CYBORG (1989)
 

One of my fav best worst films. Recently reviewed by RLM who did an admirable job of explaining its charms.



The over-the-top grunting masculinity of Fender and Gibson is only rivaled, but not exceeded, by the drama-showdown between Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey in Reign of Fire.



I remember when this came out. One friend told me that the film had the baddest bad guy he had ever seen in a movie. Another friend was disturbed at how Van Damme's usually devastating kicks just bounced off Fender (horrifying!).

RIP Albert Pyun.

Watched his other masterpiece, Nemesis, in his honor last night. Wanted to do a double feature with Cyborg but got too late.

Never watched Nemesis. I guess I'll have to dip into it sometime.

What do you think of the Nemesis sequels? Quite a bit different than the first one, eh?

2- amusing but a huge shift and far lesser budget. His fascination with Sue Price is bewildering.

3- Pyun's worst film and barely a movie.

4- 2nd best and an admirable attempt at tech noir. Sue Price femme fatale is a choice though.

5- nothing to do with Pyun and one of the worst things I've ever seen.

It's been quite a while since I've seen these, but I think I pretty much agree on 2 and 3. And the younger me was also rather fascinated by scantily dressed Sue Price :D

I'm not sure if I've seen the 4th film (a tech noir Nemesis doesn't seem to ring any bells) and I certainly haven't seen the 5th. Maybe I should do a Nemesis marathon at some point.

He REALLY thought he could turn Price into Lady Arnold and bless him for giving it his all. I'd say if you've already watched the first 3, you should check out the 4th. It's the most "real movie" of the sequels by a lot.

I would never recommend the 5th. Not even as a gag. It's just a big suck hole of nothing. If 3 was barely a movie, 5 isn't one at all.

For some reason, my streaming services have 1, 2, 3 and 5. But not 4.

I had somebody recommend me 4, and was disappointed that I couldn’t get ahold of it easily.

The MVD set of 2, 3, 4 is going for like $16 on Amazon. I got it for cheaper but it seems like they might be mildly OOP.

In a different time I might have jumped on this. But I just spent an ill-advised amount of money on things I probably don’t need and also wasn’t in love with the first one, so I will hold off for now.

Also, I see Tubi has a bunch of his movies so I’ll keep digging on that front.

Hold up. What?

There are a lot of visual ideas that I find interesting on paper, but there’s something about the onscreen execution that I found a bit off-putting. The camera is too close, the elements feel jammed together uncomfortably. The movie feels cluttered rather than eclectic. It’s like stepping into an antique shop that looks really nice when peeking in through the window, but once you step inside everything is arranged too closely together that walking through it becomes a challenge.

I like the guy’s sensibilities, so I will continue to check out his work, but it brings me no joy to report that I wasn’t in love with this one.

How did you watch it? Full frame, 1.75:1 or 2.35:1?

What else of his have you seen?

It was on whatever aspect ratio was on Tubi, probably 1.75:1. I imagine the exact same movie would have played better in 2.35:1, I understand he shot a lot of his movies that way.

I’ve seen Cyborg, which I had some of the same issues with. I also saw Captain America years ago, but my memories are hazy to say the least.

I plan to at least check out The Sword and the Sorcerer and Vicious Lips. I am not writing him off just yet.

Those two are fun and what I was gonna recommend next anyways. I also think CA is more solid than it gets credit for and more endearing than quite a few modern cape flicks.

Cyborg and Nemesis are perfect though. Watch them again until you recognize that.

Okay, watched Vicious Lips and enjoyed that one a lot more. I think the relative (okay, total) lack of plot helps the aesthetics breathe in a way they don’t in Nemesis and Cyborg. Also has Cafe Flesh vibes, which is always a good thing.

I mean, you're wrong about it being better than Nemesis or Cyborg and should be ashamed but at least you're realizing how wonderful Pyun can be.