Cyborg 2 (1993)

That was an excellent one.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

For some reason I never got around to watch the first "Cyborg" movie, the one from 1989 starring Jean Claude Van Damme. It just always reeked of low budget, and thus I avoided it as if it was on fire. I didn't know that they had made a part two and three to the movie, before I stumbled upon "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" by sheer random luck, and now saw that there is a "Cyborg 3: The Recycler" as I looked up "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" here on IMDb.If the first movie is anywhere near as catastrophic as this second movie is, then I have been avoiding it for a good reason. Because, while this sequel has Elias Koteas and Angelina Jolie in it, as well as the iconic voice of Jack Palance, then the movie was a shambled mess of a chaotic movie trying to make sense.The story is about cyborg Casella Reese (played by Angelina Jolie) whom is carrying a high-explosive compound inside her, as she is designed to be the ultimate espionage cyborg. With the assistance of Colton Ricks (played by Elias Koteas), the renegade cyborg is freed into the chaotic world outside the confines of the PinWheel corporation.Right, well I am sure that the storyline worked well enough on paper and for the ones who wrote it. But it didn't really translate all that well on the screen. I found the movie to be a somewhat cluster of random scenes put together in order to achieve a wholesome end result. But it wasn't successful.I felt my interest in the storyline dwindle quite shortly into the movie, and director Michael Schroeder failed to lead me back on track, because the movie never progressed into something that had any real interest in terms of an attractive storyline.The acting in the movie was actually good, despite the talents having virtually nothing to work with.As for the special effects, which are quite important in order for a Sci-Fi movie to prove effective, then the special effects department that worked on "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" didn't really achieve anything worthwhile, impressive or memorable. And for a futuristic movie, then I was really amazed with what had to be a very antique phone booth with a rotary wheel dial standing in a junk yard, fully functional and operational, and requiring no coins or other payments to use.After having seen part two, then I still feel discouraged from actually sitting down and watching the original 1989 "Cyborg" movie, despite having it in my DVD collection. And I am even less interested in watching part three after this disastrous movie."Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" scores a mere three out of ten stars here from me, and I do feel very generous with that rating.

Not quite as bad as the rating suggests and has enough to make it watchable, but at the end of the day it just felt like a waste of potential. I forgive that it has little in common with the original Cyborg, the cheesiness and (sort of) the low budget, but not so much that it didn't do enough with its intriguing concept or let its talented cast properly shine.The best asset for me about Cyborg 2 was the performance of Jack Palance, most of his screen time is voice only but that does not once stop Palance from still being a blast as Mercy, one of the few in the cast who actually sounded like he was having fun. Who can't help love his lines either, on the most part the script was not that great at all but the outrageous surrealism of Palance's dialogue and the way he delivered it(literally just going for it no matter how little sense it made) made for enormous entertainment. Billy Drago is a sneeringly over-the-top but also chilling villain and Allen Garfield brings a little wit to his role.Cyborg 2 starts off promisingly, showing some imaginative visuals and some intriguing story set-up. Some of the futuristic special effects are nicely done too, there is a good attempt at a dystopian futuristic atmosphere that can come over effectively and the photography succeeds in being both dream-like and nightmarish.However, with the exception of Mercy's lines the script is rather weak, a lot of it reminiscent of gibberish that was in serious need of a proof-read or two. Some of it only succeeds in confusing the story even further and the characters are literally less-than-one-dimensional stereotypes, Mercy was the only character that actually seemed like the writers cared about halfway developing and even he was severely underdeveloped. The story concept-wise is intriguing, but while effort was made into giving the film atmosphere not as much attention was paid giving it momentum and such. Cyborg 2 drags a lot and changes tone shifts and plot points so frequently the story felt tonally weird and structurally choppy, which just didn't feel right. The action scenes are uneven, some have verve and fun but too many others are sloppily choreographed and lazily performed.While Cyborg 2 is not a amateurish looking film, there are instances where low budget is obvious, the sets are dreary and generally unimaginative, some editing lacks polish and the film is frequently lit far too darkly. The synthesised music score just felt at odds with the film, it sounded cheap and like it would belong more at home in a film from the late 70s-early 80s, plus to me it lacked energy. While it's true that Cyborg 2 has little to do with the first Cyborg it does incorporate a few flashbacks to tie them together, the trouble was they were rather brief and at the end there was not much need for them to be there. It was completely understandable why they did it and it was laudable, but with the way the story was written here their inclusion didn't add very much. Palance, Drago and to a lesser extent Garfield were fun, but Angelina Jolie's(in her lead role debut) acting inexperience shows no matter the effort in as sparely written a role she could have possibly gotten and Elias Koteas is even blander than his very underwritten hero character, while the rest of the cast were average or below.Overall, watchable but mediocre. Notable for it being Jolie's lead actress debut and those fond of Palance and Drago will find pleasure. But at the end of the day, with not enough done with the story and the cast not having enough to shine, it felt like a waste of potential. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This was the follow-up of 1989's success Cyborg. If you haven't seen the original one than it isn't a problem to watch this part because in the first minutes it is explained with fragments of the original what it was all about. But the second part is for me just a piece of crap. This flick has really nothing to offer storywise. And some scene's are way too long. On part of the editing there are a few jumps that I thought, hell, I can do better. Michael Schroeder, the director, who also did Cyborg 3 tried to make a good flick, everything is in it but it just didn't work out.What makes this flick worth hunting down for so many geeks is the list of actors in it. The biggest name must have been Jack Palance who I knew from so many blockbusters to independent to even trash flicks. But he's maybe 2 minutes in this flick. And see, his face is on the cover of the VHS/DVD even shown in a cyborg face that isn't in the flick, go figure out. Further we have Billy Drago from for example The Untouchables (1987) or Elias Coteas who went further to Shutter Island (2010) among other blockbusters. So much ability but it just didn't work out like it should.But there is one name that makes this flick also worth watching and that is Angelina Jolie. Back then she was 18 years old and it shows on her voice and face but you can see that she had it in her to become a major actress. This was her second flick, Looking To Get Out (1982) was her first one and was credited as Angelina Jolie Voight, and immediately became the leading star. But for the perverts there's another thing why people hunt this bad movie. Angelina goes topless and it is clearly hers to see and no stand-in. It's funny to see an 18 year old Angelina having sex. This flick proofs that even with good acting a flick doesn't work like it should be. A script is the beginning. But it's cheap to find (under 1 euro) and if you like Terminator rip-offs or post apocalyptic flicks then this is a must.Gore 0/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

It's a kinder, gentler Cyborg movie with a love story. Awww. It's not as bad as it sounds. The action, when it is there, is decent and Jack Palance, Elias Koteas, and Angelina Jolie are always dependable. It's the fact that this is a sequel to the terrible Jean Claude Van Damme film, or is that the capper to the Masters of the Universe trilogy? I'm still confused about that. Either way, there was really no need for this movie. What was there a need for? Angelina Jolie. She may play an assassin robot that can explodes mid-coitus, but, what a way to go and even though this is her first movie, she still has the presence that made her an award winner.