Wheels of Fire (1985)

"Wheels of Fire" it's a 1985 post-apocalyptic film directed by Cirio H. Santiago an actionsploitation filmmaker, he does a decent job at directing the film, the film it's filled with action scenes, there's an action sequence almost every 5 minutes, this may be one of the better Mad Max rip-offs out there, but its still severely flawed.The best elements in the film are the action scenes, there are lots of shootouts and explosions, it's quite fun to watch, for the first half at least, there are a few interesting characters in the film, even if some of the acting its quite bad at times.The action becomes dull, fatiguing, and uninteresting by the second half of the film, and since the characters are not developed, you end up with a bunch of bland and boring action sequences.I would recommend the film for those who like this kind of film, a raunchy and sleazy exploitation film with lots of action, but be warned, it may get stale after a while.

At first glance, you would think that that Wheels of Fire is a complete Mad Max rip-off. That's because it is, quite clearly, a complete Mad Max rip-off. The film starts off with a preamble sequence that passes by far too quickly to get any particular scope on the story, but it basically runs thus: the film starts with our lone driver hero (and not bad at jumping massive drops either), Trace (Gary Watkins) drives over to meet his sister Arlee (Lynda Weismeier) and her new boyfriend Bo (Steve Parvin) at a surprisingly organised post-apocalyptic encampment that actually makes the wasteland look not-so-bad. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't last long. The boyfriend gets in a fight over car keys, it all gets out of hand, and everyone gets ticked off, forcing Trace and co. to beat a swift exit. They get separated, the boyfriend gets killed and Arlee gets sent off as fresh meat for the bad guys Scourge (Joseph Anderson) and the man who only ever says "Come on!", Scag (Jack S. Daniels). This, quite reasonably, puts Trace in a bad mood, so he teams up with bounty hunter and hawkmaster Stinger (Laura Banks), River Tam-alike Spike (Linda Grovenor) and short fuel tanker escort Whiz (Joe Zucchero), who doesn't seem to do much of anything other than "Ooga ooga!". He's basically R2D2, but less useful. The one thing I thought that let the film down (aside from some ropey acting) was that there were so many brilliant ideas that the writer had for this story, but with only an hour and a half running time, they had to cram everything in at once, which really disrupted the storyline. Everything moves too quickly. It's clear that the story is rich with opportunity and the writer wanted to express that. Considering how rich the characters and potential stories are here, I can't help wondering if they should've made it a TV series instead. At the very least, it would've given them more time to expand on the storyline and character development. Another thing I noticed was that the lead character is really well connected with the world around him, as is revealed as the story progresses. Everyone just seems to know him. Apparently he used to be "on the team" with those guys building the rocket. The main villain is his mortal enemy. He and the ambassador have a history. It's all clearly trying to build up the mythology behind this story. Gary, however, seems to have other ideas. The tagline for the film is "If you thought Max was mad… wait 'til you meet Trace!" Which is all well and good, but not once do you see him looking more than slightly annoyed, as if the warlord kidnapping his sister and sending her off to rape camp is little more than a minor nuisance. And don't get me started on Lynda Weismeyer. All she seems to do throughout the whole film is escape, get captured, scream and show off her credentials. And when she finally does something meaningful, she gets gunned down. Twice. Still, there is a lot to love the film for. Linda Grovenor plays her turn as the psychic Spike with this wonderful sense of warmth and freshness that, in a film set on a wasted Earth, makes her seem incredibly rare. From the moment she first appears on-screen, you just feel for her. She's a wonderful addition to the cast and when the big fight at the climax comes around, she doesn't just stay in the sidelines. Oh no, she really kicks ass, with nothing but a knife. She gives the villains what for in a way that should be right up there with Summer Glau's Reaver fight at the end of Serenity. Grovenor really shines in this role and they were truly lucky to have her on the film. And on the flipside of kick-ass heroines, Laura Banks' bounty hunter Stinger, while maybe not a stand-out against the likes of Princess Leia, Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley, she could certainly hold her own. She's more than a match for Trace, a really well-rounded character who seems to be genuinely conflicted. And the fact that SHE ALSO HANDLES A BIRD-OF-PREY just makes her seem ALL THE MORE BADASS. Beat that, Virginia Hey. And then there's the cars. Trace delivers fiery justice from the roof-mounted flamethrower on his gorgeous jet-black '64 Ford Mustang. Funny how everyone in the future drives muscle cars

They are shown not just once but often in a 30 minutes period so if that's not your cup of tea,avoid this film!This of course is a total MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR rip off featuring a little bit of underground action with monster rejects from THE TIME MACHINE!The other girls in the film are Laura Banks (stinger)a relatively flat chested action woman and Linda Grovenor(Spike), a girl who can read minds. Laura has a very brief topless scene,Linda doesn't.Gary Watkins(trace) is the mad max of this film. He does cruel things like burning people with a flame thrower but we're so caught up in this comic book adventure (even though it's not very good!) that we just don't want to analyze the cruelty of the act of burning people alive! That would slow the pleasure of the action and it would leave the film without a hero!Some might say that this is a cheap effort but you still must praise the works of the stunt people and effects people.There are many explosions and that flame thrower comes very close to the stuntmen who catch on fire.There is a sense of danger and you're asking yourself,how did they do it?(in a manner of keeping everybody safe.)So in conclusion,it's mostly the girls that makes this film watchable and we can only thank the filmmakers that it lasts under 90 minutes!

I was watching the great movie Barbarian Queen, when it was over we decided to FFWD to see if there was anything extra on the video. To our surprise we saw the best preview ever, the title.....Wheel of Fire. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen, one of the best parts was when they strapped the main character's sister to the hood of a car, topless. If you're ever bored out of your mind rent Barbarian Queen just the see the end preview