The Guyver (1991)

Rating: **
Director: Steve Wang, Screaming Mad George
Cast: Vic Armstrong, Mark Hamill, Vivian Wu, Jimmy Walker, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Linnea Quigley

An amateur and juvenile effort from Steve Wang and Co., that relies way too heavily on campy action and goofiness. The sequel ("Guyver 2: Dark Hero" (1994) ) is far superior in every way. The evil Chronos Corporation breeds genetic mutation monsters and has come across an ancient and powerful weapon called "the Guyver unit." It falls into the hands of pretty boy Sean Barker (Vic Armstrong) who accidentally activates it and becomes one with it, turning into the incredible superhero fighting machine known as, The Guyver. The rest of the film deals with the bumbling Zoanoid minions of Chronos trying to get the Guyver unit back, with embarrassing results. Mark Hamill is a nosy and frumpy cop who's trying to put all the pieces together, but ends up as a mutation himself. The Guyver finally kicks everyone's butts, destroys Chronos, and runs off with his girlfriend Vivian Wu, but there are still Zoanoids lurking in the shadows. In the final insult, the last spoken word in the film is the Jimmy Walker Zoanoid saying "dyno-mite." Campy and goofy in a Power Rangers kind of way, but it doesn't work with the rest of the material that's presented. The creature effects are good (reminiscent of Screaming Mad George's work on "Arena" (1991) ) and the martial arts sequences are average to sub-average. Watch the sequel instead.