Korean audiences know this superhero movie as POWER KING (Zero Nine Entertainment; 1995), but international audiences are more familiar with it under the title OUTLAW POWER (Master Film International; 1996). In the unfortunate tradition of POWER RANGERS and other Saban hybrid superheroes of the 1990s comes this equally unfortunate rip-off: OUTLAW POWER, ARMICRON, ARMICRON IN OUTLAW POWER or whatever you choose to call it. In this case, it's the FX battles of Korea's POWER KING which get gutted, butchered and randomly spliced with American actors for the non-FX scenes. I've seen both the untranslated Korean print (POWER KING) and it's more 'user friendly' OUTLAW POWER. Surprisingly, I preferred the Korean version, even though I didn't understand the dialog. The original POWER KING came off as an action-packed, entertaining sci-fi adventure, while it's Americanisation (OUTLAW POWER) is awkward and dumb.
OUTLAW POWER full of bad acting, embarrassing comedy, cheap sets, and is padded out with long stretches of stock-footage (ranging from volcanoes, to disaster films to seemingly endless scenes of army jets). Director/producer/actor Hyung-rae Shim's bumbling "Young Gu" character (an idiot he's played in countless films) is replaced by American actor Michael Bunata, who's of the typical "put-glasses-on-him and-now-he's-a-college-nerd" school of unconvincing casting. OUTLAW POWER has a few nice spinning-back kicks & explosions, but it seems needlessly padded out with American soldiers; characters which slow down the pace.
One of the things I liked about cybernetic space hero Power King was his unexpected brutality: Not only would he sneak up and snap a guy's neck, but when a rude motorist yelled at Power King, he gave him a bloody nose! His watered-down alter-ego, Amicron isn't as gutsy; though he does fight a couple G.I.s who got in his way.
Both versions have basically the same story: Earth is invaded by an alien ('Lucas' in Korean, 'Ankar' in America) who looks like Nosferatu. His helpers look like Darth Vader-- but the STAR WARS imitations don't end there (there's an exciting chase through a forest not unlike stuff in RETURN OF THE JEDI). Fortunately, two alien princesses (Kim Young Eon & Kim Suek Hyun in Korea, but replaced by Jodee Anderson & Helen Miya for English audiences) have come to Earth to befriend the most unlikely hero: Hyung-rae Shim or Michael Bunata, depending on which version. Either way, you get plenty of stupidity before the buffoon gets turned into heroic Power King/Armicron. In the Korean movie, Hyung-rae Shim clowns around for the first 20 minutes, and in the Americanisation, we have to stomach all these teenagers who keep high fiving each other. Either way, you get to see some decent superhero action and martial arts. There are three Klingon-like warriors who jump up and cling to trees (in one scene, the suspension wires are visible).
