Set sometime in the future, Virtual Assassin is the story of Nick James (Dudikoff), a cop who, after the death of his partner at the hands of the evil Nassim (James) hits the skids. Due to his drinking and gambling, he lives in a trailer and is generally down and out. He gets a job as a janitor in a computer research facility, where Dr. Royce (Kaiser) is working on containing a deadly virus. Then along comes Nassim back into Nick's life - he and his band of goons overtake the facility, with the aim of controlling the virus and Nassim becoming the lord and master of the universe because he holds untold power. But they didn't count on one thing: a badass janitor who intends to foil their nefarious plans. Will Nick James settle the score with Nassim? Or will he become the ultimate VIRTUAL ASSASSIN? Find out today! It's comforting to see Michael Dudikoff's hair is still awesome in the future. Virtual Assassin is one of the better "DieHardInA" movies we've seen to date. Besides Die Hard (1988), the movie seems to be influenced by Blade Runner (1982), Robocop (1987), The Terminator (1984), Firepower (1993) and Freejack (1992) (the movie's original title, Cyberjack, would seem to indicate that). But, far and away the film that Virtual Assassin most closely resembles is Virtuosity (1995). It borrows many ideas and plot points from that movie. Even the re-titling would indicate the desire to bring more "Virtuosity" to the goings-on. But it was the 90's after all and cyber-things were huge. Hackers, VR, giant helmets and The Lawnmower Man were everywhere. So it was only a matter of time until two of the most popular DTV concepts of the 90's - cyber-matters and DieHardInA - merged, and thus we now have Virtual Assassin for our viewing enjoyment.Dudikoff rarely disappoints, and here he's great as the grizzled, burned-out ex-cop who just wants to listen to baseball on a transistor radio (you'd think the technology would be a bit better there - everything else around him is a tad more high-tech), but has to not only face plenty of goons in order to save the day, but also a law-enforcement robot which doesn't at all resemble ED-209. Brazenly, there's something called "Skynet" - where have we heard that before? That seems especially blatant. Dudikoff's personality carries the movie - but luckily it also has a good pace, some good ideas (besides the stolen ones) and is entertaining. Helping with that is the performance of Brion James, which is especially animated. Here he seems to be playing yet another albino baddie - let's not forget Nightmare at Noon (1988) - but he's better here. He makes a great villain to face off with Dudikoff. Face off with Dudikoff would also make a great name for a talk show.Of course, because this is a Die Hard-esque DTV movie from the 90's, there has to be one of those super-annoying, skinny, Eurotrash underlings, here named Numb (Cross). Probably the funniest underling is Reef (McKenzie) who is a stereotypical Jamaican who wants to trick Nick James into "smoking some spliff" with him. The impressively-named Topaz Hasfal-Schou as Meghan, Nassim's evil female sidekick, resembles Robin Quivers, and Jerry Wasserman as Neil Jervis deserves some recognition as being one of those working actors you see a lot, but never makes the talk show or magazine circuit. We applaud actors like Wasserman. But just why all Nassim's underlings are dressed in strange Halloween costumes is not explained.Thanks to some nice touches and Dudikoff's performance, Virtual Assassin rises above its lowly station as a humble 90's Cyber-Die Hard. We enjoyed it, and the 90's nostalgia factor has only ensured its enjoyability for the foreseeable future.

I thought the movie was a lot of fun. Yes, it was a Die Hard rip off, but Michael Dudikoff is just as entertaining to me as Bruce Willis, so I enjoyed it. Some of the dialog is so bad its funny. Overall, pretty underrated. It's not as good as American Ninja or Platoon Leader, but still not one of his worst. I'd say this is probably on the level of Chain of Command, also an enjoyable movie. Dudikoff plays the part perfectly, mostly laid back, but ready to kick ass if he needs to. Brion James is good, way over the top, but still one of his more memorable parts. His faux British accent comes and goes at the drop of a hat, and that is pretty ridiculous, but it just adds to the humor of the film. The effects are also very bad, like a lot of bad CGI from the early nineties. Bottom line, if you like Michael Dudikoff, you'll like this movie. If not, you won't.

CYBERJACK (or VIRTUAL ASSASSIN, as it's known in the States) is one of Dudikoff's weakest movies, despite some good moments and Brion James at his over-the-top best. Dudikoff's character, as ex-cop now working as a janitor(!) at a computer company, remains something a mystery throughout the film. He appears to be killed in the film's prologue, but no mention is made afterwards of how he survived. There are hints that maybe he's some kind of "virtual" version of his former self, but that plot point is never carried out with. (It's like trying to figure out if Deckard was a human or a Replicant in BLADE RUNNER.) James shows up with his motley crew of Village People rejects to steal a computer virus and have it implanted in himself. The effects are mediocre, some better than others, none of them anything special. My favorite moment is the sequence where Dudikoff uses a series of transmitter cubes that project holographic images of himself, leading some guards on a wild goose chase through the halls, culminating in a funny moment in which the real Dudikoff is painfully revealed to one guard. The effects of a large robot (like the one in ROBOCOP) are decent, but otherwise, it's a pretty lackluster film of interest only to Dudikoff completists.

This film didn't leave much of an impression on me, and that's about what I expected. The action is okay, the humour is generally sad, and the plot is competent, but certainly nothing to brag about. This film is also VERY predictable, but then again, I've never seen a sci-fi action flick that wasn't. So basically, if you're a fan of the genre, then there's no reason for you not to like this film, but I have a strong feeling that most people would get little or no enjoyment out of a movie this forgettable.