90s Sci-Fi Giant Mech Beatdown Never Had A Chance In Theaters Streaming Today For Free

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 55 seconds ago

Giant mechs are awesome. It’s why Pacific Rim was a hit, a little anime franchise you may have heard of called Gundam, and the Power Rangers wouldn’t be as popular if not for the Zords. In 1987, director Stuart Gordon shifted gears from low-budget horror to create Robot Jox, a movie all about giant mechs duking it out. It’s not the movie’s fault that it crashed and burned at the box office when it was finally released in 1990. Today you can catch the mech action for free on YouTube, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV.

Giant Mech Fights Are Awesome

Set 50 years after nuclear armageddon wiped out most of the planet the surviving nations have given up on war and instead resolve their differences through gladiatorial mech combat. The Market (America) and The Confederation (Russia) are set to have a duel for the rights to Alaska. Russia’s champion Alexander takes on Achilles from America, but when a fist-missile goes wild, Achilles is knocked into the stands and kills 300 spectators.The special effects for that scene have to be seen to be believed. The model for Achilles mech topples straight back into the set. 

Achilles then decides to retire from the life of a Robot Jox. The genetically enhanced Athena takes over for America, and this time, the American team keeps information confidential to stop a suspected Soviet spy. Now with the fight on equal footing, another giant mech duel takes place with lasers, fists, and even a brief trip to space. Let’s be honest, the plot isn’t important, it’s an excuse for the mech fight, and to that end, Robot Jox delivers.

Robot Jox Spent Years In Production Hell

Stuart Gordon was inspired by Transformers to make a giant mech live-action film, but no one thought he’d use a sci-fi version of The Illiad written by the author of The Forever War  Joe Haldeman to do so. By the time a script was finalized, and filming took palace, Robot Jox was held up in production hell due to Empire Pictures impending bankruptcy. Trolls and Terrorvision failed to light the box office on fire causing the low-budget production company to overspend picking up distribution rights for over 40 films, and a European castle. 

The failure of Robot Jox was a perfect storm of money problems and poor timing, since by 1990, Transformers wasn’t as hot as they were in 1986 and sic-fi in general had become a significantly harder sell. Rapid advances in CGI technology turned the special effect-filled mech fights into a quaint curiosity by comparison to what was already in theaters. And yet, the film made such an impression on those who managed to watch it, that Pacific Rim was compared to it nearly 30 years later. 

Audiences were robbed of a Robot Jox sequel which Gordon said would involve aliens. In fact, 2011’s Pacific Rim also never received a sequel, we don’t acknowledge Pacific Rim: Uprising, meaning it’s been over 15 years since we had a great live action giant mech movie. You can help fill the void by checking out Robot Jox on Tubi, The Roku Channel, YouTube, and Pluto TV.