User reviews

I love tokusatsu, in any shape size or form. So I was excited about this film when I first heard of it, an American tokusatsu based on an anime I had never heard of with a really cool premise, a human discovers an alien device which turns into a suit of living armour (I love living suit superheroes). But there is one distinct problem with this concept, translation. This was during the 90s and people weren't sure how seriously to take anime yet, a problem which translates into this film which has no idea what kind of tone it's going for. Firstly the positives; the fight choreography in this movie is nothing short of fantastic combining martial arts and wirework with really cool powers, the look of the Guyver and the Zoanoids is really really well done, the music is intense and energetic and the acting ranges from over the top and goofy to good, Mark Hamill is in this film as a cop trying to solve the mystery and he is great as always. But the film is completely ruined by it's tone, there are two movies going on here, a goofy over the top fun film and a serious gritty film, the two mesh HORRIBLY and so the film ends up being no fun at all, Give it a miss.

I first watched this in the early 1990's, and I wasn't familiar with the animation or Manga versions of the "Guyver". I merely found this movie because of Mark Hamill was in it. And I have watched it a couple of times since then, with years in between each viewing.

And I will say that "Guyver" actually still holds its ground today, as it is still watchable and enjoyable, just as it was back in the early 1990's.

The story is about a young man who discovers an alien device which fused his own body with that of a cyborg organism, effectively making him an ultimate fighting machine. But the secrets of the guyver is sought by others, and soon monstrous creatures start to show up to take back the guyver unit.

"Guyver" has adequate special effects, especially taking into consideration that the movie is from 1991. Sure, you can clearly see that the creatures are just suits worn by actors inside them. But the design of the creatures is still impressive and passable even by today's standards. And the conceptual ideas behind the guyver and the creature designs is unique and quite memorable.

As for the acting, well, people were doing good enough jobs with their roles and characters. Of course, this is not thespian acting in the making, so you know what you are in for.

It was nice to see Mark Hamill in this movie, despite not being the lead actor, although he was billed on the front of the movie cover. So people might actually be lured in on false pretenses, because he does not have the lead role. But it was also nice to see David Gale, Vivian Wu and Jeffrey Combs make small appearances in the movie. And if you are a fan of Jeffrey Combs, then you should get a kick out of the fact that his character in "Guyver" is named Dr. East.

As campy and cheesy as "Guyver" actually is, it is still a very enjoyable and entertaining movie.

Jack Armstrong stars as a Sean a 20 something martial artist who finds an alien suit and becomes a super hero who fights alien creatures, meanwhile CIA agent Mark Hamill is putting 2 and 2 together, also The Guyver's girlfriends father who was killed by the corporate types also want the suit. The Guyver has just too much plot and yet at the same time it feels juvenile and silly. I remember watching this and being very disappointed that Mark Hamill wasn't the star, in fact it was the biggest letdown as Armstrong is a blah hero. In hindsight on rewatch The Guyver is a victim of being made before it's time. The special effects are pretty impressive and the monster vs Guyver battles are fun and it's nice to see Michael Berryman and Re-Animator's David Gale and of course Luke Skywalker, but the problem here is that the tone is all over the map and the film follows a rather predictable action flick format. Indeed the movie I was most reminded of was the Dolph Lundgren Punisher which I recommended, both share a similar cheesy feel, but where as that one worked as an adequate action/anti-hero flick, this one has too much plot getting in the way of the action and it has to be said how Armstrong is no action star and not a really much of an actor. I feel like this was made in the wrong decade, as the 80s would've yielded an action orientated flick while if made now would be done with an attention to detail to the superhero angle and would work really well. As it is, I was entertained, but you feel like it could've been better. So, an interesting failure, I guess, but also a guilty pleasure.

* * Out Of 4-(Fair)

The Guyver is not the best film, but it's certainly not the worst. Let's just say Brian Yuzna has been involved in better films. If you can survive the Jimmie Walker rap scenes, you'll be able to survive this movie. You know from seeing Jimmie Walker's name in the opening credits that there is going to be a Dyno-mite joke cracked somewhere. It is extremely corny (EXTREMELY), however the creature designs are actually original and cool and make the Guyver worth watching. The Guyver itself is awesome. The movie does have its moments ("I am the Guyver") though. The main reason I am commenting on this mediocre movie is the presence of Jeffrey Combs. He plays Dr. East, and all Re-animator fans will get the joke there. Also Dr. Hill from Re-animator plays the villain once again. If your in the mood for something that requires a short attention span or you enjoy corny movies (I belong to the latter), then watch the Guyver.

Oh, I love you, 1990's media and entertainment! You're so silly and you don't know any better!

In 1985, artist and writer Yoshiki Takaya created the popular franchise "Bio-Boosted Armor: Guyver"- which started out as an ongoing Manga comic about a teenage boy who inadvertently bonds with an alien weapon known as the "Guyver"- a bio-mechanical symbiotic suit that grants him superhuman abilities. He uses the suit to battle the "Zoanoids"- evil shape-shifting creatures who work for the nefarious Cronos Corporation, and are trying to take over the world. At its core, the story was weak but the comics and subsequent anime adaptations were decent fun. In many ways, it was almost like "Power Rangers" for adults- non-stop action, gooey creatures, alien weapons and plenty of martial-arts battles between archetypal heroes and villains... only with brutal, bloody hard-core violence and some sex appeal! It's media junk- food... but tasty media junk-food.

So it makes sense that it ended up being the center of one of those early attempts at Americanizing and re-adapting a Japanese property for Western Audiences with directors "Screaming Mad George" and Steve Wang's 1991 release "The Guyver." It was a simple story that should have worked well and easily translated from one culture to another. After all... it's a classic tale of good-guy vs bad-guy. What could go wrong?

...Well, a lot as it turns out.

While by no means a complete train-wreck and with a handful of engaging and effective sequences, the American film adaptation ultimately left quite a bit to be desired due to some key fundamental issues. These issues mainly pertaining to its lightning-fast pace and a mournfully inconsistent tone that never found the proper balance between adventure, drama and comedy. Viewing the film is often akin to changing channels on a television for an hour-and-a-half on a slow afternoon- you'll see quite a bit to like for brief snippets, but it doesn't really work together and it's not necessarily going to leave you feeling fulfilled when all is said and done.

Jack Armstrong stars as Sean Barker, a sort-of geeky but likable enough protagonist who studies martial arts and has a thing for fellow student Mizky, played by Vivian Wu. One night, he stumbles on a mysterious alien artifact that inadvertently latches onto his body, turning him into "The Guyver"- a Bio-Boosted superhero. As it turns out, Mizky's father was actually a shape-shifting "Zoanoid" and was killed trying to smuggle the unit away from the nefarious Cronos Corporation, who sought to use it to enslave humanity. And so, Sean must try and use the Guyver armor to protect Mizky from the other monstrous "Zoanoids" who come looking for the unit and seek to eliminate all loose ends- including the two of them! They also get help from a cop whose investigating the murder of Mizky's father, and is played by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.

I believe that this particular property could work for American audiences if done properly, but I don't think that was the case here. This was one of the earliest attempts at adapting a Manga/Anime franchise for American audiences, and you get the feeling there was a lot of studio meddling and second-guessing behind-the- scenes. The violence and general "weirdness" of the original stories is largely absent, action is kept to a minimum, and there's way too much focus on broad slapstick gags and pop-cultural humor in almost every scene. It's almost as if everyone involved got cold feet and decided not to commit to faithfully adapting the story out of fear it was too "weird"... and so they compensated by trying to throw in a lot of out-of-place jokes and gags to win the audience over. That's the main problem here... the failure to commit to the material. Going into "self-parody" territory as this film does is a risky move and often doesn't pay off. Thus, the film lacks drama, excitement and intrigue for too much of the run- time.

This isn't helped by ludicrously quick-paced editing that gives the film virtually no breathing room. Having seen several of the anime adaptations in my younger years, the film seems to try and cram several volumes of the original story into a single package while also doing its own things at times, and it doesn't really flow too well. You feel like you're watching a much larger story that's been edited down to only hit on key points, robbing the movie of subtlety and nuance. If the movie had an extra twenty minutes of so to play around with, it might have worked. But not as an 88-minute feature.

Still, the movie isn't a complete failure. Several cast members are a lot of fun- particularly Hamill who is giving it has all, and a memorable and delightfully over-the-top turn from David Gale as the evil "Fulton Balcus"- the big-bad head of the Cronos Corporation. The practical effects used to bring the Guyver to life are awe-inspiring and still hold up well to this day... its a fantastic design and looks like it was pulled straight from the pages of the original comic. And the action is a great deal of fun, with well-choreographed fights and some fancy moves unlike anything we had quite seem at the time.

As it stands... I don't hate "The Guyver." I saw it when I was getting a bit too old to like "Power Rangers" but not old enough to appreciate more adult fare, and it was a good transitional film to watch. It's a heck of a movie for a 12-year-old, and I think older children will get a kick out of it. And it does have some good aspects to it. It just doesn't take itself seriously enough and has some glaring production issues that will hinder its appeal for older audiences or fans of the existing franchise. I give it a sub-par but watchable 4 out of 10.

The "bad news" outweighs the "good news" for this movie.

BAD - The dialog in here is very stupid; the acting is poor (Jack Armstrong, Vivian Wu?); there is too much violence and simply a general Class B-type production feeling about this whole film, making it dumb overall.

GOOD - It was very light on the profanity and sometimes had some pretty good special-effects with the humans turning into monsters.

STRANGE - Added to the cast is television star Jimmie Walker, who played a goofy "Kid Dyn-O-Mite" character on TV, and Mark Hamill, from the hugely-successful Star Wars movie series. Wow, times must have gotten tough for those two actors to be in this movie!

OVERALL - After watching this for an hour, it was hard to get interested enough to finish the film.

I picked up this movie, thinking that this would be a cool live action version of one of my favorite Anime shows 'Bio Booster Armor Guyver'. Boy this is the worst by far!

The bright points of the film are the Guyver unit, and Brian Yuzna regulars David Gale and Jeffery Combs.

The rest of the movie is horrible! Lisker *AKA Guyver 2 in the anime/manga series is reduced to a simpering idiot of a zoanoid. And Jimmy 'J.J.' Walker as a zoanoid? What are they thinking?

If you are a fan of the Guyver Anime and Manga, rent Dark Hero: Guyver 2. It's a much, much, better film, and is more truer to the original story. If they make a 3rd one, bring in Guyver 3, and Masaki Murakami! This would improve the series!!!

Ok I'll admit it. These film wouldn't win any acting awards, but this film is still fun. The monster and Guyver suits are very impressive. If you like guys in rubber suits than this is the film for you. Not a lot to say about it other than the fact that it has lots of monsters fighting. Jimmy Walker is hilarious as Striker. He even delivers his famous catchphrase, "Dyno-mite!", at the very end. All in all good for just a fun little sci-fi party. I give it a 7/10 for fun times. a 3.5/10 for plot and acting.

This is like Power Rangers meets Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meets Spawn. It's not particularly inventive, it's not particularly fun, but there are people in monster costumes running around and fighting each other. The main draw is the costumes themselves, which are probably too good for this movie--way too much thought went into the giant sexy Furby suit. This is classic Brian Yuzna excess.

The largest problem (other than the boring characters) is the pacing. It feels like the plot barely moves until the end of the second act. There's an interesting twist at that point, but by the time it comes along the tone has already been set and it feels like an escalation in a bizarre direction. Visually interesting as it may be, this film offers nothing you haven't seen before in more tonally consistent superhero films; give it a watch if you want something that put too much thought into everything but structure.

Despite what many reviews say, I really liked this. It may be dated in special effects, and be crawling in flaws, but it is a generally enjoyable movie. Sean Barker finds a strange alien mechanical looking device that merges with his own body, turning him into a cyborg-like superhero. When Zoanoids, Werewolf like people that can turn into mutants, appear and start chasing him down in order to obtain the device, Sean uncovers Khronos Corp.'s evil schemes.

Fans of the Guyver cartoon and comics may or may not like it. A lot of the "best bits" from the cartoon's storyline are involved in this movie but are done slightly differently. While the action and Zoanoids(monsters) seem like an adult version of the Power Rangers, and some of the tongue-in-cheek gags almost take over the Guyver's story, something about the movie is just irresistible. The problem is it's impossible to put your finger on what it is.

Reminiscent of a lot of the late 80s to early 90's action comic inspired movies, the movie never takes itself too seriously. Weather that's a good or bad thing is your decision. There are times where the comic relief, or purposely amusing action scenes can start to become annoying, as any fan of The Guyver is obviously looking for some serious action and gore. It does have it's moments in that department, however.

The movie covers most of the main Guyver story, apart from the actual origin of the Guyver. A sequel, "The Guyver: Dark Hero" spawned from this(although it can be watched on it's own and understood, especially if you have seen the cartoon or read the comics), which takes The Guyver much more seriously, and uncovers the origin of the Guyver, whilst at the same time throws constant violent action at you.

Casting is good in the means of appearance, Mark Hamill as a CIA agent must have boosted the sales of the film, and Michael Berryman makes the perfect mutant, with his bald head and evil stare, but the acting could use some work.

Hardcore fans of the cartoon or comics may be iffy about the tongue-in-cheek humor used in this movie, but as long as it's not taken too seriously it can be a great movie to watch. The important part is that it FEELS like The Guyver. If you don't want to put up with lots of flaws and comic relief gags, then go for "The Guyver: Dark Hero" which is much more similar to the cartoons and comics.

When it comes to cartoon movie adaptations, it has yet to be seen where one comes out playing well. Speed Racer (2008) is a perfect example of this. Live-action tends to suck the life out of cartoons. So after watching the Japanese cartoon of The Guyver, I wasn't quite sure how this movie adaptation would play out. But surprisingly, to me, I was somewhat entertained by the creature effects and actors that appeared in the film. However, this still does not make it a great movie.

The film starts off with a scrolling of lines that explain that there is a group of people who can transform into creatures called Zoanoids. The Zoalord, the strongest Zoanoid who looks to control the world, leads these Zoanoids. But the only way he can do this is by obtaining the "guyver", a bio-armor that should make him invincible. That is, if not for an unwilling individual who runs into the bio-armor first, giving him power beyond his original abilities.

The unwilling individual is named Sean Barker played by the forgotten actor, Jack Armstrong. Armstrong gives a convincing performance as his character, even if the majority of his lines are "Are you OK? or Let her go!". Baker also has a girlfriend, Mizky Segawa (Vivian Wu), who gets caught by the Zoalord and is the damsel in distress. However, her character does show some courage, a trait that does not come up often, usually most damsels scream constantly. Tagging along with them is CIA agent, Max Reed, played by the famous Mark Hamill. Hamill gives Reed some good lines, this made me chuckle here and there.

Even more surprising is to find four other iconic actors in this film as well. Michael Berryman from Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977) has a significant role as the Zoalord's henchman. Even more intriguing is that Jeffrey Combs and David Gale from Re-Animator (1985) both have roles in here too. Gale plays the Zoalord himself and Combs plays a lab rat named Dr. East. Jeez, how funny is that. Herbert WEST from Re- Animator (1985) is now Dr. EAST in The Guyver (1991), and, now Combs is working for Gale instead of fighting him, like in Re-Animator (1985). Also Willard E. Pugh, Mayor Kuzak from RoboCop 2 (1990), plays one of Reed's coworkers. Which also coincidental because when the "guyver" armor is first activated by Baker, someone says, "Alright you RoboCop thing!". Hahaha wow. Too many coincidences.

Now for the bad things. First, I enjoy martial arts fight sequences but for a lot of the time, I felt like they dragged on forever. This is mostly because the fight scenes contained the same techniques. Also, I understand that it is 1991 but it seemed like many of the creature costumes ran from either clunky to unrealistically goofy. One monster had googly eyes. Really? How does that look terrifying? I'd laugh. Actually, a lot of the costumes looked like they were ideas to be used for the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (1993) TV show. But I do give credit to Linda L. Meltzer, head of costume design for making the "guyver" armor looking so awesome. The special effects with the bio- armor were cool but it also made me wonder why the same couldn't be done for when the villains transformed.

Also, for the first half of the film, the transitioning between scenes was very obnoxious. But credit should be given to screenwriter Jon Purdy for at least making the story more creative. The story isn't the usual cliché hero movie. There are parts of the film where it'll have the audience guessing and I'll admit there were segments where I thought certain things wouldn't happen but they did. It keeps you on your toes so that's good. The musical score by Matthew Morse wasn't impressive though. I had a slight resemblance to the anime shows but it wasn't very prevalent in the film. Also the ending seemed quick which made me feel like it was done last minute just as a throw in. This movie had a lot of ups and downs but I support it because it did almost go somewhere.

For the most part, the actors and the "guyver" armor itself is the thing to see in this film. The action is good for a while but gets tiresome overtime as well as the creature costumes.

I have to admit, i had seen this film before i even knew that guyver was originally a japanese manga comic, which then became a highly popular anime series. so i was originally impressed with the film (except for the rappings scenes).the novelty of the film wore off when i saw the anime and i realised it had been americanised BUT.... fighting scenes were pretty good and the make up and costumes were brilliant, especially the Guyver bio-booster suit. (to find out what that means watch the anime series). if you like this film, then trust me you will like sequel, which gets pretty deep into the guyver units history!!!

From childhood memory I recalled this movie being great fun and really cool.

So the lesson I learnt from rewatching this film recently is that some kid memories should stay as memories. this really isn't very good at all.

This is a shame as the cast features some genre greats such as Mark Hamill, Michale Berrman and Jeffrey Combs. The film doesn't seem to know if it wants to be a shlocky horror movie, comic book film or children's adventure. One minute it feels like Shaq's Steel film or Starkid the next it feels like Toxic Crusader. The tone is everywhere and for that reason left this old kid disappointed..

A couple months ago, I decided to buy the guyver anime series on dvd. I watched them and I got hooked. I soon realized that they made The Guyver into a full length movie. I tell you this. Never and I mean Never rent this movie. This movie is crap. It's more than crap. It's terrible. It's bad. Avoid it at all costs. If you do like guyver tho. Rent Guyver: dark hero. That movie is wicked. But this one Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1/10

I will just jump straight in and say that this show IS NOT GUYVER. If this is meant to be a live action adaptation of the cult manga series, this show fails in so many aspects. Sure the manga did descend into shallow territory, with some one dimensional characters and an overall cheesy sci/fi story, but it took itself seriously. This movie seems more like a parody of Guyver and "tokusatsu" movies than an actual adaptation.

Now I would not have been so quick to criticize this show if it been given a different title like "BioMan" or "Robo-Mutant". It could have been one really entertaining flick spoofing the many campy and over-the-top Japanese superhero shows like Masked Rider and Power Rangers like how "Mystery Men" spoofed the costumed hero genre of American comic books. But since it has the name "guyver" tacked on (and maybe a couple of similar aspects like the premise of a powerful organization as a front for a powerful alien race, the look of the Guyver and a "typical guy" protagonist) I naturally expected it would be as serious as the manga or the anime series.

Looking at the film credits, I honestly cannot believe what possessed the producers to hire a director named "Screaming Mad George". If even his name is so weird, can we expect any less weirdness from his movie? From a mile away, you can smell the cheese that this show is so full of. From the rapping Zoanoid that looks like an overgrown Gremlin to the "slash/cut" scene transitions similar to those used in the Adam West Batman serials to even the horrible misplaced humor and "Wham! Pow! Zap!" style of campy action. All of it comes laced with that heavy cheesy flavor that would make even fans of the "Z"-est grade of B movies cringe in agony.

The acting is on very extreme ends of a spectrum. Mark Hamil seems to be the only competent actor here who plays his Detective role with as much professionalism and dignity as he can, considering what he had to work with. David Gale and Michael Berryman (you may recognize this guy from the original "The Hills Have Eyes") ham it up to the max, taking the definition of "eccentric and over-the-top" villains to a whole new level. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the main lead played by Jack Armstrong and his girlfriend played by Vivian Wu, who do their lines with all the gusto of a lettuce wilting in the heat.

The action scenes, which some people Laud as being the strong point of the film, are actually very mediocre. They come across as being only as good as the fights in low budgeted TV series with some lackluster fight choreography the likes of "Tattooed Teenage alien Fighters From Beverly Hills". The monsters look terribly goofy at best, hilariously silly at worst with cheap looking costumes. Furthermore, No attempt seemed to be made to disguise the fact that they are actors in suits bouncing about and doing their best to act scary. At least the guyver himself looks good for the most part, very true to the original comic.

"Guyver"(1991) would have made a fairly entertaining comedy spoof movie. But alas, it did not identify that target audience. Instead, this movie just ended up putting off many sci/fi action fans and alienating the fans of the original manga with its over-the-top humorous take on an otherwise serious story.

What a joke. A good joke, but still just a joke nonetheless.

I'm sorry, but this movie is a really poor representation of the classic anime series.

It is mildly entertaining, but in that way that you don't want to look, but perverted fascination makes you watch anyway.

Acting is slapstick, and over done. Imagine a cross between power rangers teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Rubber costumes and overacting pull what could have been a decent movie into the "I don't want to see that again ever" pit.

I was expecting something a little more serious than this as the original animated series is pretty hardcore anime.

I'd say, watch it once though, just for a laugh, then go borrow the Anime Series and really get the Guyver experience.

I'm not saying that Mark Hamill had a career, but any chance of one was lost with this lousy attempt of a film.

Let me start off by saying that I saw this movie many years ago when I was about five years old and I didn't quite remember what it was about but I remember it was dumb. So, when my brother brought it over a few days ago I figured I'd watch it to refresh my memory. The whole movie seemed like I was watching a really long episode of Power Rangers or Ultra Man Tiga, which in my opinion is a very bad thing. All the scenes are too long and drawn out and make you loose interest in them very quickly. The acting was just plain awful and a good example is Vivian Wu as Mizky. Through the whole movie she is moaning and whining and it just comes off as annoying and eventually you wish those guys in the monster costumes would just kill her. The only person who's performance was half-way decent was Hamill's. Call me analytical, but I believe if you give movies like this the benifit of the doubt, then you yourself are helping to poison the world with cinematic filth of this such. As my final comments I will say that this film was just totally "unnecessary" and totally "Japanified"...* out of ****

When I was younger this was one of my favorite movies of all time. Well, needless to say I grew up. I watched it again and while the plot is weak, the acting isn't all that great, its still a fun movie to kick back and watch!

Boasting Mark Hamil as the star since he's the only recognizable actor, you'd think he's the hero, well he's not, he's just a government agent who allies with the the Guyver, a college student named Sean by day, super-power alien-warrior by night. The movie is in fact actually somewhat based off the anime pretty well. The movie is pretty much the first episode of the anime, just tweaked to America and aging the characters and well rushing the end of the anime to the live-action. Although the budget is under a million dollars the SFX are actually pretty good. Those rubber suits have never looked better! Plus there's a good Jaws parody that results in the death of J.J. Walker!

The movie makes me laugh sometimes intentionally and sometimes not, but I had fun the while way thru, so give a 10!

I saw this film when I was young and it was a must-see for those of us who grew up watching Ultraman and Captain Ultra. In short, it tells the story of a boy who is given the ability to transform into a strange-looking superhero fighting funny monsters (one of them being the great Michael Berryman) using martial arts. The film is innocent entertainment capable of entertaining us without insulting us. It is a film from a time when a low budget did not mean compromising the viewer's experience. A fun and endearing film that shows that today's proposals fail to generate the memory or the emotion of that time.

...And that was because I was 12 and hadn't read the original Yoshiki Takaya Manga "Bio-booster Armor Guyver" back then. 1992's "The Guyver" was the first American adaptation of Takaya's original Japanese work, which had already been made into a 12-episode OVA on its native soil.

The original 12-episode OVA condensed much of Takaya's material, thus eliminating a lot of the deeper sci-fi themes and moments for the characters to develop beyond simple comic book caricatures. The 1992 "Guyver" film boasts some incredible creature effects, cool-looking monsters and a formidable cast of "B"-movie talent, but it didn't do much to really further Takaya's reputation in the United States, since like the first OVA, a lot of themes in the movie were shed and replaced by typical sci-fi monster movie elements and the camp humor present in most American "B"-pictures.

Perhaps the blame falls on the co-directing team of Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang and screenwriter Jon Purdy. They bring much of the camp of American "B"-movies to an amazing piece of Japanese art that was better known for its deep characters, chilling near-apocalyptic themes and brilliant sci-fi narrative, not for any stupid camp humor. Of course this undermines the seriousness of and shows an utter lack of respect for Takaya's original material, even though I'm not a stickler for accuracy when it comes to adaptations but these sorts of changes really bugged me.

The first live-action film features some of the same basic elements of the story, including characters and history, but that's about it. In Los Angeles, a lab scientist is tracked down and killed by the Chronos Corporation's legion of Zoanoids, human mutants that have the ability to transform into monster foot-soldiers at will. The scientist had stolen the "guyver" unit, an alien suit of armor, from Chronos's lab, and had planned on delivering it to CIA agent Max Reed (Mark Hamill).

Balcus (the late David Gale) is the head of Chronos, and has instructed his Zoanoid henchmen (including original "The Hills Have Eyes" Michael Berryman as Zoanoid chief henchman Lisker and Jimmy Walker as Zoanoid foot-soldier Striker, the latter of whom provides much of the comic relief) to go out and search for the missing Guyver unit by first starting with the scientist's daughter Mizki (Vivian Wu). But it has already fallen into the hands of college student Sean Barker (Jack Armstrong), who accidentally activates the unit after being attacked by gang members and is transformed into an exponentially enhanced mechanized warrior with an awesome array of powers and weapons. Now he must use the Guyver's abilities to fend off Chronos and its legion of evil Zoanoids.

While "The Guvyer" does boast some incredible special effects, you can also see some of the attempts at mimicking the mood of then-recent comic book adaptations like "Batman" (1989) or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1990), much rather than its own source material. But the camp humor destroys much of what could have been really good about the movie. The acting is pretty poor, the dialogue hokey and "B"-name heavyweights such as Mark Hamill and Jimmy Walker don't really seem to have a lot to do, although there is one oddly-placed comic scene where Striker crashes in on the set of a monster movie and is confronted by scream queen Linnea Quigley (they don't call her a scream queen for nothing, you know).

Better to save the best for this film's 1994 sequel "Guyver: Dark Hero" and the 2005 26-episode OVA series, both of which are not only better, but are more serious, more violent, and more faithful to the Manga.

4/10