Guyver (1991)

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   The promotional art for The Guyver had me thinking (and falsely remembering how I might gave caught it mid-stream on late-night TV) that Mark Hamill was... THE GUYVER. He's not. Some generic kid is. Instead he's a hard-boiled CIA cop with a big mustache and a cigarette in his mouth, and I like that too. At a guess, this American-made manga adaptation is riding the coat-tails of the live-action Turtles movies, pitching a slightly more violent version of guys in monster suits doing kung fu. Screaming Mad George may co-direct, but his style of creature effects is definitely present. The man has worked on Big Trouble in Little China, Predator and some Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and here works hard to make each "Zoanoid" different from the rest, visually and in terms of personality, with the Guyver hero suit being cool and functional. But when a movie starts with a glossary, it may be in trouble. It's a goofy story with a number of fun moments and even surprises, but the wall-to-wall action can get tedious, and the acting is mostly under-par. Watch for a couple of Re-Animator alumni to enliven things up. There is one moment that I can't explain and have to mention though. At one point, the heroes climb over a wall and you can see a lighting rig and a stagehand waving them down. I thought, major oops! Then the Gremlin-looking Zoanoid played by Jimmie Walker (who's rapping is surely the cringiest thing in the movie) jumps the wall and into... a movie set?! He's given notes on his performance and the action continues. It really looks like they noticed the problem and crafted a whole scene around it. Very weird. But then, yeah, weird is why you would watch The Guyver. 3 years 10 months ago

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