IMDb RATING
5.3/10
1.1K
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In a cyberpunk future, Kyron-5 supercomputer attempts to exterminate the human race, but Gunhed mechs stop it. In 2038, five thieves break into a condemned island facility to steal Kyron's d... Read allIn a cyberpunk future, Kyron-5 supercomputer attempts to exterminate the human race, but Gunhed mechs stop it. In 2038, five thieves break into a condemned island facility to steal Kyron's dead CPU. The place turns out to be a deathtrap.In a cyberpunk future, Kyron-5 supercomputer attempts to exterminate the human race, but Gunhed mechs stop it. In 2038, five thieves break into a condemned island facility to steal Kyron's dead CPU. The place turns out to be a deathtrap.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe concept for the film came from a story contest that Toho held in 1986, which was to decide on the narrative for the next installment in the Godzilla series. Jim Bannon was the contestant who was noted for his Godzilla 2 script, which had Godzilla facing off against a giant computer, but was beat out by Shinichiro Kobayashi with his early draft for Godzilla vs. Biollante. However, Toho didn't scrap Bannon's second place entry, but instead had Masato Harada heavily rework the idea, removing Godzilla and other elements from the film, until they were left with the final product: the infamous Gunhed.
- GoofsIn the opening of the bandit crew flying in the Mary Ann toward the island 8JO, Bebe announces the name of the island they're flying to; in this shot, the camera pans over to Brooklyn who has the lip of his turtleneck below his chin. In the next shot, a close-up of Brooklyn's face, he's pulling the lip of his turtleneck down from over his mouth to his chin.
- Alternate versionsSci-fi channel version ommits strong profanity.
- ConnectionsEdited into Front Line Assembly: Mindphaser (1992)
- SoundtracksTheme Song for GUNHED
Performed by Aireen
Music by Takayuki Baba
Arranged by Takayuki Negishi
Sung by Mariko Nagai
Featured review
I came to this film after a viral tweet expressed how Final Fantasy VII, Armored Core and Metal Gear owed a debt of gratitude to this film's imagery. I can easily imagine an impressionable teen or 20-something seeing this and later creating concept art for any of those game series; the resemblance is sometimes uncanny.
A story about tech scavengers entering the dormant 500-floor megafortress of a Skynet-like rogue AI is an obvious product of its time; one part Stalker, one part The Terminator, and existing in a continuum of otaku "mecha" media & techno-action video games.
The fortress is a chemical plant hellscape; the Death Star but without its austere cleanliness. Tangles of pipes stretch endlessly into the dark horizon strewn with wreckage from a decade-past humans-vs-robots showdown. Nightmarish "bioroids" lurk in the shadows as the scavengers rummage for lost technology.
Gunhed's particular horror revels in Japanese industrialization gone amok with its labyrinthine steel superstructures, putting it on a similar wavelength to "Patlabor: The Movie" and Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira" and "The Order to Stop Construction". Its sometimes sublime imagery recalls the foggy and colorful sci-fi noir of Ridley Scott films and "Aliens". It could be a cultural touchstone for some, but it's very much a product of its time and wears its influences on its sleeve.
When the rogue AI's apocalyptic plans are revealed, their only hope is to repair the titular "gunhed", a giant, bipedal, transforming tank accompanied by a witty computer personality. Gunhed delivers the goods in terms of miniature-based visual effects. Whether good or bad, it often charms. A scene where the gunhed tank aggressively fords a pool of chemicals while fending off automated defenses is impressive; fire and waves and sparks filling the screen. I would love to see the filming of that battle.
Unfortunately, much of the storytelling is conventionally poor, visual or otherwise. Sometimes it's hard to tell what characters are doing, or what's happening to them. The dialog, with its blend of spoken English and Japanese, is 1980s style-over-substance; charmingly dated and poorly acted. It's only engaging as an artifact of its era, rather than a functionally good movie. If you're looking for cultural artifact to study, then Gunhed is interesting. Otherwise I'd skip it.
Patlabor: The Movie is an extremely similar but significantly better film in almost every respect: depth, writing, visual storytelling, and comprehensible action choreography. Like Gunhed it's about characters who enter a labyrinthine superstructure full of mecha gone amok in order to avert a Japanese industrial robo-pocalypse. Proving my point about the zeitgeist, it released at nearly the same time as Gunhed.
A story about tech scavengers entering the dormant 500-floor megafortress of a Skynet-like rogue AI is an obvious product of its time; one part Stalker, one part The Terminator, and existing in a continuum of otaku "mecha" media & techno-action video games.
The fortress is a chemical plant hellscape; the Death Star but without its austere cleanliness. Tangles of pipes stretch endlessly into the dark horizon strewn with wreckage from a decade-past humans-vs-robots showdown. Nightmarish "bioroids" lurk in the shadows as the scavengers rummage for lost technology.
Gunhed's particular horror revels in Japanese industrialization gone amok with its labyrinthine steel superstructures, putting it on a similar wavelength to "Patlabor: The Movie" and Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira" and "The Order to Stop Construction". Its sometimes sublime imagery recalls the foggy and colorful sci-fi noir of Ridley Scott films and "Aliens". It could be a cultural touchstone for some, but it's very much a product of its time and wears its influences on its sleeve.
When the rogue AI's apocalyptic plans are revealed, their only hope is to repair the titular "gunhed", a giant, bipedal, transforming tank accompanied by a witty computer personality. Gunhed delivers the goods in terms of miniature-based visual effects. Whether good or bad, it often charms. A scene where the gunhed tank aggressively fords a pool of chemicals while fending off automated defenses is impressive; fire and waves and sparks filling the screen. I would love to see the filming of that battle.
Unfortunately, much of the storytelling is conventionally poor, visual or otherwise. Sometimes it's hard to tell what characters are doing, or what's happening to them. The dialog, with its blend of spoken English and Japanese, is 1980s style-over-substance; charmingly dated and poorly acted. It's only engaging as an artifact of its era, rather than a functionally good movie. If you're looking for cultural artifact to study, then Gunhed is interesting. Otherwise I'd skip it.
Patlabor: The Movie is an extremely similar but significantly better film in almost every respect: depth, writing, visual storytelling, and comprehensible action choreography. Like Gunhed it's about characters who enter a labyrinthine superstructure full of mecha gone amok in order to avert a Japanese industrial robo-pocalypse. Proving my point about the zeitgeist, it released at nearly the same time as Gunhed.
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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