Aldo Lado, director of the notorious L'Ultimo Treno della Notte, returned with this blatant but nonetheless entertaining imitation of Star Wars under the pseudonym "George B. Lewis." A crazed despot bent on world domination threatens to use the Kappa Element, a missile capable of turning its victims into humanoid zombies. Arthur Kennedy plays the deranged scientist who invented the missile, and Richard Kiel -- reunited here with Barbara Bach, with whom he co-starred as the metal-toothed Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me -- plays a maniacal giant. Lado throws in a cutesy robot dog as well as a topless woman being tortured to keep things lively, and familiar genre faces like Corinne Clery, Ivan Rassimov, and Massimo Serato make appearances. Not as outlandish as other Italian riffs on the theme (notably Star Crash), there's still enough general silliness to keep camp-lovers amused. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
In this Italian sci-fi film, Jaws, the steely mouthed villain from the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, must stop a psycho scientist from taking over the world. He is assisted by two other men, his girlfriend, and an enigmatic Tibetan. A friendly robot dog adds bite to the situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A tolerable STAR WARS attempt from Italy has Kiel in an expanded version of his Jaws character from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER. He tries to stop the universal domination of a crazed scientist with the help of Clery, Kennedy, girl friend Bach, and a little mysterious Tibetan. Rounding out the similarities is a robot dog. The score by Ennio Morricone is, per usual, topflight. ~ TV Guide
Star Wars may have been puerile, but at least it was fun, which is more than can be said for this space cowboys and Indians movie: a tedious compound of everything from Frankenstein (the irradiated mutant monster) to Zen Buddhism (the boy Dalai Lama floats in from Tibet on a glass ashtray), with Darth Vader baddies and a robodog thrown in for good measure. The sets resemble Brent Cross and the spaceships could have come out of a cornflakes packet. 'Nuff said? ~ FF, Time Out Film Guide 13
A trio of Bond stars — Richard Kiel (“Jaws”), Corrine Cléry (Moonraker) and Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me) — are insipidly called into action for this Italian Star Wars variant directed by Late Night Trains gore-maestro Aldo Lado. Mad scientist Arthur Kennedy and his girlfriend Bach want to conquer the universe but invincible humanoid Kiel prevents him with the help of dwarf guru Marco Yeh and a robot dog. More a cheap Battlestar Galactic riff than anything George Lucas inspired, Lado's leaden direction fluffs any outrageous pantomime enjoyment that could have been gleaned. Ennio Morricone's avant-garde electronic score is one of the composers most unusual. ~ AJ , BBC Radio Times
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