Heavy Metal (1981)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 26
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 11
It's sexist, juvenile, and dated, but Heavy Metal makes up for its flaws with eye-popping animation and a classic, smartly used soundtrack.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3
It's sexist, juvenile, and dated, but Heavy Metal makes up for its flaws with eye-popping animation and a classic, smartly used soundtrack.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 37,945
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Movie Info
Inspired by stories from the fantasy graphics magazine Heavy Metal, this five-part animated feature combines the talents of hundreds of artists and animators from 17 different countries. A glowing green orb called Loc-Nar that contains the sum total of all evil in the universe travels through space and time, spreading violence and discord in its wake. The stories that follow demonstrate Loc-Nar's malevolent presence throughout the universe. In New York in the year 2023, cabbie Harry Canyon picks
Jul 29, 1981 Wide
Nov 23, 1999
Columbia Pictures
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Cast
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Rodger Bumpass
Fiste Dr. Anrak -
Jackie Burroughs
Katherine -
John Candy
Desk Sergeant Dan Den R... -
Don Francks
Grimaldi Co-Pilot Barba... -
Martin Lavut
Ard -
Eugene Levy
Sternn Male Reporter Ed... -
Marilyn Lightstone
Whore Queen -
Alice Playten
Gloria -
Harold Ramis
Zeks -
Susan Roman
Girl Satellite -
Richard Romanus
Harry Canyon -
August Schellenberg
Nort Taarak -
John Vernon
Prosecutor -
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Harvey Atkin
Alien Henchman -
Thor Bishopric
Boy -
Patty Dworkin
Woman Reporter -
Joe Flaherty
Lawyer General -
Douglas Kenney
Regolian -
Mavor Moore
Elder -
Cedric Smith
Bartender -
George Touliatos
Pilot Barbarian -
Charles Joliffe
Councilman -
Warren Munson
Senator -
Len Doncheff
Barbarian -
Al Waxman
Rudnick
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Heavy Metal Trailer & Photos
All Critics (26) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (12) | DVD (26)
Initial segments have a boisterous blend of dynamic graphics, intriguing plot premises and sly wit that unfortunately slide gradually downhill.
Top CriticSome of the animation is first-rate, particularly in the more modest comedy segments, and even the heavy set pieces have greater flash and dazzle than anything Ralph Bakshi mustered around the same period.
Fantasies that are gratuitously sexist and Fascist (macho whoring and warmongering), and whose roots reach all the way back to post-hippie paranoia, feed the tangled plot-lines of a movie that... should disappoint even the teenage wet-dreamers.
Heavy Metal has been animated with great verve, and scored very well, with music much less ear-splitting than the title would suggest.
Regardless of its dated stylishness (which still holds up remarkably well a decade plus later), Heavy Metal was a pioneering film in 1981 and remains a pivitol and infuential body of art today.
Asked if I wanted to see it again, I figured, why not? I would have remembered if it was really bad. But memory does play tricks.
In 1981, this may have been state-of-the-art animation, but now it looks rudimentary, clunky, and flat. The writing, likewise, is flat.
Archly stunted and incalculably influential
You have to conclude that its makers should have got out more.
...An unabashed crowd-pleaser. Whenever possible, it goes for the fight scene, the sex joke, the jiggly breasts...
It's a mixed bag, but successful in a mindless, adolescent way.
Anyone from the era will love it, while everyone else simply won't get it at all.
Heavy Metal despite all of its flaws and anacrhonisms, nevertheless represents something of a refreshment in today's sterile climate.
A bit of a mixed bag. Some eye popping animation, chock full of nudity, gore, and alien landscapes. The classic soundtrack is what makes it most worthwhile when the stories fall flat
Wild animation, tons of blaring rock music, and fanboy wish fulfillment fantasies of the freakiest order. Good campy fun.
Audience Reviews for Heavy Metal
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