Very loosely based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Yoshiki Takaya, The Guyver, also known as Mutronics in Europe, is one of those little oddities you may have caught on late-night TV when you were younger and loved, only to realise it's rather terrible when viewed again through more mature goggles. Directed by special effects maestros Screaming Mad George (Bride of Re-Animator) and Steve Wang (Hell Comes to Frogtown), produced by B-movie favourite Brian Yuzna, and co-starring Re-Animator alumni David Gale and Jeffrey Combs, The Guyver is custom-made to be an exploitation enthusiast's wet-dream. Yet, despite the wealth of rubber-suited monsters on show, it's really rather rubbish, but as rubbish goes, it certainly passes the time.An opening scroll, which goes on for far too long, informs us that humans were created by ancient aliens who implanted a special gene into a select few which enables the host to transform into a hideous monster at will, known as 'Zoanoids'. These evil creatures now run a powerful organisation called Chronos, and are studying an artefact called the Guyver; a special device which can empower the possessor with organic armour and superpowers. Concerned about the power it will grant the monsters should they learn how to use it, a scientist within the corporation, Dr. Segawa (Greg Joung Paik), steals the device with the aim of passing it on to gruff cop Max (Mark Hamill). The doctor is murdered, but not before hiding the Guyver away. When Segawa's daughter Mizky (Vivian Wu) is informed, her goofball boyfriend Sean (Jack Armstrong) follows her to the crime scene, only to become the unwilling wielder of the Guyver's magic.I almost wished I like The Guyver more, as it's clearly made by artists who understand why people love these kinds of films. Mad George and Wang make sure that we see the costumes and make-up in their full glory, rather than just glimpsed in shadows, but the fight scenes seem to go on forever. They are so clumsily choreographed - lots of punches and kicks that seem to inflict no damage - that it often feels like a sightly more violent episode of the original Power Rangers show. There is also the issue of the horrible humour, featuring one racial stereotype prone to outbursts of rap, played earnestly by '70s TV star Jimmie Walker. If you are looking for an adaptation that does justice to the mythology of the manga on which it is based, then you'll be completely underwhelmed. If you're a fan of low-budget trash, then there are plenty of familiar faces (including Michael Berryman in a prominent role) and fan-service to tide you over.

Yep that is correct, I did love this flick when I was about eight or so, my favourite Zoanoid was the bad stereotype jive-talking one with the big lips and the bling, I thought he and his...rap was the absolute coolest ever!! Well time doth make fools of us all and some movies you just plain outgrow. I still love many pictures that I did when I was little, but this to me does not hold up at all. I'd love to enjoy it for what it is, but the thing is, what it is happens to completely suck! Who'd think a movie with nothing but an alien cyborg fighting monsters could be so boring? I mean it is a little fun and entertaining but only in stops and starts, I mostly find it to be a tedious watch. From the beginning there's a noticeable lack of momentum to it. And the tone is completely wrong, rather than being all sleek and dark and cool, it's all a bit go-go Guyver rangers! It feels like a kid-friendly movie but like it's seriously forcing itself to be that way? when the visual style and atmosphere of everything is clearly crying out for something decidedly more gritty and harder-edged and dark, with some well placed swears and maybe even a little light nudity, and it was begging for copious amounts of blood guts and severed limbs to be flying in all directions as a result of the Guyver's deadly arm blades and firepower. It would have been improved so much if they'd only done away with the painful attempts at slapstick, and also if they'd bothered to invest in some decent fight choreography, because most of the time the Guyver just picks enemies up and throws them around. And get used to those f***ing scene-to-scene transmissions! The way the film slices itself in half and blares out that annoying noise is so jarring and stupid. The cartoony comic book-esc elements and the tone are what really murders this film for me. The good guys don't exactly leap out and grab you, Vivian Wu as an actress was really terrible! And Jack Armstrong was fine enough but he was dull and didn't make the character of the Guyver compelling at all.. It does have some positive aspects, like what's definitely the best thing about the movie whether you love it or hate it are the practical creature suits and makeup effects. The Zoanoid suits look great, they all blink and have expressions and have a great scaly skin texture, and the Guyver suit is an excellently presented piece of work that's quite striking. A brilliant job was done of recreating the look of it from the manga, it's near-perfect, right down to the steam vents. It's also pretty spectacular and icky when Mark Hammel painful transforms into a giant cricket, and dies! I'm also still quite fond of the last battle where the Cronos president changes into a humongous demonic lizard beast that stomps after the Guyver in a sequence that I find oddly similar to when Howard the Duck takes on the Dark Overlord! The Zoalord is similar in design to another creature that Screaming Mad George designed for the Full Moon movie Arena. And that leads me to David Gale, who I thought was terrific as the tyrannical leader of the monster organisation bent on world domination, his was the only character that wasn't dull, dim-witted or ultra-thin. The movie didn't deserve him, he steals and just really livens up every scene that he's in. What a brilliant character actor, he could play a crazy villain like no one else I've ever seen, so sad that he passed away too soon.. I love when Jeffrey Combs pops up as Dr. East, an underling professor to the man who's head he once chopped off years earlier as Dr. West in the gory classic Re-Animator. Oh well in closing I don't think that this is something you can watch and then immediately love the thought of watching again any time soon, because to me its bad points far outweigh its good ones. Horribly mishandled, it's truly a bad adaptation of an awesome franchise and character.

If you looked at the poster and naturally thought mark hamill wears a power suit and fights monsters, you would be wrong. He is one of the main characters but doesn't actually do anything. It's a guy named Sean who finds the Guyver unit and accidentally activates it, becoming a superhero. Apparently the aliens came to Earth thousands of years ago and created humans as weapons, and not content with the result, also created zoanoids, mutated humans. All the vampires and werewolves and the like were zoanoids all along. And they also created guyver as the ultimate weapon in the galaxy. For something that is called the most destructive weapon since the a- bomb, the guyver doesn't actually have any weapons. He just aikido throws and fist fights enemies into submission, all the while doing cartwheels all over the place. The plot is light, characters aren't at all likable and mark hamill is barely in the movie. But then again you can see why. It is a light action movie with a comedic tone. The creature effects are impressive, given that each of them is actually guys in costume. The jokes and punchlines are terrible but that's what puts it into the b-movie category. Michael berryman's character and jeffrey combs cameo are amusing, and coming from brian yuzna, body horror elements are a bunch. It isn't one of those so-bad-it's-good movies, but still a decent watch. Just skip forward during the gremlin zoanoid starts rapping.

This film is made by a guy named 'Screaming Mad George'. Both which are true I'm guessing: you have to be mad to make such a crappy movie and maybe when he saw what he made he screamed his head off (and so would the execs who green-lit the movie I would imagine). What a quality actor like Mark Hamill is doing in this movie is also a complete mystery. Not a great movie reference to put on your CV as an actor... Most people who reviewed this movie here are fans of the cartoon and are a bit biased. I'm not a fan, but I do love scifi, and this is one of the lamest scifi movies I've ever seen. It's a big fat cliché. Acting is bad, story is one you've seen a 1000 times before, FX are cheesy, budget was low. Maybe amusing to kids (minus 10 years), not for everyone else who values their time.