User Reviews

It's really hard to know how to rate this film because there's two ways to watch it. One ways is horribly wrong, and the other way is wonderful. If I'm rating the movie on its own merits, it's a horrible piece of garbage which should never have been made (what was James Earl Jones thinking accepting this part...). If, however, I'm rating this as an MST3K fan, it is comedy gold. So, to recap, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE JUST FOR THE MOVIE ITSELF! You will regret that decision forever. Do, however, pull up the MST3K version of this on Netflix and enjoy it.

I'm so mad at this movie. The plot was absent. The acting was awful. The sound was unintelligible. I can't believe that this came out the same year as Back to the Future! Poor James Earl Jones! Poor me! There was a montage in the middle of the thing that referred back to things that were apparently cut out of the film. The costumes were cheesy, and the hair--don't get me started on the hair! You know, I do kind of enjoy a B movie, but I need something to chew on. Some fixed reference point--like a character name or something. I mean, even the credits were inept...they lasted for about 15 minutes and were filmed in irritate-o-rama--a cheesy stop-frame thing. I've had more enjoyable infections.

City Limits is so mind boggling since it can't make it's mind up if it's an apocalypse/biker/romance/comedy. Admittedly, I have never seen a society relying so heavily on comic books and the significance of Insect Man. Add lots of crappy costumes, cheapo sets and even more cheapo actors, typical 80s soundtrack drenched with crappy casio tones and James Earl Jones impatiently waiting for his check and City Limits will have you wishing for Soonya Corp. to take over!! Guest starring (oh, I don't think so) Robbie Benson as the epitome of corporate lifestyle refusing to die in the apocalypse. And Kim Cattrall, one of the dues she had to pay early on. She was great in Big Trouble in Little China, why this Kim?? I still laugh seeing James Earl Jones shooting a shotgun and delivering fine lines like, "Damn boy. I told you to find adventure, not to drag it home." Watch this MST style and it becomes a tad more entertaining.

Well, once again, I'm the only person in the world that liked this movie. From reading all of the terrible reviews, I almost changed my mind about that. City Limits is about rival biker gangs feuding in a post plague-ridden America (you know, poor man's Road Warrior). It's a good B-movie written by Don Keith Opper from The Critters movies. The only thing that no one could deny was the great cast. John Stockwell, James Earl Jones, Kim Cattrall, Rae Dawn Chong, John Diehl, Robby Benson, Don Keith Opper, and even Kane Hodder are all running around in this movie. The best part is that the gangs use comic books to make major decisions. That's classic. City Limits is absolutely nothing special, but that's why I love it. I suppose B-movies are somewhat of an acquired taste nowadays. So, if you enjoyed the Road Warrior...you probably won't enjoy City Limits. But if you like post-apocalyptic films that are B-movie treasures (garbage to most) along the lines of Def-Con 4, Cyborg, and Fist of the North Star, you should like City Limits.

It's the future for the year it was released. Society has crumbled, and a bunch of handsome young people are living in a broken down part of the city, dressing in cast-off clothes, riding around on their perfectly maintained motorcycles, reading comic books and holding competitions where they try to kill each other. For some reason, adults wish to interfere with this utopian existence, offering them things like food and medicine. The nerve of some people!

It's a chaotically organized movie, filled with performers available on the cheap, -- James Earl Jones does intro and extro in voice-over, and there's Rae Dawn Chong, Kim Cattrell, and for that Star Turn, Robbie Benson in a brief bit. There are motorcycles aplenty, and plenty of signs of a functioning society, including a scene where some of the principals break into a schoolroom to shoot each other. In sum, none of it makes any sense.

Gee, are we done with the high points already? This is for the people who watched Mad Max and said, "this is nice, but why can't the gangs wear dumb plastic masks, have even less personality, find their savior in John Stockwell, and be weak enough to be ruled by Robby Benson? Add in a script by Don Keith Opper(Critters) and you start to realize why many people consider the eighties to be a horrible decade for cinema. James Earl Jones(Conan the Barbarian, The Star Wars Trilogy), Rae Dawn Chong(The Color Purple, The Principal), John Diehl(A Time to Kill, Stripes) deserve better; not that anyone deserves this movie. This is like Battlefield Earth lite without aliens. That is the kindest thing I can muster. Tony Plana(Three Amigos!) and Jennifer Balgobin(Repo Man) appear in small roles. In my opinion Jennifer could probably destroy John Stockwell in a fight. Less discriminating video heads may be pleased, but I find this movie dull and more than a little pointless. Put this together with Porky's and you have a full frontal shot of Kim Cattral(rejoice or recoil as needed.)

I sometimes think my expectations for a film are often aimed far too low. I only wanted to watch this film because I'd read that Kim Cattrall got her tits out...and then I had to wait over an hour for that.

So..was it worth it? Er...no...The future is going to be far worse than we could ever possibly imagine. The awful scenario of the 'Terminator' series is a picnic compared to this horror! Because 15 years in the future we will all dress like 1980's 'New Romantics' and have BIG hair in the style of 'Duran Duran.'...Kill me....now...

A biker gang fights an evil big business and that's it really. This is the sort of film I would love to hear an DVD audio commentary from the people involved and what they made of it. I can't believe they set out to make such a bloody terrible film, what were they attempting to do? Obvious that some people were just taking the money and running but the writer, director, producer? All a mystery.

Some films are so bad they are fun to watch in a perverse way but this is just dull and boring, although, seeing respected actor, James Earl Jones, taking out the baddies with remote control radio Spitfire planes has it's bizarre, surreal moment to be sure!

Though, I very much doubt that he or any other members of this will be putting it on their CV...

Stay away....rent or watch the Mad Max films instead.

My boyfriend is a huge MST3K fan. I usually watch the movies and laugh along, but this was the worst one ever. Even with the jokes of Joel, Crow and the others, nothing could make this turkey fly. The female lead is the woman who starred in Mannequin and she's the best actress in there. The wardrobe people even managed to make her butt ugly and look like a man. There's no eye candy for anyone in here. Sometimes that can be a saving grace in these films. The shots are so dark, you have to squint to see what's going on. All I can think is that the lights were turned low to hide the terrible sets and wardrobe. All I can say about the plot is that it's abysmal. The only reason I'm even giving it 1 star is for the kitch value of seeing James Earl Jones in his worst role ever. About half way through, I noticed my boyfriend (who had been looking forward to seeing this all week) was fast asleep. There was no way that I going to endure this crap alone. If you want to see a better B movie set in the future, may I suggest MST3K's "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank." It's an early Raoul Julia movie. He escapes his Orwellian society by watching the banned, controversial film "Casablanca." It's pure B-movie, futuristic genius. Don't waste your time with "City Limits." Even "Angel's Revenge" is better.

I watch many bad movies each year, but every once in a while, I come across a film that is without a single redeeming quality. This is one of those rare films. Quite simply, everything and everyone in this movie stinks. Perhaps I shouldn't be too hard on the actors, because some of them have shown talent in other films, but how desperate must they have been to appear in this dud? The story is dull, the action is lame, and nothing about this movie is original. Only watch this movie if someone gives you considerable financial compensation in advance.

I know that this film isn't the peak of cinema, but maybe there's something to be said for not scrutinizing a film so hard that you miss the basic intention. While people will argue over whether or not it is entertaining, I found it to be so, mostly because I wanted to be in it. Not the film, but the story. I actually bought into the plot, enjoyed the premise of a world without parents where angst filled, reckless and rebellious comic book lovers were left to their own devices, and yet seemed to make it work! The music was very good, and the imagery was very nice (especially Mick's "Metropolis" shirt). I know the outfits seem a little stupid, but has anyone been in the East Village recently? Not an excuse, but simply a reminder that extravagance isn't necessarily contrivance. No, the action sequences weren't brilliant, but they were fun. And the stars in the film, despite the fact that many will say they were slumming, all do their best and I think it shows. I just really like this film. Not the stuff of The Oscars, but a fun, retrospective look back into the 80s subcultures.

City Limits find initial appeal for it's readily identifiable cast (particularly if you're a regular viewer of obscure films such as these) which includes John Stockton,Rae Dawn Chong, James Earl Jones, and briefly Ricky Benson. Not to mention at least an intriguing plot (with all of the political possibilities) of teens abandoned in a post apocalyptic setting where they form feuding factions as they seek to rebuild, one struggling to build its power while the other struggles for a peaceful existence (not to mention, a somewhat failure of modernity), and interesting sociological study for sure in the development of power and governance.

Unfortunately, the film has a poor script (especially, dialog), mostly poor acting, and scrap shooting budget (including poor sound engineering) which detract from the value of the aforementioned qualities of cast and plot. Many of the scenes tend to drag on, many of the events in the film are made painfully obvious (aided by horrible acting), and worst of all, it looks to be shot along stranded California farm landed or in garages and other cheap, scant locations you might expect from the late-night variety of science fiction and fantasy shows you see on cable. I find this last point to be significantly disappointing where you expect visual flair (even if improvised for lack of budget, but creatively so) from your science fiction films to match the possibilities laden in the story. Fans of highly obscure science fiction who's stories often compensate for forgivable absence of display, you may be pretty disappointed with this one. I'd recommend Prayer of the Rollerboys as an acceptable substitute.

A bunch of teens on bikes living in a post-apocalyptic city? That sounds like the premise for a pretty fun movie to me but sadly it just wasn't to be.

The costumes are nothing short of ridiculous even allowing for the fact that this was the 80's and although that sounds petty it constantly reminds you that this film has just been flung together much like the actors costumes. There's no plot, no characters, absolutely nothing to cling on to so the film just rolls along with not much happening. At one point I thought the film had given up and started again but it was just a bit of footage reused. Or maybe it just looked the same because honestly ten minutes after this film ends you won't be able to remember a single significant scene.

It's a shame because every once in a while you catch sight of something in the distance that looks a bit like a plot and the film perks up slightly. I can't recommend this film but I like the setting so it gets an extra point for that and it does have curiosity value because of the unusual cast.

It's a dud though, even for fans of bad movies.

I saw this film as a part of an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and I hope that the film is a complete and utter incoherent mess is due to the edits done by this show in conjunction with the edits that the video distributor did to it, because if not, this film is more incoherent than any of the Coleman Francis films that were riffed on the show! That is saying a lot by the way as Skydivers and Red Zone Cuba are at times almost random scenes stitched together! This one has James Earl Jones, Rae Dawn Chong and Kim Cattrall and not a whole else to really talk about other than the fact this film also features future producer Dean Devlin in a small role and has a girl with a nice butt at the beginning of the movie. I sat there watching this thing in amazement as people do random things and do this and that and this is supposed to pass as a movie.

The story, what I can make of it, a guy wants to join this gang called the clippers in the city because that is the hip thing to do. Seriously, this film may have been the birth of hipsters. So he just leaves a really hot chick so he can ride motorcycles because it must be the most awesome thing to do. Well he runs afoul of another gang and he may or may not have killed someone, never really clear. There is some people trying to turn the lights on, but that isn't cool man, but driving around on motorcycles that take gas is! A guy sits behind a desk and does absolutely nothing in the film, but he's the man, man and it isn't hip to be the man! Lots of general riding of motorcycles, people use guns, rag tag group reforms and does their things on their bikes and radically different and hip outfits! My guess is people who liked this movie have children that now vape.

This made for an entertaining episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but like I said, cuts they may have made to this film may be the main reason this film was so messy. I would try and track down an unedited version of the film, but I don't think I could sit through it without the riffs. It isn't a horror film like, The Incredible Melting Man that has some good goo effects that would be worth seeing unedited. About the only thing this one is going to offer is seeing that one girl's butt at the beginning and thanks to the fact Joel was not quite quick enough with that umbrella, I saw enough.

So, this film is pretty bad. It makes Coleman Francis movies seem like they have a point and it may be a film that foretold the coming of hipsters. Other than that, there is not much to it. You like a bunch of people running around and people on motorcycles and a lousy action scene at the end then this may be your cup of tea. However, this thing for the most part is a sorry mess and is not anything I would want to watch without MST3K. I thought Solarbabies was kind of a strange and outlandish movie about an apocalyptic future, but at least that one did a better job making it look like some weird future world. This one, not so much. Also, it is not heroic in the least to crush an unarmed man behind a desk and it is also a very anticlimactic way to take out close out your action scene.

Considering the "name" stars involved in this flick (James Earl Jones, Robbie Benson among others), you'd think this film could rate above a 1 star. No such luck. This post-Mad Max, post-apocalyptic rip-off hits the same lows as most other such attempts, but finds some unique qualities of its own to make it even worse. Take one-part Mad Max, one-part The Warriors, mix well, and turn into foul-tasting hash. There are some feeble attempts at action and excitement, but even the ineptly staged action sequences defeat that. A yawner.

Director Aaron Lipstadt and writer Don Opper, who had made ANDROID (1982) a few years earlier, reunite to make this odd post-apoc flick. Idealistic Lee (John Stockwell) leaves his desert wasteland home to head to the big city to join a motorcycle gang called the Clippers. Naturally, they fight another motorcycle gang (in duels where comic books are on the line) and a evil corporation bent on reshaping the world. Now keep in mind the gangs are decked out in some crazy duds, like The Road Warrior or The Warriors on a slim budget. But then we get Robbie Benson as the evil CEO decked out in a button up dress shirt with no tie. Did he just wander by the set on his way to brunch at Spago and the director conned him into doing a quick shoot? There is a great cast here though including Darrell Lawson, Rae Dawn Chong, James Earl Jones, Kim Cattrall, Norbert Weisser, Dean Devlin, John Diehl, Danny de la Paz, and, of course, Don Opper writing himself as the goofy oddball.

Though I enjoy the post-apocalypse genre, even I'm hard pressed to mention anything that I liked in this dung heap. Well...some of the music wasn't bad, though it got repetitive eventually. The rest of the movie I was simply amazed at how lame the action and story were, and how cheap everything looked. This actually got released to theaters? Amazing. I hope James Earl Jones and Robby Benson only accepted their (tiny) roles for the money.

Maybe this is fun to watch in the MST3K version - but it's certainly a chore to watch in the original version.

There is nothing that could have prepared me for just how thoroughly, excruciatingly dull a movie this is. Significantly, it's not dull specifically on account of poor acting, slow pacing, unexciting action sequences, or any of those most readily visible aspects that most often so immediately quelch our enjoyment. Mind you, these may well still be shortcomings reflected in the feature - I'm admittedly not entirely sure. Because for whatever other issues may present, they are profoundly overshadowed by the absolute greatest fault in 'City limits': some of the most shockingly deficient writing that I've ever seen in a movie. The very screenplay is such a glaring, pervasive flaw as to supersede all else, making this title all but impossible to genuinely engage with. It's difficult to fully explain in words, but I will try, if only to communicate to all future potential viewers the dire warning to avoid this dreck.

We are treated to rough, indelicate direction, editing, and sequencing. Early "exposition" is questionable, and before we get anything else concrete, the scene writing is just as tawdry. The film launches directly into the plot with no explanation. In fact, no explanation is forthcoming, at any point, about anything in the movie - there is no indication, for example, of where the heroes are going, or what their mission is, before they begin to move out at the end of the second act. We get outrageously dubious costume design, dialogue, and set design and decoration. Even the sound design is unbelievably deficient.

But example aside, these are still just the things that catch our attention at the beginning of the movie, the first few scenes. We also get a montage recalling good times with characters that we never knew. Characters appear out of the blue that we are supposed to think were there all along. It's not just those magically appearing tertiary figures, however: we are given no reason to care about anyone we see before us. Why, examining 'City limits' as a whole - things happen on our screen, but nearly from the word "go" we're disinterested, and it only gets worse. Narrative development is specious; the plot itself is amorphous, indistinct, nebulous. Motivations and character interactions as they would seem to present are nonsensical; if they have any reasoning at all, it is mysterious to me.

Why in the world would there be any connection whatsoever between protagonist Lee and ANY of the women in this story? Who was the woman in the water tower at the very beginning, that we never see again? What was the corporation's scheme, exactly? Before the suits "assumed power," whatever that may mean in this context, what were the biker gangs doing, that the company's arrival interfered with, apart from riding up and down the streets and picking fights with each other? What is James Earl Jones doing here? Why are the emphatic references to comic books entirely dropped after the protagonist finds early triumph?

The longer you watch, the more incredulous questions that are raised.

Parts of the climax are arguably done well, but that's the only praise I have to offer. The only possible entertainment to be had is in making fun of this rot. The final death scene is utterly terrible. Of anyone here, including Jones or Kim Cattrall, I think it's Pamela Ludwig who has best role of the picture as Frankie, just because she didn't have to say one word of dialogue.

Rebuild the screenplay from only the most bare bones sketch of an outline and maybe a decent movie could be produced from it. But not this. Even noting apparent low regard, I watched with an open mind, ready to accept what may come. In no time at all I quite regretted such willingness. To watch is a trial, in the most Herculean sense of the word. 'City limits is astoundingly awful, with blisteringly little consideration having been given to dialogue, characters, scenes, or plot, let alone other elements of the production. It bears no value of its own accord, and I simply cannot recommend this, under any circumstances.

What's most extraordinary of all is how many cast members went on to have robust, fruitful careers as actors or filmmakers. Truly, the most humble of beginnings.

15 years after a mysterious plague ravaged the world killing off most of the adults and leaving behind a world of orphans, Lee (John Stockwell) having been raised by guardian Albert (James Earl Jones) sets off to the ruins of Los Angeles in search of a legendary gang of scavengers known as the Clippers. Once in Los Angeles, Lee runs afoul of the D. A.s a rival gang to the Clippers who maintain an uneasy truce with one another with rules such as "eye for an eye" and no firearms. After resolving a grievance caused by Lee, Clippers leader, Mick (Darrell Larson) welcomes Lee into the Clippers. The D. A.s however are in league with the Sunya Corporation who seek obedience from the city's denizens in exchange for resources like light and power but the Clippers are unwilling to accept Sunya's demands.

City Limits is a 1985 post-apocalyptic action film from director Aaron Lipstadt and writer Don Keith Opper both of whom got their start in the industry doing production work on various Roger Corman produced sci-fi films such as Galaxy of Terror and Battle Beyond the Stars or in Lipstadt's case, assisting with the visual effects for John Carpenter's influential action classic Escape from New York. City Limits was a reteam for Lipstadt and Opper having previously collaborated together of the 1982 sci-fi film Android. City Limits was a troubled production with the original version of City Limits slated for a 1984 release only for it to miss this release window due to reshoots and a discarded score by frequent Jim Jarmsuch collaborator John Lurie in favor of a new score by Mitchell Froom. I'm not sure what contemporary reception was like to the movie as no box office information is available nor did I find any archived reviews, but most people know of this movie from its appearance on movie mocking showcase Mystery Science Theater 3000 where puppet host Crow T. Robot notably sang a tribute to Kim Catrall who by chance saw the episode and arranged flowers to be sent to Crow (certainly better reception than Joe Don Baker's threats of punches to the face). City Limits is clearly inspired by the various post-apocalyptic touchstones of the time such as the Mad Max films and yes it's not good, but it's hardly "2.4" on IMDB bad.

The movie has an intriguing setup with a world of orphans left without parental supervision and society having devolved into roving gangs of savagery and barbarism in what's basically a all encompasses gender and racial take on Lord of the Flies, or so you would think. In practice this world really doesn't feel like a world run by adults who as children were left to their own devices or living by the "law of the jungle" as everything is too clean, there's not much devastation in the streets of what used to be Los Angeles, and there's a corporation called Sunya Corporation that appears to be functioning and serving its purpose of doing.... businessy business (they never actually say what Sunya does). In terms of themes it's a very standard "freedom versus the establishment" narrative designed to appeal to countercultural youth and those are perfectly fine, but the world the movie creates to make that story doesn't make all that much sense.

I think the cast are quite likable and do a good job and when you have the likes of Kim Cattrall, Ray Dawn Chong,John Stockwell or Don Keith Opper (a stable of the enduring Critters movies), it's a pretty solid dream team for your b-movie exercise. We also have James Earl Jones in an extended cameo as Albert Lee's guardian (and occasional narrator but that goes off and on) and Jones is one of the best reasons to see this movie because even in material that's not up to his level there's something infectious and charismatic about his performance you can't help but get invested in, and a scene where he pilots RC Planes as guided missiles pushes it over the edge in terms of entertainment value. On the villain side we have Robby Benson as primary villain Carver whose "special appearance" couldn't be more uninterested if you tried as he spends most of his role sat behind a desk looking annoyed at a phone, but opposite that we have German actor Norbert Weisser as Bolo, Carver's primary henchman who is absolutely devouring the scene playing his character as if channeled through Ronald Lacey's Gestapo character from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Weisser is just an absolute delight as a villain and brings that energy to the forefront.

City Limits is stupid and nonsensical and it's nowhere near the top of the heap of Mad Max post-apocalyptic clones that tried to ride the coattails, and yet I can't deny I was entertained by it. I'm not going to act like this is some kind of misunderstood gem, but I'd much rather watch this then some bigger budgeted material of this ilk like Solarbabies. The movie doesn't make much sense in terms of its world or plot but there's a passion and drive in the performances (mostly) and that drive and passion kind of pushes the movie into a schlocky zone where I can kind of forgive its stupidity and nonsense.