Happy Surprise

A couple nights ago, when the time had come to sleep, I petulantly declined to do so. Instead, I carried on with the course of action I had planned in the event that I finished my writing goals at an early enough hour. That is to say that if I had finished writing by 11pm, I was going to watch one of my VHS tapes. I had a hell of a time finishing the comedy sketch I needed to write in order to keep pace for thirty sketches in September, and only ended up getting it done by 1am.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and watch a movie anyway. With a glass of bourbon and ice, I set to the task of watching the 1990 scifi film "Abraxas". Former pro wrestling star, Minnesota governor and actor Jesse "The Body" Ventura can claim few starring roles in his film career, but Abraxas is one of them. It follows a somewhat similar plot to films like "The Terminator", "Blade Runner" and "Trancers".


Abraxas has the most in common with that last film, possessing as it does the same kind of charming cheapness that I always love. To describe the story briefly, Jesse is the titular Abraxas, a sort of space cop who seems to have wide-ranging responsibilities, but who in this instance is charged with preventing his former partner from achieving immortality and omnipotence through the discovery of the "anti-life" equation.

Jesse lacks much charisma or personality as a lead, and the film wisely plays to that. Regrettably, the film's chief antagonist suffers from the same problem, leaving few options as to where their lack is to be balanced out by an over-abundance. That problem aside, I was just delighted with the film. It is a fun, simple, small story with some unique aspects to it. I can't think of the last time a major new release entertained me so.