So it was the early-mid '90s, and while visiting at my Grandmother's house, my Uncle showcased to me a film which completely floored me. Now, keep in mind, I was a little kid at the time, and anything that featured monsters was A-OK in my book. Based off the original Japanese Manga, "The Guyver" tells the story of Sean Barker, you're run-of-the-mill scrawny dude who just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the guys, and is always being picked on by the bigger, stronger guys in his karate class. But one night, while getting beat up, Sean encounters the mysterious alien technology known as the Guyver Unit, which quickly fuses with him and covers his entire body with a completely badass alien biomechanical suit of armor. However, now Sean finds himself in a world unlike any other, as vicious human/monster hybrids, known as Zoanoids, have been searching for the Guyver Unit, and will stop at nothing to have it.
When I first witnessed this film, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I mean, people who could transform into vicious alien monsters at a moment's notice? A guy running around with an alien suit inside his skin, able to come out whenever he starts to lose control? SIGN ME UP! Of course, looking back on it now, and yes, for the first timers it will definitely take some getting used to. And one of the funniest things about this film is the poster. At first glance, you see the cool-looking half-and-half shot of the Guyver's face and Mark Hamil's face. But the thing about that is the simple fact that Hamil does NOT play the Guyver or Sean. He's the police detective that helps the Guyver. That's it. But for someone who's never seen this movie before, and they take one look at that poster, they immediately go into it believing that Hamil will be the guy in the biomechanical suit, only to be let down within the first 20 minutes. The REAL guy who plays the role of Sean Barker AND voices the Guyver? This dude:
His name's Jack Armstrong. And other than getting the starring role in this movie, the rest of his career has mainly been quick guest spots on popular TV series here and there. Thing about this guy is that, although he did the best that he could do, I just never completely bought him as the helpless wimpy guy who pined for the affections of the lovely Mizky, played by Vivian Wu. Now some of you may say that it was the completely weak script and story that he had to work with, and you are right on some aspect. Yet I would still find myself wishing that they had went another rout with his character. More like who they went with in the sequel. But we'll save that for later.
Any good hero needs an even better villain to work off of, and in this case, it was the evil Kronos Corporation and their army of shape-shifting creatures affectionately known as Zoanoids. They could look like a normal human being to you, but if you pissed them off, out came whatever monster they happened to be, and you were basically screwed. Now here's where I have another bone to pick with some of the casting choices. For one of the zoanoid lackeys, they went with veteran TV actor Jimmy "DYNOMITE" Walker. Process that for a second. A scaly monster with big, floppy ears that's supposed to scare you, and Jimmy Walker's voice comes out of its mouth. Yup. I can understand where the fear came from.
Any good hero needs an even better villain to work off of, and in this case, it was the evil Kronos Corporation and their army of shape-shifting creatures affectionately known as Zoanoids. They could look like a normal human being to you, but if you pissed them off, out came whatever monster they happened to be, and you were basically screwed. Now here's where I have another bone to pick with some of the casting choices. For one of the zoanoid lackeys, they went with veteran TV actor Jimmy "DYNOMITE" Walker. Process that for a second. A scaly monster with big, floppy ears that's supposed to scare you, and Jimmy Walker's voice comes out of its mouth. Yup. I can understand where the fear came from.
When I think about this movie, I try to look at it with the eyes of someone who knows what they're watching isn't going to be winning any awards, but still tries to give you a pretty decent film. Does it manage to accomplish that? That's up to the viewer. But I will say this: If you can manage to sit through one of those Saturday night made-for-SyFy crapfests, then this is gonna seem like an Academy Award-winning opus! And apparently enough people loved it enough to make it a cult favorite on the convention circuit. Enough so that it eventually got a sequel......