Change Your Image
Silverbolt450
Reviews
Kyôshoku sôkô Guyver: Kikaku Gaihin (1986)
Blows Bio-Booster away.
I saw Out of Control along time ago, and recently bought it on Ebay.
I had heard that this OAV (Only Available on Video)is how the Guyver creators wanted it to be, and its animation is at least 10 times better than the Bio Boost manga series.
It is also incrediably dark and almost scary. The Bio booster series had some cute and some funny moments, and was full of different characters, while this short film however, has anything but. Sho Fukamachi is still the main character, but gone are Agito, Tetsuro and any of the characters you met along the way. Mizky is still Sho's love, and that is also sharply brought more into focus. Chronos also seems more powerful in this episode... we see the Special task teams sent out to get the lost Units, we also see Zoanoid Cops, crooked Government Officials, and most impressively, Guyver II is female. (Oh, and does she ever give Guyver I a butt whoopin!!)
Guyver III makes a special appearance at the end, but we are never clued in as to whom he may be, as this was never further developed.
The whole episode also shows the true downside of being a super hero, where as the series makes you think of how great it would be to have these powers. For example some of Sho's close friends are wiped out while right in the middle of school and Mizky is kidnapped only to get Sho to reveal he is the Guyver.
The last scene also shows the difficult choice Sho must make if he wishes for his loved ones to return to a normal life.
Invincible (2001)
Should have been a series.
This movie just didn't seem to make any sence to me. I saw previews for it MONTHS prior to it coming to TV. I was soooo looking forward to viewing it.
When I heard Mel and Jet teamed up to do it, I thought this would be awesome.
What a severe disappointment. I only sat through it because I was expecting something...ANYTHING great to come along, be it a great fight scene or a great stunt.
Nope...what do I get? A 2 hour acid trip.
This film was nothing more than a live action Manga film.
I didnt mind the Shinto or other Eastern philosophy lessons Billy Zane belts out, but than we see him sitting in a lawn chair in a Gi talking to his enemy as if they were meeting for lunch, as the bad guy slowly kills one of the heros in his subconscience.
Than there is a scene where he plays psychiatrist to the black male who is nothing more than a bad stereotype...it looked like what they were really doing was smoking up a fat joint with 70's music and disco lights going around them.
The fight scenes were easily some of the worst I have ever seen, and I have seen more action films than you can count. The acrobatics were cool, but the fight sequences were so badly done you can see a better fight at a local karate demo. Billy Zane performing what looked like a Chinese sword form with a Japanese katana? whats up with that?
What bothered me the most about the martial arts segments is they imply all the heros..well at least 3 of them have martial arts skill..ok, that leaves 3 more non skilled heros. But within a week, they have the ability to fling water like bullets and throw Cds like pointed stars? Nope..not gonna happen
To this day, the one part that sticks in my mind is hearing Billy Zane say "fight him with love...yack yack dont fight him with anger, love him for showing you the path"..fight love fight love for about 5 min, with some very hypnotic music..which is probably why it stuck in my mind.
This could have been a GREAT series,if they broke it down and gave each hero a "meet me" episode instead of a 5 minute scene. The plot had its good points and bad, and as I said before, as a series, these points could have been drawn further out.
maybe it will become a series, due to the last scene where they do that "Walking against the wind" stuff.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
A good beginning
I wont lie...when this movie first came out I had super high expectations for it. I am a fan of Star Wars, but not a historian where I know the names of everyone and thier starships creators. HOWEVER..unlike many fans of the series, I also kept an open mind that we werent going to be seeing familar grounds. For example, yes, Yoda was there, Obi Wan-Kenobi was there, and so was the force and Lightsabers. Not there, was Darth Vader..he was still a boy, and the Emperor had yet to rise to power. I thought it was great way to throw us into the beginning..just like A New Hope throughs us into the middle of the saga. We are introduced to the Jedi Knights for the first time and their simplistic life style which is similar to that of the old Samurai warrior. (which is where Lucas got the concept I hear).
SO in conclusion, I say see this movie with an open mind..dont come down on it with a strike from Thor's hammer untill you see it. Yes, Jar Jar Binks is annoying, but other than that the film is a great first chapter in what has become one of Cinemas greatest stories ever told.