When I heard that there was a movie based on one of my favourite book series, I had to see it. Sadly I have to say I needn't have bothered.
I understand that in the land of low budget films, changes have to be made to stay under the salary cap. A few tweaks to certain events or the storyline which are relatively subtle are fine. But when a story is already set out, like that of Deathlands: Homeward Bound, these changes just lead to disappointment. Where was Doc, and that girl Lori Quint who was with them in the novel? Could they not afford to pay the actors? They didn't even mention the MAT-TRANS systems from the novels, but I won't dwindle on that. It's better unmentioned then completely changed, like Jak for instance. What was going through the screenplay writers head when he turned the albino youth into a raging mutant.
I thought the acting was quite good, not how I imagined but that's understandable. Except for J.B, but that's probably because his character is so different to that of the novels.
The sets were impressive and I was delighted to finally see a "wag" portrayed outside of literature.
The soundtrack was great, fit the theme perfectly. The camera work however didn't live up to that standard, the angles and movements just didn't seem lively enough. Some of the effects were completely unnecessary, such as the chemical haze, which I don't believe was in the books at all, it just gave the film a dull and dreary feel. I actually enjoyed the intro more than any other part of this film.
All in all it was mildly entertaining. It has that never meet your heroes mentality about it, although I remain hopeful that one day, a fully fledged well budgeted series based on Deathlands is made. I give it four out of ten.