Cyborg

MOVIE #1,701 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 06.06.24 ALBERT & AKERMAN: AN AUTEURIST STUDY IN CONTRAST + CONTINUUM This is more moody (read: serious) than I would have anticipated. There is nary a hint of humor, for the first time thus far on this Albert Pyun journey. It's better for it, honestly. It's taking itself very seriously and asking the viewer to do this same. If you enjoy Cyborg ironically, I’m not sure what to tell you other than you might not understand the point of irony or perhaps what irony really is. This is an earnest film. Deploying the least amount of dialogue possible (in less than 90 minutes), it still renders a coherent story (whether or not you find it compelling is another question).

This traverses typical Pyun terrain: the post-apocalypse after a plague known as the living death has crippled civilization. Jean-Claude van Damme stars as Gibson Rickenbacker, a mercenary who battles a group of murderous marauders as he helps a cyborg named Pearl (who holds the key to finding the cure to the disease in her computer system) get to Atlanta. JCVD battles the bad guy Fender (played by Vincent Klyn, a truly sadistic villain) in both real-time and copious flashbacks. (Side note: The cyborg in this is kind of an afterthought, essentially just a walking/talking flash drive. It's a cool name for a movie though.) The movie plays out like the action flick equivalent of the @BronzeHammer Trump tweet (just sub in JCVD for ol Donny)…


It’s shocking to me that this has such a low RT score (22%) because it's legitimately wellmade. The first Pyun that really has no semblance of “So Bad It’s Good” entertainment value. Maybe not every viewer sees it this way but — as I stated earlier — I think you'll get the most out of it if you take everything at face value. Because what it has to offer — from impressive action sequences and great stunts, excellent ambiance (mise en scene even!), kinetic camera work, mattes, etc. — is really good...




Perhaps a lot of it comes down to where you fall on van Damme in general but this is the perfect movie for what he has to offer (I think he has a dozen lines total?). He and Klyn are equally mechanical, but it works in this post-apocalyptic setting. What they lack in ‘acting skills’ they more than make up for with their over-the-top kicking and punching and yelling.

I will be totally honest with you: I think there are other Pyun movies that are more fun than this even though this is probably his best movie yet, technically speaking. If that makes sense. Is this the rare case of when being too good is a detriment, or is this a sign for things to come?

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Cyborg is a 1989 American martial-arts cyberpunk film directed by Albert Pyun. Jean-Claude van Damme stars as Gibson Rickenbacker, a mercenary who battles a group of murderous marauders led by Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn) along the East coast of the United States in a post-apocalyptic future. It was followed by the sequels Cyborg 2 (1993) and Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994). It was released on April 7, 1989.