‘The Blood of Heroes’ (R)

"The Blood of Heroes" is a multimillion-dollar movie with about as much plot and depth as your average arcade game, but it's never quite as involving. Set in a ravaged post-apocalypse landscape where gnarled survivors of The Cruel Wars inhabit desolate shantytowns, the film posits a dulled society whose only entertainment is jugging, an odd cross between rugby, wrestling, jousting and gladiating. It is played by teams of five, and the object is to impale a dog's skull on your opponents' stake. Apparently the only rule is "thou shalt not kill," though anything and everything short of that seems to be a go -- sort of like professional wrestling.

Most of writer-director David Peoples' film focuses on the travails of a troupe of semi-pro juggers led by Sallow (Rutger Hauer). Sallow was once a pro jugger but was demoted for becoming involved with a woman from the ruling elite (it seems the juggers of the future don't have a union to look out for them). Banished to the sticks, Sallow puts together a ragtag crew, trains them and eventually heads back to the big subterranean city to challenge the reigning League team, led by the fearsome Gonzo (Max Fairchild). Overcoming far lesser odds than Buster Douglas, Sallow and his cronies win. The End.

And that's it, basically. There's no real drama, no great goal, no moral victory, just lots of jugging. If they still had television in the future, Sallow, et al., would probably be auditioning for something like the syndicated "Gladiators" series.

Unfortunately, Peoples spends so much time evoking a post-nuclear society that he neglects to construct an inviting plot. There's no entry point for concern, compassion or care about what happens to any of the juggers, despite a subplot in which a feisty woman (Joan Chen) seeks to become the team's "qwik," or main scorer. Sallow's own journey back to the majors seems to be more afterthought than crusade.

As for Peoples' vision of a world gone wild, it will seem mighty familiar to fans of Australian post-apocalypse films, especially the "Road Warrior"/"Mad Max" sub-genre. There are no astonishing custom vehicles this time, but there's plenty of medieval/futuristic armor (quite heavy on the S&M leather) and loads of memorable faces with innate "character" and the bruises, breaks and hand-stitched repairs testifying to the rigors of jugging. It's really not enough to carry a film, except into the video stores.