Comin' At Ya!

In the early 80s there was a renaissance of sorts for what many would label a Hollywood gimmick: 3-D films. Last popularized in the 1950s when optimistic post-war views of the future were all the rage, from fast food to mid-century design and the Space Needle, the bright future and the promise of technology's benefits were the zeitgeist, and 3-D films were a fun side effect.

Ironically, this renaissance, whether created by audiences or forced upon them, gave us what can reasonably said were some pretty bad films. Love them or not, as I do with a few, one can have the reasonable take is they aren't exactly headed for the National Archives, let's put it that way. You're already asking for trouble with third installments in franchises that really shouldn't be franchises to begin with: Jaws 3-D, Amityville 3-D, Friday the 13th Part III. Then you have the originals: Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Silent Madness, Treasure of the Four Crowns, Metalstorm, The Man Who Wasn't There (with Steve MF'n Guttenberg!!), just to name, well, most of them. But it all basically started with Comin' At Ya!

Sorry for the build up, as there's really not much to say here. The film overall feels completely incoherent. Other than it being a western, all I'm seeing, and the vibe I am getting is a "corporate training video" level of bizarre. Not in a good way either, like you may get from Tim & Eric, or Everything Is Terrible for example, in a funny, absurdist fashion. No, instead this just feels like it isn't self aware to even notice the bizarre feeling their own film gives out. I guess it shouldn't be surprising - what can you expect from the screenwriter of Police Academy 3: Back in Training and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Gene Quintano. But still, this gives the feeling of a short film you'd see playing across the monitors while waiting in the long line for an amusement park ride: surreal, campy, corporate and creepy. Not recommended.