American Cyborg: Steel Warrior

It's a ripoff sure, but who watches a Cannon movie from the 90's called "American Cyborg: Steel Warrior" and expects originality? Gimme a break. Good acting? Good story? Psh. Forget that nonsense. This is a movie about spin kicks, bone breaking, shootouts, and lots of running. The special effects are on par with Nemesis (1992) and as a low budget sci-fi actioner, it doesn't disappoint. It has a fast pace (thank god) and lots of action. Those two things are essential for any low budget flick like this. I hate sitting through a movie with "cyborg" or "warrior" in the title, and it's slow and boring. The filmmakers behind these kinds of movies realized that they had martial artists on their hands and not actors. So they loaded the movies up (most of them) with fighting, and action, and if we're lucky- some female nudity. I don't remember if anyone gets naked in "American Cyborg: Steel Warrior" but I do remember plenty of decently choreographed ass kicking. More than all that, the set design (while nothing over original) is fantastic. They really went all out to create a post apocalyptic world here that's more that just empty wasteland. There are makeshift cities and hideouts here that are visually impressive and alive with color. Lots of rubble, ruins, and neon signs. Just the way I like it. It makes for a perfect backdrop to all the cyborg ass-kicking in the movie. Not to mention the movie has lots of varied sets and villains. I mean, by general standards on IMDb this should be at least a 5.2 Anything less is just unfair. Even Roger Ebert understood that you have to judge a movie based on what it's intended to do, and who it's intended for. As a late-night cable actioner, this movie is supposed to keep you entertained and nothing else. I loved it.

I had the pleasure of seeing this Terminator ripoff at a very young age; preteen to be exact but that's not what I'm saying here. What I'm REALLY saying is that you can do a lot worse than watch this; something that I forbid anyone of actually doing. The acting is so relentlessly painstakingly bad it makes Faye Dunaway more alluring than the Mona Lisa! At least sci-fi has evolved to the point of excellence thanks in part to A Space Odessey, Star Wars Orig Trilogy, and of course the Terminator films. Poor Joe Lara. His career never recovered at this point. This piece of crap is nowhere near the level of those classic films so avoid this one at all costs. Avoid. Like the plague.

The end.

I paid a buck for a used VHS of this title and really only picked it up because I wanted to buy something at this thrift store and there wasn't much else to pick from. I actually sorta dreaded putting it into the machine but what the heck, I went for it. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it as much as I did. The production values were surprisingly good and the pacing of the film was about perfect for this type of movie. The three leading roles were fairly well cast in my opinion. The female lead had the minimum required acting chops but she was pretty cute just the same. She looked eerily like Kirsten Powers from Fox news...really!

The plot was nothing all that original, basically it was a Terminator redo...but hey Terminator was good so maybe that's not such a terrible thing. There was a TON of action in this movie (and its a long movie) Its all pretty well staged too. Lots of climbing, falling, shooting, punching, running, hacking, etc. This flick probably falls into the B- movie category but its a good one for what it is. There are even some nice touches like the Mummy people and a live fetus carried around in a test tube by the heroine. There are some rather cheesy stuff here and there...like when the bad Cyborg attacks a lab and wastes about 40 people despite the fact all of them were heavily armed. (He got hit one time) It was kinda like the good guys were yelling out "Hey I'm over here, shoot me please!" I guess I'm saying that scene could have used a tad less action and a bit more realism. Overall though, most everything made sense. I also think that a really good actress could have done something with the female lead role. Oh well.

This movie was well directed though, very well directed. The man took some rather standard chase and fight stuff and managed to created some real tension several times in the movie. Even though you knew what was coming I found myself squirming a bit. The editing and lighting were much better than I would have expected also. Decent sets too.

To summarize...a futuristic Terminator style B flick that delivers...especially the last 40 minutes or so. I enjoyed myself and what more can you realistically expect from a movie...my score..6.5 A could way to waste a couple hours of your life fer shure!

Me and my shlock buddy Bison Lewis just sat down to check out this turkey; and ended up enjoying the hell outta it!!!

Great villain - a rival to Vernon Welles in Commando (actually, no one can really rival Vernon in hammy villain status!)

Great terrible brilliant and awful, all in one!!

Best feature: the smiling foetus in a jar - the very future of humanity!!!

Rent and Enjoy!

If you are a fan of other B-Movies like Evil Dead, They Live, Hologram Man, etc Then you will love this movie. It's part Cyborg (Jean Claude Van Damme) part Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and all cheese, but in a good way.

Make no mistake, this is a low budget movie, but despite the budget the effects are good for the time, the acting ranges from passable to good. The story is pretty decent with a nice twist or two. Overall it is entertaining, and that's all that really matters right? Hopefully WB will release an enhanced version of this film to blu-ray one day, I would love to add this back into my collection.