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19 out of 27 people found the following review useful: delicious, 3 April 2006 Author: kbvazrqgtvqolr from United States
the best "post-apocalyptic street fighter" movie ever. it's so bleak, so raw, sadistic; rather cheesy, and yet it is not at all "campy". how is this possible?? great acting, that's how. i mean great acting--given the context. it's a unique film. the sets and costumes are great. fender is a great villain. i was like 10 or 12 when i first saw this and i still get chills thinking about fender. i've seen it 4 times but not in a while now. i remember the dialogue being sparse, in fact i remember long stretches that were rather silent, and yet i was rapt. maybe the street fighter "blade runner"?? don't laugh, i'm serious. van damme~ford. fender~roy batty. i can't wait to see it again.
17 out of 24 people found the following review useful: Hmmm.. I really liked this movie, the whole package was there!, 24 January 2006 Author: saico13 from Canada
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I usually destroy van damme movies in my reviews, but strangely enough this film by Albert Pyun is a classic and deserves recognition. I thought the costumes which people seem to call them were very well created and lots of thought went into every costume. I didn't see one single flaw in the production. I thought the freehanded and airbrushed visual of a deteriorating city at the opening credits was very creative and interesting.There's something different about this films footage, I cant tell if its the kind of film they used but it seems very contrasty and almost has a grainy kind of look to it but very hard to explain. You'll recognize it as being unique when you see it. The chase scene where van damme fights 2 pirates in a swamp and then gets captured is phenomenal. The camera angles and shots were fantastic, and the crossbow crucifiction only makes it sweeter! haha Van damme hits his acting stride in this movie and really manages to convey the emotion in his revenge. Especially the part where he chops down the cross with his heel to escape his soon coming death.The best asset in this movie is the well designed apocalypse city sets, and the 2 story abandoned building set complete with pillaging pirates. The music and whatever that cape brandishing maniac was saying was outright terrible but if your not a jerk you'll understand why this movie deserves an eight out of ten.
16 out of 23 people found the following review useful: AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, 24 March 2002 Author: wrobertson from south carolina USA
Looking for award winning acting? Then watch On the Waterfront or something. If you are looking for stylish post apocalyptic martial arts then you have found the Holy Grail. B movie fare for sure, however so was Omega Man. Defiantly worth a DVD rental or purchase if you are into Jean Claude (I am). Best line in the movie? AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH of course............
8 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Incredible trashy comedy!, 5 April 2009 Author: vocklabruck from United States
I like Van Damme, but this movie really stinks! It tries so hard to be a mix of Mad Max and Highlander with a pinch of The Terminator, but throwing in some characters taken from that Michael Jackson's video called "Thriller" with obvious paintings in the background.The only redeeming feature is the roundhouse kicks in slow motion... Even the fights are pathetic, with stupid overuse of knives while they have big guns hanging in their backs. Oh, and guess what? The movie is called Cyborg but Van Damme is not a cyborg, nor his opponents! The only "cyborg" here is a second line woman who actually does not behave as a cyborg at all. She is actually a woman with some kind of electronic implant in her head, and she does not have too much screen time anyway. The title for this should be "Zombies" since most of the characters look and act like that.More about women... The Van Damme's buddy is an ugly whiny woman I hated from the start. I found myself cheering the moments she seemed to be killed. I didn't hate her because she was ugly, but because she was annoying as hell. Not even her gratuitous nudity is enjoyable. And what about that girl who is supposed to be Van Damme's daughter or step-daughter? She is about 12 in the flashbacks but later she is in her 20's and Van Damme looks exactly the same! What the hell? Van Damme doesn't age in the movie or what?You will enjoy this movie only if you take it as a comedy. In any case, it is quite boring and slow.
11 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Better than usual for Albert Pyun, but..., 22 October 2004 Author: aloep from Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland
Produced in the dying years of Cannon films, directed by Albert Pyun, starring an early Van Damme claiming to be "the first hero of the 21st century", claiming to be a "post apocalyptic battle" and with the title "Cyborg", somehow I don't think it will bring many to a state of disbelief when I announce that it's a very poor film. Cheap and tacky in every area, unless you're a huge fan of Van Damme it really should be avoided.For Albert Pyun in the 80's and early 90's, a "post apocalyptic" movie was just an excuse to avoid any expense for sets and have a bunch of goons in ragged clothes running around large areas of open land or empty buildings. The "post apocalyptic" world Cyborg takes place in was filmed in North Carolina and looks like…uh…North Carolina. There is action, but it's all rather dull and extremely forgettable and the overly dramatic musical score which accompanies it is extremely irritating. Plus there's no buildup to them, just randomly thrown together which throws away any excitement they may have had. On the plus side, the fights aren't half as bad as those I've seen in later Albert Pyun movies but Van Damme has done a lot better.As far as acting goes, you'll get zero. Not that you'd expect award winning performances in a movie like this, but still, Van Damme has absolutely minimal dialogue and could pass off for somebody who doesn't speak any English simply being told to speak his lines phonetically. He is that poor, but at least it's evidence enough that he has tried in later movies. I do find many of his movies entertaining, this isn't one of them. The villains are the complete opposite, and they overact and make embarrassing howling and screaming when fighting Van Damme without being remotely scary in the least. Although it certainly doesn't say much for the state of humanity if the world was to be under threat for a second from these clowns!The post apocalyptic genre is generally one of the weakest in the field of B-movies with the likes of Steel Frontier being one of the few exceptions and this is just about as poor as it gets. Not good enough to be worth watching or not even bad enough to be funny. At best it's tedious and dull so unless you're a huge fan of Van Damme I recommend you to stay away. On the plus side, it remains the best film by schlock director Albert Pyun I've seen to date but that's probably even more of a reason to avoid it than anything else.
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Van Damme's worst, 19 May 2009 Author: Newsense from United States
Look, I can enjoy a mindless Van Damme action flick like anybody else. I liked a lot of his movies like Hard Target, Sudden Death, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Death Warrant, Universal Soldier, In Hell etc but if there was one movie I had to single out as Van Damme's worst it would have to be Cyborg.Story: Gibson(Jean Claude Van Damme) is out for revenge after a gang of punks lead by Fender(Vincent Klyn)killed his family. He ends up having to look after a cyborg that holds a cure for a disease that has wiped out half of the world.We could talk about how bad the acting is but that's preaching to the choir. The sets look like crap and the whole film reeks of low budget. The villain Fender(who looks like a rejected Garbage Pail Kid) wins the ham of the year award in 1989 hands down. He is some cornball that beats up on people and is used to spouting silly lines like "take you to the murder show" and "I like the pain, I like the misery, I like this wooooorrrld!". The fights scenes(which are usually the bread and butter of JCVD movies) suck horribly and top it off the movie is boring. Everybody looks like they've been mud wrestling all day and for a hero of the movie, Gibson spends most of the time getting his butt kicked. The final battle between Gibson and Fender is downright cheesy(and not in a fun way I might add). In short Cyborg is JCVD's worst movie and yes, I've seen, The Order, Street Fighter and Universal Soldier: The Return. Even JCVD most cheesiest films have an entertainment value to them but not Cyborg. Its a boring mess that is quite possibly the worst post-apocalyptic film of all time. I guess I shouldn't expect a decent film under the same director that gave you Adrenalin: Fear The Rush.
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Attack of the German male models, or Jean Claude Van Damme Vs the pirates of the 21st century, 11 May 2008 Author: Grann-Bach (Grann-Bach@jubii.dk) from Denmark
This movie is basically a typical, campy, B-grade action flick, from start to finish. Most of the "pirates" not only look as I describe in the summary, but sadly possess the same acting abilities as such. The action(which does perhaps have its moments, and there certainly is plenty of it) is relatively violent, but apart from that, nothing above the usual for 80's movies of this kind. It would undeniably pose something of a daunting task to locate a mere second(!) in this that isn't infinitely and instantly(not to mention incredibly) MST3K-worthy, and that tends to be the greatest source of entertainment when I watch it. What gives this what merit it does have(which really isn't an overwhelming amount) is that it actually features some pretty decent atmosphere, as others have said, partially due to the stretches that do not have any dialog. The story isn't terribly told, and it isn't the *worst* piece of cyberpunk out there. This goes somewhat fast, but it could also be attributed to it not even being 90 minutes long(seemed closer to 75 without credits), though there are some films of similar running time which are considerably more difficult to sit through. I guess this is sort of a cult feature(and it did somehow beget two sequels), and as such, some people will love it, but most people probably won't. I recommend this to big fans of gloomy, dystopian future works... if you're not one, you may find this rather uninteresting. 5/10
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Seemingly well liked by many... but not me., 7 January 2008 Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK
Cyborg starts in plague ridden post apocalyptic 'New York City In The Future' where martial arts expert for hire Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) rescues & then promptly loses again a cyborg woman named Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) to a marauding gang of bandits lead by Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn), Pearl claims she has been sent by a group of doctors to gather vital information about a cure for the plague & it is imperative for humanity that she returns safely with that information. A woman named Nady (Deborah Richter) convinces Gibson to rescue Pearl & potentially help save the human race from extinction...Directed by Albert Pyun Cyborg was his breakthrough film, he has since gone on to make dozens of awful sci-fi horror type films & is probably one of the worst genre director's ever right down there with Jim Wynorski & Jesus 'I have no talent' Franco. One of the first things that stands out about Cyborg is that it stars a young looking JCVD, while this was released the same year as Kickboxer (1989) it was that film which basically made JCVD a star & not Cyborg so I guess that's one less thing to hate it for. The script by Kitty Chalmers is a sort of post apocalyptic action film that takes itself very seriously & is almost totally devoid of any sort of meaningful story. Cyborg is one of the most threadbare excuses of a film I've seen in a while, the story revolves around the whole clichéd post apocalyptic scenario where the world is in ruins, there are few survivors, there are large groups of bandits & scavengers who kill & steal & of course there's the lone hero, the man who does what's right in a world gone to hell & yes you've guessed it he has even suffered from some kind of personal loss! Wow, I'm not being funny here but Cyborg leaves no post apocalyptic clichéd unused, from abandoned buildings, run down towns, dirty futuristic costumes & one mans fight against evil. We've seen it all before & done much, much better. Just watch one of the Mad Max trilogy as they are all far superior to this, the character's are poor with little or no motivation or background, there's barely any dialogue in it & what little story it tries to tell is shown through a collection of badly edited flashbacks littered throughout the film's scant 80 odd minute duration & even at only 80 minutes it felt much longer which is not a good sign.Director Pyun has made a career from making low budget crap & guess what? Cyborg pretty much proves he started out making low budget crap because it's, well, low budget crap (the weapon of choice in the future is a paint-ball gun!). All the sets look really cheap, the locations don't look post apocalyptic either, they look exactly like what they are an abandoned factory, some woods & a rundown building! The action scenes are not that great, the editing is very choppy although I suspect that many of the more violent scenes were cut & according to the IMDb's 'Alternate Versions' section for Cyborg that appears to be very much the case. The special effects aren't too bad, there's some OK matte paintings & some alright cyborg robotics effects as well. Cyborg was the film which finally bankrupt the infamous Cannon Films run by Yoram Globus & Menahem Golan as it was their last theatrically released film. Apparently Cyborg was written with the intent to use the sets & costumes that had been made for the planned Masters of the Universe (1987) sequel & a live-action Spider-Man film which were both canned after Cannon Films suffered financial problems & Cyborg was written & made to utilise the money already spent.With a supposed budget of about $1,800,000 Cyborg looks really cheap on too many occasions, it's competent but pretty bland & lifeless. The acting isn't up to much not that anyone is given much to do because of the very sparse script, JCVD is no better or worse than usual, Vincent Klyn who was apparently recognised as one of the worlds best surfers in the 80's has gone on to appear in eleven other Albert Pyun films which says how much of a career he has had since this.Cyborg is an average post apocalyptic action film, it's watchable on a dumb level & there are one or two good moments but the story is so poor & the set-pieces aren't that great so overall I didn't hate it but I didn't really like it either. Followed by the unconnected Cyborg 2 (1993) & Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994).
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto..., 22 May 2006 Author: Frank Markland from United States
A slinger(?) from the future looks to take revenge on the group of pirates who killed his family in a post apocalypse wasteland. Also on board is a cyborg who has the cure for a plague and holds the key to the survival of mankind. Of course she must deliver the information in her head to Atlanta and she needs a hero to deliver her from the pirates. I must admit that Cyborg is one of those movies I found extremely funny. Where as I can give other action flicks a higher rating because they actually do a few things right, Cyborg manages to do practically everything wrong. The action sequences are decently choreographed but the ridiculous nature surrounding them and interminable grunting and screaming which accompanies them make this a laughable effort. Plus the movie is often times hard to follow coherently and Pyun tacks on far too many pointless flashbacks to beef up it's (thankfully) scant running time.Also why on earth does the main bad guy wear chain mail when he's in a hot climate half of the time? * out of 4 (Bad)
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Yeah you could mistake Van Damme for a cyborg., 14 August 2009 Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.
When I first saw the title of Cannon's 'Cyborg' and the name Jean Claude Van Damme tagged, I thought of a cyborg Van Damme. Oh yeah! Well I couldn't be any more wrong. Well Van Damme's acting is robotic, but he still gets to kick butt in human form as he goes after a cyborg woman carrying vital information that could cure the plague that affects civilization in the 21st century. However in his way and holding the cyborg hostage is Fender, the barbarous leader of the 'Flesh Pirates' that roams the vacant cities carving out a hellhole.There's rawness to it, but it's efficiently staged. What I had trouble with was how unexciting and emotionless the film was, despite its comic-book edge and choreographed action being superbly executed… although director Albert Pyun could've cut down on the over-cooked slow motion. Nonetheless it was good to see Van Damme wipe the floor with those kick-boxing skills, but it did give me a snicker during the sloppy flashback sequences which has Van Damme in an awkward looking blonde wig. However the most pitiful aspect was the over-the-top, try-hard performance of Vincent Klyn as Fender. Boy I could only roll my eyes, especially when he opened his mouth and got into his posing stances. Sadistic… far from it. Deborah Richter was the opposite, with a lively and feisty turn.The use of junky special effects works out. Being set in a desperate wasteland born from apocalyptic symptoms, Pyun does an exemplary job bringing that out the chosen locations. Some impulsively neat visuals caught by expressive camera-work and rapid pacing go onto add more to a blotchy narration without much of a story in this cheaply produced sci-fi outing. Although there's an odd inclusion of Jesus on the cross in some scenes in the background and then you another sequence with Van Damme. Is his character seen as society's true savior? Passably average.
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