Oblivion Movie Review

It's cowboys versus aliens in this Charles Band production, not the first sci-fi western by a long shot but pretty much the only one that doesn't make the mistake of taking itself seriously. On a frontier planet the sheriff of Oblivion is murdered by outlaws led by reptilian desperado Redeye. The lawman's peace-loving son (genetically unable to do violence, unless it's convenient to the script) reluctantly returns to the settlement to face the bad guys. Pic has fun with the cliches instead of merely slouching through them, and a droll gallery of characters includes Star Trek’s George Takei as a drunken doctor, Carel Struycken as a giant psychic undertaker, and Julie Newmar spoofing her Batman Catwoman persona as the overtly feline town madame. Like other Full Moon productions, this was shot back-to-back with its own sequel, Backlash.

1994 (PG-13) 94m/C Richard Joseph Paul, Andrew Divoff, Jackie Swanson, Meg Foster, Isaac Hayes, Julie Newmar, Carel Struycken, George Takei; D: Sam Irvin; W: Peter David; M: Pino Donaggio. VHS, Beta PAR