The Last Man on Planet Earth (1999 TV Movie) User Reviews

Good idea, Bad script

[sallybrat · 3/10 · 31 January 2004]

It's a male bashing bonanza. I saw this on Sci-Fi a while ago, and the idea seemed interesting. It could have been a good movie, and the plot itself I don't see as male bashing, but certain specific references to men get really annoying. I might still watch the movie again though because it does at least try to redeem itself by hinting that maybe the women in the movie aren't really as non-violent as they claim, but it still doesn't compensate for the really tiring male-bashing. I mean, I can understand a little, it's part of the movie's plot, but come on, it gets really tiring after awhile. Not only that, but to assume that the majority of women in the world would accept becoming homosexual that easily and that the few remaining heterosexuals would be such a minority as to go "in the closet". It's just too unbelievable. There are far too many women out there with cultural or religious restrictions that would balk at this it is totally implausible. I mean I know its sci-fi, and I love sci-fi, but the best sci-fi has at least a hint of it being possible, and this is too implausible. The phrase "Truth is stranger than fiction" came about because fiction has to at least seem plausible to be welcomed, but truth isn't always. This movie is not that. Other than that, the movie does have some good acting and the eventual morals of the story, that something like what happened was wrong, do redeem it a little, but not enough.

Could not believe I watched the whole thing...

[grimtooth · 3/10 · 9 December 2002]

... but had to see just how bad it could get. The plotline was thin to begin with, but it just kept getting worse. A female genetic engineering grad student uses her research on accelerated mitosis to artificially create a male, because a biological weapon used in WW3 killed off 97% of the worldwide male population. The surviving men are either high prices gigolos in back alley clubs, or crazed lunatics in run down football stadiums plotting to overthrow the 'Lesbian Conspiracy'. The entire process resembled the microwaving of a large bowl of jello. Press a few buttons and ding you get a baby. Not only that, but he will age to mid 20's in a month, and then begin to age normally (how convenient). Eventually poor Adam gets bored with the secluded cabin in the woods where his creator had raised him and steals her car to 'see the city'.

This begins 90 minutes of unlikely chases, convenient plot twists, and several subplots that we never see resolved. As Adam quickly learns, what men did survive are treated as outcasts/criminals, because they are dangerous beasts that cannot help there genetic predisposition to violence. The propaganda machines have been in full swing, scaring women into believing all men are rapists and murderers. This has led to lesbianism being the norm, the fall of Christianity, female only reproduction via cloning, and oh yeah world peace among other implied results. All of which seem unlikely given that only ~30 years had elapsed since the war. Adam stumbles from one bad situation to the next, all the while being genetically programmed to be non-violent and unable to really do much on his own behalf. With the FBI on his trail, madams looking for fresh meat, and his creator trying to recapture him (for herself it seems), he learns that violence is not limited to the male species after all.

All in all, I would not recommend this movie.

I did however enjoy Veronica Cartwrights portrayal of the 'love to hate her' Director of the FBI, and Julie Bowen didn't do bad as Hope the 'closet hetero' geneticist either.

Oh, yeah -- super schlocky

[waylandseal2003 · 3/10 · 4 May 2009]

This movie is awful beyond belief. It's a low-budget, badly written, piece of pointless garbage. But the Saturday afternoon I stumbled across it on TV still sticks in my mind as one of the most entertaining I've ever spent in front of the television. The badness of this movie is epic -- maybe not Ed Wood epic, but close. The premise is hysterical (men are banned for being too dangerous and imprisoned in -- haw! -- football stadiums), the pseudo-dyke culture is laughably bizarre (there's an underground sex trade with women who dress up like men to service "deviants") and the "last man" of the title is a pitiful reincarnation of Rocky from Rocky Horror Picture Show. I didn't get to see the end of it, which I have to assume was so dripping with syrupy "what have we all learned from this?" nonsense it would bring on an urge to brush the teeth, but everything in the first two-thirds was so memorably bad, even if the last third turned out to be a pale imitation of the rest, it's still worthwhile for anyone who gets a kick out of campy, stupid, brainless sci-fi B-flicks.

Proof why Oxygen shouldn't be allowed to make movies

[djsmeggysmeg · 12 December 2002]

I have to say that this is possibly one of the worst movies ever. And keep in mind I've seen LaserBlast, so I know of which I speak. To call the plot sophomoric is being generous at best.

Now before I continue I would like to warn those unwary enough to see this movie that I cannot review it without revealing some of the plot 'twists'. There are some who refer to these sorts of things as 'spoilers' but it is my contention that this movie is so reprehensible that it is obvious that it was well spoilt before I got to it.

The premise is that WWIII ignites and because all of the women have evidently resigned from the armed forces around the world in unison, the only ones who are left to mind the deadly bacterial weapons are those filthy carriers of the dreaded Y chromosome. Now because ALL men are obviously nothing more than talking chimps they release a viral agent in Afghanistan, which proceeds to kill off 96% of the male population, regardless of age. Now this is the point where the movie becomes REALLY believable. The U.S. Surgeon General starts a crusade to make being male illegal but she is (GASP) assassinated by a (SHOCK) male gunman, thus proving her point to the entire world. The entire world proceeds to outlaw the Y chromosome with no worries because cloning has been perfected so now the human race can proceed into their utopia in peace and tranquility.

This flick gave me such a headache that I barely noticed the 'love story' between the brash young scientist and her new and improved clone male, new and improved in that she removed all those pesky aggression and self preservation genes turning him into the perfect male.

Now I really didn't mind the obvious attempts at irony foisted on us by the director like the brothel where wealthy women pay to spend time with the dangerous males. The only reason I don't mind them is that I refuse to believe I wasted 2 whole hours of my life on something so dumb.

And that's really what gets me. Not the bad acting, but that the premise in and of itself was just so insultingly stupid.

In short, movie bad. Men bad. Ook Ook Ook (Pounds fists on chest making ape noises)

Crap, pure and simple

[gl_link · 1/10 · 6 May 2006]

This has to be one of the worst movies ever to come out of the Sci-Fi Channel. Here is how the movie starts, Women are the only humans on this planet due to the fact that in the not to distant future chemical warfare is A OK as long as it only targets soldiers (In case your wondering, Men) However the virus back fires (Big shock)and all the men on earth slowly die. Then all of male kind is condemned to die when the madam president is shot and killed by a man. now we are taken around 60 to 70 years from now, two female scientists are working on cloning a female baby and one of them says "Hey, why don't we bring men back?" The other one says no the world is not ready for that, but promptly ignores her and thus a man walks the Eath again.

First off, this movie assumes that all men who are not genetically altered are blood thirsty monsters. Secondly, the writer forgot to mention that present day soldiers are a good mix of Male and Female officers so there is no real reason to have a virus like that. This is the biggest waist of time you can find. This movie managed to insult my intellect not only by the bad story, but with the Lifetime style acting. Avoid this movie at all costs.

I give this a 1 out of 10 but only because I could go no lower.

yeah right !

[bl-11 · 2/10 · 2 May 2000]

The makers ask for a huge suspension of disbelief, you grant them it in the hope that given a little time they'll convince you it's possible. Alas, with TV movies it seems as though they specifically set out to make cheap Cosmo questionnaire films. With a small budget and big claims you should spend every penny on the details to convince the audience. Not here though. The film gets a few points for the good performance the two leading ladies give against the odds, but unfortunately it's not enough to save the day. oh, and the less said about the ending the better. Happy Film-Viewing Everyone !

A great concept that deserved a bigger budget and better realisation

[Joxerlives · 5/10 · 6 September 2012]

I watched this on the Horror Channel which was weird as it certainly wasn't horror (as indeed is a great deal of The Horror Channel nowadays), the title and premise intrigued me. It has a great central concept reminiscent of an episode of the old sci-fi show Sliders, what would a world without men be like? It has some very interesting set-pieces, the brothel where women go to be 'entertained' (literally and figuratively) by a gang of ageing gigolos, one woman accusing the other of being a 'closet hetero' and the other being jealous that she got to know her father. Its' depiction of an all female world is interesting, a place without war and very little crime, in many ways a paradise on Earth. But girls will still be girls, lustful teenage females still yearn for stubble and a sixpack held against them, older women still crave the adoration and hetero rough and tumble of sex with a male lover.

In contrast to some reviewers I don't think this film is either anti-male or anti-female, if anything it walks the middle line, after the helicopter scene one character remarks that violence isn't a solely male trait and later on we see that neither is ruthlessness (the great Veronica Cartwright giving another smashing performance).

It suffers from a lack of budget and I'd like to have seen more of the reaction of an all-female society to a male on the loose, the militant feminist fringe demonising him, hysterical teenage groupies establishing a fanclub for him, mature women wistfully comparing him to the son they never had. Would be interesting to see a female couple where one is purely a lesbian and is upset that her wife/girlfriend is attracted to a male. It could really do with a slightly higher rating too, the situation lends itself to adult/gender based humour but we don't really get to explore that too much which is a shame (amazed they got the scene where the young girl licks the picture of the male centerfold in not to mention the part where the female trick wants her gigilo to slap her around a bit as sexual foreplay). Funny bit where the hero effortlessly outpaces the pursuing female police officers, wouldn't it be hilarious if we also saw him dispose of a spider and change a tyre then get lost because he refuses to ask for directions? It would also be nice to see the flip side, an all male world where there is suddenly a woman introduced but I think that would have a very different (and frankly unpleasant) vibe to it.

All told I think it's ripe for a big budget remake.

Howler

[bakerjp · 3/10 · 26 February 2001]

Pure schlock from beginning to end. The average 12 year old might find that it has an interesting take on discrimination. Otherwise, it's a pure camp-fest endurance test. Like one of those so-so episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation that thinks it has Something Important To Say.

You'll see every plot twist a mile off in this by-the-numbers romp. However, it's worth seeing for its portrayal of drag-king prostitutes, a brothel where young women pay old men to have sex with them (how's that for role reversal), and lesbian soap operas. The ghost of Valerie Solanis lives!

Wow, what a waste of money!

[thenexusone · 1/10 · 10 December 2002]

All I ever heard while being raised was equality of the sexes, and here we have a film that not only exemplifies imbalance, but continues through with a whole concept that one sex is better. All the while watching I was hoping for that redeeming quality to make the viewer feel as though there is hope for the future, and there wasn't. I'll admit to not finishing the film, I had to turn it off at the part where the old man whore told the genetic man Adam that it was ok to be a whore and get, and I quote, "More tail than any man in the past time." I know not finishing it is a bad review on myself, but it is the responsibility of the writer and crew to develope a story that will keep a viewer interested, and they failed. This film betrays all true female nature qualities of the mother figure and the need for balance. Instead it exemplifies what America ran by lesbian natzis would be like,and I'm not against lesbians. Thank you Mr. Director! Someone please give me a redeeming quality... wait I have it! There's no sequel!

Refreshing

[mintchan · 7/10 · 17 March 2006]

I had no idea why the movie appear in my Tivo. I thought the title was intriguing and it might be charged with some sexual innuendo context but this is not the case. Many people might hate it because they don't get it.

This is a very political movie. While women in the movie said, in the movie, that men were violent by their genes, the truth was opposite. In the movie, either men or women just made up the stories, to justify their actions. In the movie, women society supposed to be Utopian and peaceful but it filled with corruptions as well as violent crimes. The police eager to use their guns with empty hand civilians.

There were some good acting but most of it were not very convincing. The plot was predictable. But they were not the points of this movie.

scarily awful

[Bevita · 1/10 · 30 March 2002]

I don't think this can legally qualify as "film." The plot was so flimsy, the dialogue so shallow, and the lines so terrible that I couldn't believe that someone actually wrote the lines down, said, "Holy sh*t! This is a masterpiece" and then actually pitched it to a producer. I, for one, am still dumbfounded and will forever remember this film as the mark of the degeneracy of intelligence in America -- that, and "Crossroads," of course.

Hilarious made for TV movie

[maryellenbench · 10/10 · 14 July 2018]

Ever since I saw this on UPN as a TV Movie, I've always found is really enjotable. It received a very limited VHS release, so I do have had a copy. The tagline was "Strike Back" in the original promos. This is a silly premise and executed very well. It's not meant to be too serious, but it's done well enough where it's enjoyed. Highly recommended for a movie to watch with the guys or yourself, if you enjoy movies that you can enjoy without them being too realistic, and just have fun with it.

Males Not Included.

[screenman · 7/10 · 30 October 2016]

I found this to be a very engaging movie, premising a scenario in which men are practically driven into extinction by a genetically-engineered disease. Females have become sufficiently paranoid about men that their reintroduction is prohibited on the basis that they are the cause of all violence. Now, all children can be - and are - produced artificially, with a predetermined female gender. There is no domestic violence, no rape, no discrimination, no religion-induced misogyny. It's a daring concept and one likely to inflame a host of simmering sexual prejudices - more especially amongst males, I think (of which I am one).

Into this world, a female scientist has illegally created an artificial male, genetically engineered to be nice. His reception is mixed.

The movie touches upon the aforementioned prejudices about gender with a light hand, never becoming too seriously involved with 'issues' and just lets the story run its course. The bitterness of criticism in most of the commentaries is, I suspect, a measure of which those prejudices are inflamed. In that respect, it does its job, and deserves a wider audience.

All sensible people know that violence is not something inherently entailed in maleness - as Darwin made clear nearly 150years ago. Yet the delusion continues to be propagated; as recently as the mid-1990's two (male) naturalists co-wrote a book called "Demonic Males" which attempted to be scientific, but was simply an advocacy that was quite preposterous in its misuse and misinterpretation of evidence.

All technical issues are adequate; nothing stands out except the slightly audacious idea, which clearly arouses passions.

glamorized Nazism

[domonkassu · 1/10 · 10 December 2002]

Warning: This could spoil your movie. Watch it, see if you agree.

To think that we as humans can not learn from the past. The futuristic society portrayed glamorized what Hitler believed, obliterate a race of people (in this case men) for the benefit of society. It made me sick to my stomach. Also the plausibility of a Y bomb is insane. Even in war our instinct for self-preservation will prevent the extinction of humanity. We made mistakes in the past ie: Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in '45 but because of that we avoided a bigger mistake in '63 during the Cuban Missile Crisis

If you don't like Science Fiction ....

[AEEd · 21 April 2003]

In reading the previous reviews, it struck me that almost none of you people seem to care for Science Fiction. Or, if you do, you've missed the classics upon which this story line was based. So, WARNING!!! If you don't care for the genre, you probably won't enjoy the movie unless it has a lot of special effects, your favorite actor, or some other redeeming factor not inherent in the subject matter.

Please don't misunderstand -- this is NOT a great movie -- but it stands as mediocre, definitely not the worst film ever. If you think there's anything new about the concepts treated with in the plot or the manner in which they were handled, maybe you should try reading Philip Wyley's "The Disappearance" (1974 -- out of print). Kenneth Biller took exactly the same approach, he just change the cause of the obliteration of a gender and had men wiped out instead of women. Even a reread of "On The Beach" by Neville Shute would cause you to rethink your attitude toward this movie, I believe.

If people (of either gender) have no possibility of creating relationships in what we now consider the "normal" manner, they will invariably find some other way to satisfy their needs for personal and social relationships. That does not imply that this movie, either of the books I listed, or I believe that a single-gender society would be superior. It's just a recognition of human nature. In that sense, the tale told in this film is well worth seeing once.

The Last Movie I'd Ever Watch Again

[netguy900 · 1/10 · 13 June 2005]

The plot - in the future when nearly all men have been killed by a Y-chromosome-targeting virus, a (hot) female genetic engineer 'creates' a man in a chem lab - is intriguing. Despite the somewhat promising premise, the movie falls flat in nearly every regard. The dialogue is laughable. The characters are paper thin. The exploration of a single-gender world is shallow. The worst part of the entire movie is the Asian detective who delivers lines so cheesy and contrived that you'll want to vomit.

I can't imagine how on earth this trash got produced. Most of the movie is male bashing. "All men are violent." "All men rape women." "Men are only animals." All of the women - even the 'closet hetero cases' - seem to display anger toward-, fear of-, and hatred for men. If you want to see a sci-fi film something along the lines of this movie's premise, you'd do best to look elsewhere.

Lousy TV movie

[sollentologist · 2/10 · 4 August 2005]

They used footage of some real protest spliced with some woman talking about a society with no men to make it seem like these people were cheering for the 'gendercide' of men. The funny thing is, you can see a man cheering on his own death in the background.

OK, the plot. Some lady says there should be a society with no men, and the crowd in front of her (which contains some men) think its a great idea. So then all the men are killed or something. So there are no more.

Then this blonde scientist creates a man, but removes some chromosomes so he can't be violent. The male grows very quickly and soon is a full grown man. Not long after, he takes the blonde's' Volkswagen beetle and drives into the city where he's discovered. Now you would think the lone man in a city full of lesbians would be the happiest guy ever but no way. The police chase him.

I didn't watch the rest but it probably ends up that they've got to race against the clock and some people, or something bad will probably happen. Somehow the man ends up in a stadium with some other men who want him to lead the rebellion. These brave warriors hiding in a stadium might have had some sort of plan which laid out the details of how they'd single handedly get rid of a planet full of women, but I didn't watch. And neither should you.

If you're up late and channel surfing and this happens to come on, don't watch. Watch anything but this. You'll find those ads for Bowflex or the ones with women in bathing suits asking you to 'pick up the phone to meet women just like these' in your area will be more satisfying entertainment.

(Oh yeah, there's this funny thing when they're pulling in with their cars. I don't know what they did, it looks like they drove in real slow and careful but then tried to speed up the film to compensate but it just looks really weird.)

The blonde girl was kind of cute and I'm feeling generous, so... 2/10.

A forgettable, ill-conceived production

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 18 July 2016]

I thought I was in for some cheap version of the classic Vincent Price/Richard Matheson sci-fi movie, but THE LAST MAN ON PLANET EARTH (the title is a misnomer) is something else entirely. It is cheap, yes, but the storyline is about a world in which mankind has been banned and women have taken over. Imagine PLANET OF THE APES except with women instead of apes and you have the idea.

As I say, the title turns out to be a misnomer, as men have only been banned from polite society rather than exterminated and there are still plenty around. The hero is a guy grown in a test tube by the government who escapes and finds himself pursued by the FBI who want him for their own ends. Unsurprisingly he falls in love with a young woman while trying to elude capture.

The storyline is frankly preposterous and the TV movie atmosphere makes this something of a laughable film. The science fiction elements of the storyline are almost unnoticeable; there are no depictions of a different kind of society, this just takes place in our world in order to keep costs down. Needless to say that the acting is poor and the whole thing feels very dated and cheesy; a forgettable, ill-conceived production.

Feministic views on men and horribly low budget effects

[geekgirl101 · 2/10 · 26 May 2021]

So the plot is that a bio weapon intended to kill all soldiers at war (since, you know, all soldiers are men and no women) accidentally wiped out most of the men on the planet. With the world at peace the surviving females put down war and violence as something that only men were responsible for. After being shot by a man during a public feminist speech the remaining men on the planet were outlawed, reproduction with men was made illegal, lesbianism was embraced with cloning being the only means to reproduce.

A horny young scientist breaks the law by cooking up a genetically engineered baby boy in a matter of hours with all the aggressive traits removed and rapid aging, so after 30 days the aging would stop and he would age normally as a 20 year old man (how convenient for her!) When he escapes from their safe house in the woods to explore the rest of the world the women panic and see him as a threat and he becomes a fugitive being hunted by the police.

Whilst he never wields a hand let alone a weapon at the start of the film he is constantly referred to as armed and extremely violent. The women react with irrational fear that a man is on the loose in their neighbourhood and the police are all too keen to gun down an unarmed man (murica!) And halfway through the film we're given a lengthy male bashing speech using footage from anti-war and feminist protests which, in far fewer words, accuses men of being violent, murdererous, war-mongerering, women-beating rapists.

This film is extremely biased, sexist, and bashes men as being responsible for everything wrong with the world. Even if the ending proves that women aren't as innocent as they make themselves out be there it is outweighed by almost 90 minutes of male bashng. If you're a misandrist then by all means watch it, you might enjoy it. I didn't.

Bad, is an understatement

[chrisdillon33 · 1/10 · 5 January 2020]

The worst acting I have seen in any movie ever made, the script was just as bad, I would not class this movie as science fiction, I would not recommend this movie

Not meant to be taken seriously, and not bad as a goof.

[foxbrick · 7/10 · 23 August 2005]

Tamlyn Tomita shows just enough good-sportswomanship in giving a decent performance in this variation of sorts on such sf predecessors as Philip Wylie's novel THE DISAPPEARANCE and Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE and the film based on it, along with much older pulp sf dealing with gender roles and hugger-mugger melodrama. I believe this was the first film shown as such on the US television network UPN (as opposed to a series pilot, such as the STAR TREK: VOYAGER pilot that inaugurated the network), and if only most made-for-TV movies were half as amusing (or if Tomita's eventual UPN series THE BURNING ZONE had been). Not quite up to the role-reversal episode of the ELLEN series, but it'll do.

I thought it was a good story, but not without some flaws

[electrictroy · 10/10 · 15 January 2007]

The following contains general spoilers (example: Star Wars is about spaceships), but no specific plot details.

.

One flaw: Some awkward acting... probably the result of a small budget & not having enough money to do retakes. Otherwise, I thought it was a decent sci-fi story. Certainly better than 99% of Sci-Fi Channel's "original movies".

The premise is that there was a war, and (presumably) American scientists developed a virus to kill men. The virus was intended to be used to kill the (presumably) Arabic soldiers who were 99.9% men. And it worked brilliantly.

Unfortunately the virus, as viruses tend to do, mutated from a safe non-contagious form into an airborne form. And thus the virus spread via the air to Europe, then America, and then the whole world & wiped out 97% of the male population.

What was left was a world run by women. And thus the movie begins.

During the next two hours we get to see a female-run society that is supposedly "better" than the previous male-dominated society, but in reality has many of the same flaws like prostitution, corruption, and a tendency to kill. Overall a good movie that makes the viewer think about the possibilities.

Wonderful fantasy

[M_Guerin · 10 October 2000]

Very interesting tale - a la male version of the Handmaid's Tale - it seems that biological warfare has inadvertently wiped out 97% of the world's male population - and the remaining women have decided to enact laws to ban the reproduction of any further men because men are hopelessly violent, and their eradication proves it. The new women-only society has decided that only females are allowed to be born through modern science. Funny and interesting premise - although of course this American movie fails to explain what kinds of similar laws are implemented in the rest of the world. Did Russia also embrace a women-only policy? Iran? We only get the American version. If other countries didn't agree with the American pro-woman policy, than men would quickly repopulate elsewhere and perhaps try to immigrate to the U.S. I guess the U.S. could have a no-male immigration policy to ensure female purity. Putting this major plot flaw aside, this movie was very entertaining. The plot follows a renegade female scientist who genetically creates a male without a predisposition for violence - the assumption that male violence is genetically intrinsic in males is unquestioned. The male creation, named Adam (how Biblical!), is born and grows up rapidly within three weeks until growth is curiously finished around 25 years or so, when the normal rate of aging resumes. Of course, the male creation grows up to be a strappling, muscular hunk played by Paul Francis (conspicuously absent from this website's cast list?). Highly recommended for the interesting premise - some men might find it hard to take - it makes no bones about suggesting that all men are genetically violent, and combined with the sexism against Adam (nudity, temporarily turned into a male prostitute, generally passive and undeveloped character, etc.) might prove a little offensive. Men haters will love it.

Awesome performance from all the cast and crew, its a keeper

[stumoules · 10/10 · 4 October 2018]

I rarely keep big budget movies in my library lately, i am known to hate and trash anything which has been made for a franchise gimmick, or worse; disturbing propaganda by haunting and taunting us viewers. i now prefer low budget movies but with big production values which i guess this is, for a 1999 movie i have it on repeat regularly, and i have only watched my 3d blu ray copy of terminator 2 like 3 times since i bought it 10 months ago

when i first seen this film i thought it was too fast paced, but after a few more views i found it had deeper meaning in its scripts such as how all the characters have a different perspective and view on Adam the 'y'

Planet of the Apes Revisited

[Hunter1114 · 2 April 2002]

This film is a thinly veiled remake of the original "Planet of the Apes" but wholly without the depth or thought provoking qualities of the original. As one could deduce from the title, it is set in a world now composed almost exclusively of women. Except for a few, very few, moments near the end, the characters are cartoonish, and at times insulting, as is the explanation of how the world came to be in the state it finds itself. The film may be attempting to satirize the PC climate of today's society but does not succeed. Even as TV movies go, "Last Man..." serves mainly as something to fill air time between commercials. In general, if one finds ones self with nothing else to watch on a rainy day, go rent the original "Planet of the Apes".