Robot Jox was an entertaining ninety minutes, but under the shallow popcorn exterior was the potential to be much more. It's done in 80s action / kid's-movie fashion: heavy on action and special effects, light on logic, and aimed squarely for the "cool" factor. Surprisingly, the film's universe has more depth than your average kiddie actioner. It takes place in a dystopian future where the Soviet and American factions settle territorial disputes by duking two giant mech robots against each other in arena-style combat. Achilles' main character arc is kind of stupid. His tenth contracted match ends in a tie after a debilitating accident. The Russian robot jo(x)ck demands a rematch, but Achilles refuses until a genetically engineered robot jox he has a bit of a crush on is chosen as the rematchee. Blah blah blah. It's okay. They could have focused on Achilles' honor as an athlete, the mixing of politics and money, how a genetically-engineered human is different from a normal one, why there are fertility ads plastered all over, how the world decided to use giant mechs to solve their problems, etc.
Anything would have elevated Robot Jox, but the filmmakers misfired on all counts except the Saturday morning cartoon aspect. At least they do a decent job with that--the stop-motion is really great. Robot Jox is worth a look because it's more provocative than it seems. Sadly, all of the interesting parts get buried under a dumb kid's show.
5/10
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