Guyver - Dark Hero

The only reason I picked up this vid to watch it is I'm an action lover, and this movie certainly delivers. If only there was an edited version, i.e no acting, just action. The SFX are passable, but really this movie is about the 4 set piece fights. Although there is a little bit of obvious wire work, the level of actual hands on fighting is excellent, all of which is executed with finesse, and loads of well deserved violence. And for a film that boasts such terrible "Days Of Our Lives" acting, the costumes and makeup rival anything I've seen recently.

This movie is sooo awesome. Much better than the first one. The suit looks better, the zoanoids are mor scarier, there is more of a story to it, and the fight scenes are so well choreographed it will blow your mind. The theme song for the guyver in this movie is catchy and also cool. Sean Barker is still haunted with the memories and still has the Guyver in him..he still fights evil but there is a problem..he can't control the unit. It has a mind of it's own and wants to keep killing. He sees on the news reports of "werewolves" killing men around an archiological sight. He suspects Zoanoids and decides to travel and investigate. But what he finds there is more than he expected. He finds out the true nature of the Guyver..it's origin..and where it came from. Absolutely do not miss this one..but rent the first movie before you rent this one...there is a story with it. 9 out of 10...DON'T MISS!!!

Three years after the dismal joke of a movie "Guyver", we are greeted with a second attempt at bringing the mildly popular manga to into live action with the movie "Guyver: Dark Hero", a loose sequel of the first guyver movie.

For starters, I am really glad that the film rights to "Guyver" has passed into more competent hands. Gone is the campy feel and laughable story of the first film, replaced with a more competent script and a serious science fiction/action feel that still threads the line of B movie-ness but is careful to not fall headlong into the category of "silly".

Needless to say, Guyver: Dark Hero is a highly enjoyable and entertaining adaptation of the beloved manga series, and is easily one of the better live action adaptations of manga in existence today. I believe it was a good move on the part of the producers to leave out the convoluted intergalactic backstory elements like the 13 "Zoalords", the "Lost Numbers", Hyper-zoanoid teams, etc. All that would have just confused the heck out of the audience who already would have trouble following the single backstory of the Guyver units' origins in this movie. Instead they left this story as "down to earth" as possible, wile still keeping the more crucial elements of the guyver mythos. In Guyver Dark Hero, the plot sees Chronos organization dispatch a team of Zoanoids to infiltrate an archaeological dig and excavate an ancient alien space craft which contains technology related to the Guyver. On face value, the storyline may seem rather simplistic to some. But upon subsequent viewings, it is actually quite a well written tale.

The main character of Sean Barker is played very close to his manga counterpart "Sho Fukamachi" with only some Slight differences in his name, age and more realistic and mature approach in dealing with the responsibilities that come with possessing the violent power of the Guyver unit. Sean discovers that the Guyver seems to bring out the most violent side of him which leads to a tendency for uncontrolled, indiscriminate killing. That and his constant obsession with taking down the Chronos organization (which was thought to have been destroyed in the first Guyver movie, but Sean believes otherwise)has left Sean Barker without any friends, all alone in the world. He is afraid to get close to anyone since he is still a target for Chronos and he fears he may accidentally hurt those he cares about should the Guyver's violent side manifest. The second difference is that unlike Sho, who seems to fine with the violent tendencies and highly destructive powers of the Guyver, Sean Barker chooses to use the Guyver merely to augment his own fighting skills, only giving in to his savage violent side and using more destructive force when absolutely necessary. He is given ample character development in this movie and ends up coming across as a very likable character in the end. David Hayter turns in a strong performance as the main protagonist and masterfully portrays the part of a reluctant individual cursed with an alien power that he would rather have not have.

Sadly, the rest of the cast does not fare as well. Aside from David Hayter's role as Sean Barker, the rest of the characters are not much to write home about. They are boring, two dimensional stock characters which might turn off some but I can safely say that the manga itself was just as much laden with the usual teenager and villain stereotypes commonly seen in such genre of comics. Some may go so far as to call it corny, but this movie is no less corny than the manga and anime OVA that preceded it.

Steve Wang's credentials as a special effects and design supervisor are evident in the impressive amount of realistic detail given to the creature costumes. The zoanoid and guyver costumes are a huge step up from the previous movie. They look quite good for a 1994 production. Steve Wang does an adequate job as director here; nothing revolutionary to "wow" the audience but nothing painfully boring either. Despite the low budget of the film (I heard it was barely $900,000), he still manages to make the most of it and delivers one hell of a viewing experience (this show manages to look better than some other movies with more than 10 times the budget.)

The high point of this movie is definitely the fights. Violent, fast paced, brutal and in-your-face. Skulls are crushed, throats are slit, eyeballs are blasted out of their sockets, and bloodletting is at an all time high when compared to other "tokusatsu" genre shows like Kamen Rider, Power Rangers or Ultraman. The fights are beautifully choreographed with slick martial arts moves and intense wire stunts with minimal camera tricks or "gimmicks" like slow motion. It amazes me how the stunt people were able to pull off such acrobatic martial arts moves while wearing such intricately designed, and most likely, heavy suits.

Do not let the low budget of this movie put you off watching it; of Guyver: Dark Hero is proof that a low budget movie can still be a highly entertaining piece of work when left in competent hands with a little fanboy dedication thrown in(Steve Wang is a huge fan of tokusatsu movies like Ultraman ) . Though this film is by no means perfect and would not stand up to being compared to more recent big screen comic book adaptations, it is quite good considering its age, technology and budgetary constraints(and seriously deserves more than its current IMDb rating). It keeps very faithful to the look, feel and spirit of the original (something so many other live action adaptations lack) while presenting a fresh perspective on the Guyver mythos.

When people talk about great films of low-budget filmmaking like Sam Raimi's Evil Dead or John Carpenter's Halloween or James Cameron's The Terminator, Steve Wang's Guyver: Dark Hero should also be mentioned!!!

This R-rated Sequel to The Guyver (1991) or also known as "Mutronics" from here in England, is a mega piece of exciting sci-fi comic book action. I grew up watching "Mutronics" on video when i was little & loved it, now it's still a good rubbery monster movie & has a good role for Mark Hamill & it's a great Nostalgic childhood favourite of mine that i love, & then i found it's much smaller budget sequel (That i discovered years later) "Dark Hero" is the definition of a Cult Classic movie & i discovered this rough action gem many years after the first film & here this flick is much darker in it's more adult violence fantasy way, we get a much more violent Guyver here & with it's cool blue colour & a way better lead hero here with David Hayter as Sean Barker, Hayter is very likeable & looks good as our kick-ass action hero. The creature effects are amazing here, the rubber-suited monsters are incredible designs & still look so much better than today's c.g.i monsters!!!

The fight scenes are AMAZING!!! Bloody, brutal & fast paced stunning fight sequences, some of the best creature fights in movies, like an Adult version of a Power Rangers episode or movie. What is all done here & on display with it's tiny budget is truly incredible!!! A great piece of filmmaking.

If there's a complaint to be made for this sequel it's that it's a longer film than the first flick which means there's alot more talking & very little action until much later but i do get that this film delves deeper into the Guyver origins but i liked the faster paced monster action of the first more.

The music is exciting & Awesome, the look is pure 90's & Nostalgic & i love the forests & river & caves & the archeologists site setting, a great environment for Guyver to battle the alien monster Zoenoids, Set a year or so after the events of the first film & Sean is still on a mission to expose the Kronos corporation & meets scientists & agents & a beautiful archeologist played by Kathy Christopherson who helps Sean. Dark Hero was a head of it's time with it's more mature/adult tone, way before "The Dark knight" this is such a fun late-night SCI-FI action Thriller with a great lead in Hayter & outstanding fight scenes & AWESOME monsters, a perfect "Boys" Comic book flick!!! Better than Spawn, The Crow, The Shadow, The Phantom, Power Rangers the movie & more of the 1990's era superhero/comic book films, now i like all those films I've mentioned it's just Dark Hero is that good it's better than the lot in my opinion.

David Hayter is a cult hero to me just because of his role here in this one great film, he's a genre film favourite but he's done some other cool stuff too, like he'd written both of the first Classic X-Men films & Watchmen & voiced Solid Snake for the Metal gear solid video games & lots of other voice work & bits in low-budget flicks but it's here as Sean Barker aka: Guyver that he will always be remembered for & has a solid place in B-movie & Cult film fans hearts!!! I so wish Hayter made another Guyver film.

Another good B-movie actor here is Christopher Michael, a guy who has played Cops or Agents in so many t.v shows & films, who gets a great second lead male lead role here as an undercover Agent named Atkins, who is pretending to be an archaeologist on the dig-site but is secretly there to check-out the monster activity around thet area & to see what ancient alien finds they discover from their dig. I love little B-movie stars like this is usually don't get a good part like this but here Christopher Michael has probably his best part or one of his best as he's a main character here & he's a good guy who helps Sean Barker & even has a fantastic fight sequence near the end with one of the monsters, i really liked his character & solid serious performance & his character Atkins could have even had a spinoff film of his own as he continues to hunt down the Kronos corporations & hideouts but of course this was a low-budget straight-to-video film so it would've never happened.

Guyver: Dark Hero an action-packed B-movie that's rooted in the Manga style of it's original content from the Comics/cartoon, so it's amazing fight scenes look so damn good & flow in a beautiful choreographed Japanese style with wire-work & flips & slices & blood splatter all in an awesome organic flow.

A true Cult Classic, low-budget, B-movie & a whole lotta bloody good fun.

I will always have big Nostalgic love for the fun first flick & now a big love for it's equally great sequel.

after seeing the first movie and then moving backwards onto the original anime, i had lost a little bit of respect for the live action guyver movie, i had to eat my words after i watched this.

Lots more fighting stunts with the guyver in this film as he had learned to master other aspects of his suit, including a pretty awesome ability in the final battle, only clue is that the guyver really gets a lot off his chest. his transformation sequence is greatly improved over the original film as has the storyline which paints a bigger picture about the guyver and the zoanoids (bad guys) and their origins.

after seeing this film, everyone wants a guyver unit!!!