Cyborg Cop II

By all rights, CYBORG COP 2 should be a piece of trash and by all rights, it is. A cheap and cheerful rip-off of better sci-fi films (in particular TERMINATOR 2, with which it shares many stylistic similarities), it's made without an ounce of originality and yet plenty of enthusiasm, to the degree that it actually turns out to be entertaining to watch. Yes, it's a piece of trash through and through, but it's entertaining trash – and I'll take entertaining trash over a boring blockbuster any day of the week.

The plot is unconnected to the first film, and one again there are no cybernetic cops, although we do get low-rent action man David Bradley returning as the hero. This time around he's up against a villain clearly influenced by ROBOCOP's Clarence Boddiker, and there's an absolute ton of action thrown in along the way as he battles an army of unstoppable cyborgs. I don't know where Firstenberg got his budget, but the movie is chock full of cheesy fight scenes and endless explosions; barely a minute goes by without extras being gunned down in slow motion by the robotic army.

Some aspects of the production are intensely irritating, like the endless and moronic musical score, played on an organ for the most part, which really saps life from many of the scenes. The editing is pretty dodgy too with a couple of shots transposed and most of the action filmed in a repetitive way. Bradley's acting is terrible as is that of the rest of the cast, although I did gain enjoyment from Morgan Hunter's ultra-hammy bad guy. But this is a movie for trash fans all the way.

With a misleading title (there is no Cyborg Cop, only a criminal "converted" to a Cyborg who escapes and goes on a rampage), a director who doesn't exactly have a clean track record, filmed in a foreign country trying to pass off as USA and a rather low rating on IMDb (although I always prefer to judge for myself), this had all the makings of being completely awful. I did however decide to check it out as the DVD was cheap and it was by NuImage who did an excellent straight to video movie titled Hard Justice the following year. And to my huge surprise, I actually found this to be an enjoyable little cheesefest.

Sure it's campy, it's clichéd and doesn't exactly score high in terms of acting, plot or originality but it's well aware of all those, and with those all taken into account, makes the best of them and comes out smiling. David Bradley, who I've considered to be one of the better "actors" in the B-action genre provides a fun performance. He's well aware of the movie he's in, and makes the most of it. Morgan Hunter as the mobster turned cyborg provides a suitably over the top performance that's a lot of fun to watch.

Certainly, it doesn't let down in terms of action. You'll get plenty of explosions and our hero flying through the air with a pistol in each hand numerous times. Opening with a huge warehouse shootout with a large bodycount and an especially huge explosive scene at a Gas station. Production values are generally above average, only let down by some obvious stunt doubles and blatant modelwork which fortunately doesn't appear on screen for very long. Overall, they're definitely no worse than Commando. It doesn't appear that producers have ever said "No" at any point to what director Sam Firstenberg has asked for, as you'll get several big scale action scenes with tons of stunts and explosions which is rather impressive for such a little known and obviously low budget movie. Embarrassingly, there isn't actually a huge amount which Universal Soldier for example does which this doesn't, which either says a lot of bad things about it or a lot of good things about this, depending on your point of view.

One thing I did notice however was that while the movie is set in the USA, it is quite obviously not filmed there. Where it is I'm not sure, but if you know a thing or two about cars, you'll notice a LOT which aren't sold in the USA such as Fiat's and an exploding Ford Sierra at the gas station scene.

Like a James Bond movie, Cyborg Cop 2 provides the familiar ingredients that fans of B-action movies like to see time and time again. Turn off your brain, grab a few beers and watch and by the end you'll probably have the overblown organ music stuck on your mind for a few days. Yes it's silly, it's clichéd but for what it is, it works.

If there's a way to enjoy this film it would have to be in a so bad it's good way. Early on there is a line from Morgan Hunter, who plays the lead villain in which he calls an average sized guy a fatty. Clearly the script called for someone fat but at some point the role was recast but the line was unchanged, just one example of many of what this film has to offer. The main drawback of enjoying the film in an ironic way is the best performance comes for Hunter who hams it up, but much like Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, after his transformation he loses his personality for most of the film except at the very end.

Ahhh, those lovely 90s… especially the beginning of the 90s… when we had those low budget, simple and somewhat likable movies… OK, when it comes to this one… it's low budget, simple… but not likable. This is one of those movies… during which you basically turn off your brain and enjoy it. Don't expect some good acting, script, adventure, or anything else. We have a solidly fun action scenes and that's all. David Bradley is back, with his usual appearance just like in the first film… dark clothes, white athletic shirt, unshaved, waist bag, husky, quiet (badass) voice and of course… martial arts skills, the only thing that actually appreciate for Bradley. He is Jack Ryan (a usual hero name), a DEA that captures a dangerous criminal Starkraven (pretty generic and usual name for a villain), and to increase the plot intensity, Ryan killed Starkraven's brother… so, the movie didn't even begin properly and we already have personal story… Shortly after arresting Starkraven, he is sent to a scientific facility where he's turned into a cyborg… a little naive I feel… always picking those evil villains to be a proud solution of scientists who made some miscalculations… To add that actor who played Starkraven (Morgan Hunter), is nothing special… he was picked for a part, definitely because of his bald, menacing looks. When he becomes a cyborg, his voice changes, and it's ridiculously enhanced. The cyborg make up is… funny… you can clearly see that their feet, hands and some other body parts are in rubber, all cyborg units look stuffed… like they suffered some taxidermy syndrome. So, Jack finds out that Starkraven is a cyborg, and he went on to stop him. And Jack pops cyborgs like a candy… just like we saw in the first film, so this means that Jack is using his experience with cyborgs pretty good. So… overall, a dumb, but enjoyable low budget film, to also mention that it contains a scene that is stolen from Terminator 2… he he he… Enjoy it, if you want.

David Bradley has his second go around as Jack Ryan, an FBI agent or something who takes on a cybernetic terrorist, who is turned made into a robot for some reason. Cyborg Soldier is one of those movies that sort of just happens as you watch it. I didn't hate it, because to hate it would indicate that I had an opinion of it. Basically, it's Robocop, Terminator, Universal Soldier and Nemesis rolled into one. I loved the first two movies I mentioned, I liked the third and found some merit in the last, so you would think a movie that could mix and match elements from each would be a winner. It's not. David Bradley is blah in the lead role although the best thing about the movie, he's not nearly as terrible of a presence of say Lorenzo Lamas or Don "The Dragon" Wilson, but he definitely has less charisma than your Van Dammes, Seagals,Lundgrens and Dudikoffs. The main problem though is that it's really flatly directed. None of the action crackles, it should as the choreography is pretty good, there looks to be somewhat of a budget given the numerous explosions and yet nothing rises above the uninspired. Cyborg Cop wasn't very good either, but that one had a sort of distinctive B.movie charm, this sequel lacks even that and the film is dreary and unexciting. Die hard fans of 90s B.movies may find something worthwhile here, but for me, I found it dreary and unexciting. A mindless thing to watch on TV when you can't fall asleep, I still recommend sleeping pills.

*1/2 Out of 4 -(Poor)