‘Samurai’ a Too-Familiar Post-Apocalyptic Odyssey

Forget Sputnik. According to the tedious “Six-String Samurai” the big news of 1957 is not that the USSR beat the U.S. into space by launching a satellite but that Russia bombed us to smithereens and took over the country except for that desert oasis stronghold “Lost” Vegas. Forget, too, that Elvis died in 1977 but instead lived on another two decades, reigning in Vegas as the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

It would seem, too, that Buddy Holly didn’t die in that plane crash either, and he--or a Buddy (Jeffrey Falcon, also co-writer, action director and production designer) clearly patterned after him--appears in a desert landscape, trudging off to Vegas to claim Elvis’ at-last-empty throne. Soon tagging after him is the Kid (Justin McGuire).

That’s the idea behind Lance Mungia’s disappointing first feature--basically the latest retread of “The Road Warrior” with a rock twist, a touch of “El Topo” and a smidgen of “The Seventh Seal” thrown in for good measure.

To the accompaniment of the energetic but eventually monotonous Red Elvises, seen briefly performing in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Mungia takes us down a way, way overly familiar road in which our dynamic duo is in constant menace from countless grungy types, some of whom have ramshackle vehicles. Helpfully, Buddy is a swordsman of such skill he’d put Zorro to shame, but Mungia’s constant attempts at humor result only in a chuckle here and there.

There’s a curiously lifeless quality to this substandard post-apocalyptic odyssey that’s underlined by the post-synchronization of much of the film’s dialogue, and “Six-String Samurai” really doesn’t kick in until its concluding sequence, which is way too late to make much difference. “Six-String Samurai’s” best hope is to land midnight movie slots, when audiences are up for free-wheeling zaniness, never mind if it’s done well or been done before.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for martial arts and sword fight violence. Times guidelines: The violence is too strong for children.

‘Six-String Samurai’

Jeffrey Falcon: Buddy

Justin McGuire: The Kid

Stephane Gauger: Death

John Sakisian: Russian General

A Palm Pictures release of an HSX Films production. Director Lance Mungia. Producers Michael Burns & Leanna Creel. Screenplay by Mungia & Jeffrey Falcon. Cinematographer Kristian Bernier. Editor James Frisa. Costume and production designer Falcon. Music The Red Elvises, others. Art directors Casey Lurie & Scooter Schamus. Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes.

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* At selected theaters in Los Angeles and Orange counties.