Where to watch The Blood of Heroes
1 Star
The Blood of Heroes is a post-civilization sports movie. It features a band of athletes nicknamed the “juggers” and the game itself involves wrestling, jousting, slashing, and a dog skull. The movie is a grimy, uninvolved mess that uses 90 minutes of running time to make the audience confused. Rutger Hauer appears in his umpteenth sci-fi picture. This time Blade Runner writer David Peoples and that film’s villain, Hauer, have collaborated on a dud.
Scarred gladiator Sallow (Rutger Hauer) and his vagabond crew of “players” amuse the population by engaging in a brutal game called jugging. Hauer is the veteran on the squad and becomes impressed by a diminutive, but fearless girl (Joan Chen) who wants to join the team. He becomes a mentor to the female apprentice as they make their way north to challenge the most brutal juggers in the league.
Obviously inspired by George Miller’s minimalistic Mad Max films, this depressing effort lacks the style, pacing, and ingenuity of Miller’s influential series. The film features several action scenes, but the editing is subpar and confuses, while the constant combat becomes ineffectual by the film’s final showdown. Notable thespians Vincent D’Onofrio and Delroy Lindo class up the joint, but the film unwisely focuses on the lame relationship between Hauer and Chen.
Director: David Webb Peoples
Stars: Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, Vincent D’Onofrio