I remember back in the early 1990′s watching the Guyver movies and loving the fact it had lots of Martial Arts action. I just recently bought The DVD and thought i would do a feature post about The Guyver. I know it’s a little cheesy, but that’s just the time period, cant be helped.
The first movie was The Guyver “Mutronics”, loosely based on the Japanese manga series about a lad who finds an alien artifact called The Unit which changes him into an alien-hybrid called The Guyver.
Mutronics Plot:
CIA agent Max Reed (Mark Hamill) witnesses Dr. Tetsu Segawa—a researcher for the mysterious Kronos Corporation—being murdered. Dr. Segawa had stolen an alien device known as “the Guyver” from Kronos. College student Sean Barker, whose girlfriend’s father was Dr. Segawa, finds the Guyver’s hiding spot while watching the forensic team investigating the crime scene. Through further events, the Guyver fuses with Sean and causes him to be covered in a suit of bio-armor. The president of Kronos, Fulton Balcus (David Gale), wants the Guyver back and sends his mutant henchmen, the Zoanoids, led by Lisker (Michael Berryman), to steal it back.
The movie was co directed by Steve Wang, who also went on to make the second movie, Drive (mark Dacascos) and like i said earlier is loosely based on the manga series written by Yoshiki Takaya. The manga was originally serialized in Tokuma Shoten’s Shōnen Captain magazine beginning in 1985. When Shōnen Captain was discontinued in 1997, the manga was picked up by Kadokawa Shoten who subsequently re-released all of the previous graphic novels originally published by Tokuma.
Dark Hero:
Guyver Dark Hero is a lot closer to the original series, in terms of more violence. The movie has some great fight scenes, lots of nice looking kicks and acrobatic, even if on wires. The movie didn’t have that big of a budget like the first, so it only went straight to video at the time, but believe me, you will enjoy it if you like the series. It was however, given a limited theatrical run in foreign countries. Unlike the first film, Guyver: Dark Hero was Rated R (unlike the PG-13 rating of the first movie), being much more violent as mentioned above. Despite not receiving a theatrical release, Guyver: Dark Hero gained a Cult following and was met with more favorable reviews than its predecessor.
Verdict:Yes they are cheesy, but who cares just kick back and enjoy some light fun and martial arts.
source:wikipedia