Cyborg

“Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as the future’s most fearsome warrior in this adrenaline-charged sci-fi thriller.

Deteriorating from a deadly plague, 21st-Century America is descending into a barbaric nightmare. Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a beautiful half human/half cyborg, has the knowledge necessary to develop a vaccine. But during her quest to gather data and bring the cure to the world, Pearl is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates who plot to keep the antidote for themselves and rule the world. Now, only saber-wielding hero Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) can rescue her and save civilization.”

Cannon has made some of the best-worst films during their hayday. It was a different period in filmmaking, when quantity seemed to outweigh quality, and cranking out films was what they were known for. Cannon thrived on this type of filmmaking, with some of their products actually becoming quite successful, as was the first collaboration between them and The Muscles from Brussels in Bloodsport. Thanks to this success, Cannon offered Van Damme the lead in several of their upcoming films, which he of course chose Cyborg.

Unfortunately, when the studio screened what director Albert Pyun put together, it was clear from audience reactions that the world wasn’t ready for Pyun’s vision. Interestingly enough, Van Damme got wind of the poor reception and ‘insisted’ he be allowed to recut the film himself, changing a large portion of the story and characters in an attempt to salvage the film for what it was. The outcome is what we see today: a jumbled mess that not even JCVD could save.

Originally intended to have little to no dialogue, the film is indeed mostly silent, save for the grunts and overly synthesized score, which doesn’t help to explain the plot and the many directions it seems to go in. In fact, nothing seems to really be explained at all, except one scene of exposition where we find out there is a cyborg named Pearl who has gathered information about a cure to the plague that has condemned civilization to ruin. When the antagonist, Fender (Vincent Kyln) learns of it, he “wants to own it”, and Pearl it seems doesn’t care who gets her to her destination of Atlanta as long as they are strong enough to get her back to the doctors who are waiting on the information. The focus of the plot is paper thin, jumbled, and makes about zero sense. Why is there a cyborg, who is in the film for about five minutes total, which the entire film is named after? If you’re having trouble keeping the story straight with all the random flashbacks, just keep an eye out for the horrible wig Van Damme wears that is the only marker for differentiating the past and present. This plague that has ravaged mankind is barely mentioned either. We see that it causes boils on the face, but no other information is really given about it. It seems 99% of the people in the film are unaffected, so already the stakes are at about zero. All of this confusion does help hide the fact of an even greater confusion: How Fender has at least a day head start traveling from New York to Atlanta, sailing the coastline on a boat, and Van Damme is on foot and takes a ‘short cut’ that somehow gets him there at the same time. The lesson here, if you hadn’t already figured it out, don’t count on anything making sense, it will just drive you insane.

Another nail in the coffin in this film is the antagonist, Fender. In the special features, the man seems like a genuinely great guy, but he’s a surfer, not an actor. His acting is mind numbingly bad, more like a Super Nintendo bad guy where they were limited to animating only one part of his face with a bad Japanese translation for dialogue. Although he’s in great shape and a towering figure that is definitely menacing to Van Damme, his cartoonish nature makes you roll your eyes instead of cower in fear.

All the sets and costumes are taken from the never made sequel to Masters of the Universe and a Spider-Man film that Cannon had the rights to at the time. The story seems to be crafted around the convenience of having sets already made, and the sequences following the same narrative. Unfortunately, that is a very poor way to create a story, which is then compounded by the star of the film, who has no experience in editing or filmmaking, tries to ‘fix’ the film by making it more action intense and cut down the drama.

As many problems as Cyborg has, the fact is that it does have a following, there is no denying that. The fight sequences are really well done, and JCVD doesn’t disappoint when it comes to his martial arts showdowns and his dispensing of bad guys. Van Damme might as well have cut everything but the sequences and perhaps I would have enjoyed it more, because honestly these were the only parts I enjoyed. Despite this, Cannon and the films they made is a phenomenon we will never see again. Any chance I get to experience another one, be it horrible or great, I will always jump on the chance.

Video

Cyborg is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1 and includes a new 2k scan of the interpositive. Although the film looks probably the best it ever has, there are still noticeable scratches in the source print from time to time. Grain is kept at a manageable level, with the brighter daylight scenes looking very clear. The darker scenes also suffer from softness at times but overall this new transfer looks pretty good.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo. The entire film is basically the score with some grunting, so for what it is the track sounds fine. Levels are pretty good, but the music at times overpowers everything else going on, which is a shame because the score sounds so bad.

Special Features

The extras on this set are fantastic, and provide a wealth of information on the film and the director’s original intent and his thoughts on what it became. This is definitely one of those sets where after you watch the extras you will want to go back and watch the film again, despite how bad it was. I highly recommend you check these out, as those who may be discovering this for the first time may find an appreciation for it.

On this set you’re going to see:

• NEW 4K Scan From The Original Film Elements
• NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Albert Pyun
• NEW A Ravaged Future – The Making Of CYBORG – Featuring Interviews With Writer/Director Albert Pyun, Actors Vincent Klyn, Deborah Richter, And Terrie Batson, Director Of Photography Philip Alan Waters, And Editor Rozanne Zingale
• NEW Shoestring Fantasy – The Effects Of CYBORG– Featuring Interviews With Visual Effects Supervisor Gene Warren Jr., Go-Motion Technician Christopher Warren, And Rotoscope Artist Bret Mixon
• Extended Interviews From Mark Hartley’s Documentary ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS With Writer/Director Albert Pyun And Sheldon Lettich
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

Although I didn’t quite enjoy Cyborg as much as I had hoped, there is still a cult following of it, JCVD, and Cannon films in general. The fact that Scream Factory has taken so much time and effort into releasing such a great set that most would find undeserving makes movie fans like me so happy that these films might find a new generation of fans. For this fact, and the chance to see another Cannon film restored, I enjoyed experiencing the film and learning all I could about the issues behind the camera. Fans of the film will for sure want to pick this up, and fans of Cannon films know how bad they can be, but that is the most appealing quality.