aren’t enough to lift this film from being merely watchable. Although much better than its reputation might suggest, Solarbabies can be recommended mostly to the audience which is more curious or nostalgic towards 1980s.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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