Cyborg 3: The Recycler

Met with universal criticism this 3rd Cyborg movie but 5th in the franchise (It gets confusing) see's a continuation of the 2nds story, kind of.

We see Cash (Recast from Angelina Jolie) in an adventure where she must escape the clutches of "Recycler" Richard Lynch.

Also along for the ride is Zach "Gremlins" Galligan, Rebecca Ferratti, Andrew Bryniarski and industry veteran Malcolm McDowell. Note though, despite McDowell being the cover star he has a very small role in the film so certainly don't watch it for him.

Action packed, inconsistent on the cyborg rules/plot and full of your usual 90's action tropes it's everything you'd expect but not as bad as they say. Sure it's bad, but there is a lot worse out there! This at least was saved by a really fantastic cast, did I mention William Katt? Being a bit of a Katt fanboy I appreciate his addition to any movie.

Passable stuff for fans of brainless 80's/90's b-movie action, not so much for everyone else.

The Good:

Connections to previous movies

Well above par cast

William Katt

The Bad:

Still naff Cyborg nonsense

Recasting

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I cannot see Bryniarski without seeing Zangief from Streetfighter (1994)

Cyborg 3 feels like a movie that was directed by three people. One who actually knew what he was doing, one who kinda knew what he was doing and one who was totally out of it.

I have not seen the previous films and can't comment on the movie's relationship with them. All I can say is that the movie undoubtedly has a very cheap feel to it. At times however the film's quality seems to boost up and sometimes it can drop horrifically in the process of a scene. This is marked by the extremely diverse quality of dialogue scenes. Sometimes the actors are stiff as dolls, but the next minute they could be delivering a speech with such passion you start wondering if you suddenly switched to a whole different movie.

I was actually happy to see that the action-scenes were done quite well and many of the cyborg-characters were very sympathetic. However there are also plenty of scenes that either make little to no sense or are extremely ill-planned that they slightly ruin the experience.

Not the worst movie I've seen, but far from the best of them.

I seem to be one of the rarefied few sump-sucking Vidiots that righteously dig the dastardly diodes off this murderous mechanoid mung-fest!!? And how could I not, as it features another devilishly deviant performance by triumphant B-Movie Thespian Richard Lynch as the menacingly mercenary misfit Anton Llewellyn, plus a wasteland-warped Malcolm McDowell as slyly scheming Lord Talon, an affable cyber boffin Zach Gallagan is on call ta' get them gremlins outta all that busted old world hardware! So, power up your power-gloves, luridly lube some cyber-slapper's scintillating silicon tits, strap on a high-calibre boom-stick, and blissfully beer-goggle this sinisterly scavenging, low budget, high voltaged, electro-blasting, future-shocking cyber trash! The DVD boom of the 90s were a fertile era for funky-fingered, bargain bin-grubbing B-Movie finks, frequently being geekily overloaded with gnarly, junk-headed sequels many didn't even know existed! So, don't be a plug-headed hater, 'Cyborg 3 The Recycler' is a titanium tough DTV time-waster! While, perhaps, not exactly in the same stainless steel celluloid class as Enzo G. Castellari or Albert Pyun, fans of 'Mandroid' will certainly find worthwhile bemusement in this boisterous B-Movie ode to mechanized death!

Years after the fall of the last of the great corporations, the world has fallen into a new dark age where cyborgs are harvested for their parts. Cash, a female cyborg, travels to a wasteland doctor to receive news that she is pregnant. On the run from Recyclers (bounty hunters who hunt cyborgs), Cash tries to find her way to Cytown, the mythical refuge for cyborgs.

"Cyborg 3: The Recycler" is the third (& last so far) entry in the CYBORG trilogy. The first film was originally planned to be a sequel to MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, but was quickly rewritten into a standard post-apocalyptic martial-arts fest that became something of a cult classic due to its cheesy action scenes. CYBORG 2: GLASS SHADOW was a sequel that actually improved upon its predecessor but was not widely seen (& was dismissed by those few who saw it as cheap fodder).

This film, for one thing, tries to be a meld of the first two films (the first was a cheesy action film while the second was a smart Cyberpunk story) but unfortunately falls short on both counts. The budget was obviously lower than CYBORG 2, with the film being set in the desert wastelands (like so many post-apocalyptic action films of the 90s were), shot around old industrial buildings to conserve costs.

The film's story centres on a plot device, that of a pregnant cyborg, that is as interesting as it is absurd (this film is not the first to try that idea; the anime OVA series ARMITAGE III uses it to a greater extent). But the film falls into the same trap that so many low-budget sci-fi action films fall victim to, in the fact that the snags (synthetic organisms) featured are nothing more than androids. The visual effects amount to nothing more than prosthetic arms & makeup effects.

The acting is pretty standard for this kind of film, with the lead actress (Khrystyne Haje) being the single worst performer on display. Instead of being joyed at the news she is pregnant, she acts all whiny & sullen. Her co-stars are much better, Malcolm McDowell being the usual gangster type who enlivens the scenes he appears in & Richard Lynch has a lot of fun as the chief villain. Of particular note is Andrew Byniarski, playing Lynch's right hand man, who would later appear in THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake & its prequel.

Being an advid fan of sci-fi I thought there was no way another film could compare to what is probably the utmost important Sci-fi 'The Vindicator', I was wrong. Cyborg 3 is probably the greatest sequal of all time, I would go as far to say that it betters the origional van damme fest. With the combination of ultra realistic make-up/special effects, gritty storyline and oscar wothery acting cyborg 3 is a real treat for the family, and in my personal top 10. Malcolm McDowell gives a fantastic 45 second performance although it was too short. The combination of Mechno-Whore's and frightening explosions make be bemused as I found this as a part of a discount store £2.99 Dvd collection. It is safe to say that cyborg 3 would be nothing without it's fantastic soundtrack featuring Millitant Love Baby's classic * "CALL ME MASTER"....overall I'm looking forward to cyborg 4.