So much average

A different way of telling a story

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I first watched this in the early 1990's, and I wasn't familiar with the animation or Manga versions of the "Guyver". I merely found this movie because of Mark Hamill was in it. And I have watched it a couple of times since then, with years in between each viewing.And I will say that "Guyver" actually still holds its ground today, as it is still watchable and enjoyable, just as it was back in the early 1990's.The story is about a young man who discovers an alien device which fused his own body with that of a cyborg organism, effectively making him an ultimate fighting machine. But the secrets of the guyver is sought by others, and soon monstrous creatures start to show up to take back the guyver unit."Guyver" has adequate special effects, especially taking into consideration that the movie is from 1991. Sure, you can clearly see that the creatures are just suits worn by actors inside them. But the design of the creatures is still impressive and passable even by today's standards. And the conceptual ideas behind the guyver and the creature designs is unique and quite memorable.As for the acting, well, people were doing good enough jobs with their roles and characters. Of course, this is not thespian acting in the making, so you know what you are in for.It was nice to see Mark Hamill in this movie, despite not being the lead actor, although he was billed on the front of the movie cover. So people might actually be lured in on false pretenses, because he does not have the lead role. But it was also nice to see David Gale, Vivian Wu and Jeffrey Combs make small appearances in the movie. And if you are a fan of Jeffrey Combs, then you should get a kick out of the fact that his character in "Guyver" is named Dr. East.As campy and cheesy as "Guyver" actually is, it is still a very enjoyable and entertaining movie.

A race of aliens are trying to run the earth with an evil corporation. They have a reptile-like appearance, which I suppose pleases David Icke. Their next goal is to attain the guyver, a special device that turns the user into a living suit of armor. Unfortunately for them, a young martial arts student finds it first.This film should have been awesome. The cast was amazing (more on this later) and the general idea was decent. Sure, it reeks of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and "Voltron" in some ways, but it's based on a Japanese comic, so you'll have that. Let's go over the negatives before I try to say something nice.The fight scenes dragged on way too long. The Guyver has the power to use knives and cut his opponents to shreds, but he rarely does it and waits until the end of the fight to do so. So, we're left with a long fight scene followed by another long fight scene... less entertaining than the one from "They Live" and cheesier because they keep fighting the same guys and it's just rubber suit hitting rubber suit.The acting was awful. It was cheeseball. Most noticeably from Mark Hamill, who plays a CIA agent. I didn't understand why a CIA agent was investigated domestic murder (isn't that what the FBI is for?), but even more confusing was Hamill's over-the-top approach and bad mustache. I really hope this was intention on the part of the creators, because Hamill can do so much better than this (see "Star Wars" and "Silver Bullet"). Even if intentional, it was still bad.The scene cuts were annoying, with these diagonal slashes indicating a new scene. They were not necessary, done too often, and just made the film seem even more of a cartoon. Maybe the audience was supposed to be kids, who might like that. I don't know. I just thought it was excessive.And yes, there were too many costumes. I don't know how to get around that since the film was about aliens. But the costumes were just so cheesy. Maybe it was better than some costumes. Actually, I know it is. But I can't watch all these rubber suits bounce around. I need some sort of human presence.Now, I will say the cast was amazing, even if put in a really bad film. Horror fans will recognize a great many of these names: Michael Berryman ("The Hills Have Eyes"), Mark Hamill ("Silver Bullet"), David Gale ("Re-Animator"), Linnea Quigley ("Return of the Living Dead"), and Jeffrey Combs ("Re-Animator"). The film was even produced by Brian Yuzna, making this something of a "re-Animator" reunion. And the horror in-jokes were nice (casting Quigley as a scream queen, and Combs as "Doctor East").If the fight scenes had been cut shorter, this would have been a smoother and more enjoyable film. As it is now, it's pretty bland and boring. Put it on for the kids, as I think they'll get a lot more out of it. Then some day they'll go back and watch it again, only to be traumatized that they used to like such rubbish. But looking back on what I used to like, I don't know how I tolerated such poor animation as a child.

If you think this film was intended to be in the vain of its animated counterpart then you are clearly wrong as it's true formula can only be found in the filming conventions of most Japanese B movies, for example bad campy acting, simple narrative, bit of kung fu, bit of gore, bit of comedy, lots of dark lighting, rubber costumes coupled with funky man to mutant transformations. One might question the integrity of the acting or dialog but the fact is the cast were directed to cheese it up so as to fit into its genre and eastern heritage. The fighting scenes are a bit over the top but this is what Japanese B cult is all about. Dyn-o-mite!!!

The "bad news" outweighs the "good news" for this movie.BAD - The dialog in here is very stupid; the acting is poor (Jack Armstrong, Vivian Wu?); there is too much violence and simply a general Class B-type production feeling about this whole film, making it dumb overall. GOOD - It was very light on the profanity and sometimes had some pretty good special-effects with the humans turning into monsters.STRANGE - Added to the cast is television star Jimmie Walker, who played a goofy "Kid Dyn-O-Mite" character on TV, and Mark Hamill, from the hugely-successful Star Wars movie series. Wow, times must have gotten tough for those two actors to be in this movie!OVERALL - After watching this for an hour, it was hard to get interested enough to finish the film.