Guyver: Dark Hero (1994)
Sci-Fi's Most Powerful Alien-Human Hybrid Returns!
A game I’ve played recently just put out a long awaited story update, and to celebrate I’m dropping into something I have technically watched before, but never really reviewed. I’m also skipping over the first one of them, because technically I like this one more despite Mark Hamill being in the first one. Originally, I honestly felt a lot of the game might have been slightly inspired by it, although in the end it did go a different way and do it’s own things. So today, grab you fancy glasses and grab some popcorn, we are going to check out Guyver: Dark Hero.
So this is the second live action movie made over here - and honestly you don’t need to technically have seen the first one to get what’s going on thanks the recap at the start of the movie. That said, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea considering it does work off of that one to some degree. That said, it is also based on an anime based on a manga and doesn’t really have a whole crap ton to do with it outside of taking the basic premise. That basic premise? A suit of bio-mechanical armor built by aliens taking over a person that then ends up having to fight a ton of mutant creatures secretly trying to take over the world. Since I don’t get to do it too often, I’ll save some adaptational comparison for it’s own spot later - for now, the story proper in here focuses on the main character and his quest to find out why the Guyver is the way it is, and how to get rid of it he so no longer has to deal with it’s murderous inclinations. Chalk in the side parts with archeologists and the evil monster-corporation and you get a general idea of what you are doing.
What about characters you ask? Well, they are technically there, and some have a little bit of growth - but we are talking a 90’s action movie here so they put some effort into making a bit of a moral struggle on the main character to add a little edge. You know - Dark Hero. The side characters have various levels of actual character to them beyond the traits, but nobody is really super-duper deep in this. The actors don’t do a horrible job here - but it does have a level of right to home video with the actors. Not saying it’s bad, just that some of it probably comes off way more humerus than intended, especially if watching with a group. You’ll also get the age old tropes of obviously bad folks being obviously bad and all that, but there’s a few hearts of gold in there that still come across as such even if this isn’t a totally A-list example of cinema.
That said, most gamers would probably recognize the voice of Solid Snake emanating from behind the alien mask, and probably also find it that much more funny how horrible a sneak he is in the movie. Most the suited folks do a good job of playing things out with body motions, similar to Power Rangers. Yes, if you think that’s bad then you’ll have a blast with this one - in the sense that it’s very similar. The moving bits of the monster suits - like mouths and stuff - do have a good range of movement to them though, so the only time it seems like the suits are “acting bad” is usually during a few of the more laughable fight moments.
Bio-boosted, ready to kill.
On that note, the effects are pretty good. Yes, a few moments are pretty washy and show their age - the entire thing suffers from film grain on a cinema-graphic level, but it’s a movie from the early 90s that’s only HD quality and I’m watching it full screen on a 2K monitor - I’d fully expect some grain in that situation. Funnily, it isn’t always noticeable, usually on closer in shots with the suits on display. The suits are the crowning part of the movie - yes, some of the monsters are kind of dumb - like that lobster face one - but they all look pretty well done regardless. The Guyver suit in particularly looks good and detailed, and it feels like they largely tried to do as much practical as possible - regardless of the reasoning, I can respect that choice given a few of the worse effects. Yep - not all of them are great, but I’d argue the good ones outweigh the bad in this flick.
Audio is there, and pretty budget early 90s. It musically serves it’s purpose and can try and support the scenes and emotions on screen. The effect audio could actually use a bit of expansion, and I promise you that you will hate that angry cat noise by the end of the film it gets used so much. It’s like your friend has a soundboard with six sound effects, and they just keep reusing two for each monster, even if that means tapping it a lot or holding it down. Could be improved for sure - and also largely makes other moments seem a bit more funny because of the almost cartoony nature to them given whats going on here. Balancing on the other hand is well done, and there does sometimes really feel like people are trying to deliver some good lines despite the writing or overall camp that might be surrounding it. Still, watch out for that over-acting!
So, as mentioned, I do actually have some experience with this outside of the two live action movies. As a matter of fact, I watched both the series (the OVA and the TV one) a long while back. Yes, that means my memory is a bit rusty, but you know what, I can still remember a bunch of the basics. Honestly, the principal concepts are the same - a main character who doesn’t necessarily want the Guyver or the trouble it brings but accepts it’s power to protect his loved ones. Evil corporation populated entirely by mutant alien hybrids set to control the world and acquire or destroy the Guyver units. There’s even a bit of a similar aspect to the ending here - albeit in different context and characters. Of course, the live action one doesn’t take place in Japan, focus on a group of school kids, and things like that - honestly, the first one differs way more then the second one, but that’s probably because the first one was an origin story movie as opposed to just playing off of that to continue. Granted, this entire movie isn’t exactly torn from an episode of the series - but most the core thoughts it’s playing with work in in the context of it. You could argue it far better to be “inspired by” then any sort of adaptation in that regard. As far as how the effects look - that Guyver is spot on, and seeing how they manage that and a bunch of the monsters only makes me a bit sadder that more people don’t try ambitious stuff with suits like that. Yes, the anime gets away with way more brutal and arguably cooler transformation scenes - but that’s the limits of what you are working with in reality with technology at the time I suppose, and still feels nice that some of it still feels like it was there. It’s also much less violent, although it does still have violence - if you want a live action edition of the original stuff, the second is closer to palatable then the first.
Where’s the Lagoon?
I enjoy this movie, but largely that’s because of the awesome suits and an attachment to the general premise of the Guyver unit itself that attached to me back from when I watched the original OVA. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and you might find it best to watch with a group so you can laugh during the slower parts - of which the movie does have plenty. The acting won’t really be super stand out, and the story services what it want’s just fine without feeling to “because it is what it needs to be” that some movies can end up doing to pass it off as making sense. That said, the costumes are awesome and I’d love to own that Guyver suit.