Cyborg Cop II (1995)

Pretty Good

Expected more

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is one of those films that gets better as you drink more beer. Great movie to watch with your pack of snarky friends. The Rifftrax version works too if your snarky friends haven't called in sick to avoid another useless staff meeting and you are home alone. It isn't great cinema but it has high fun potential.

Ahhh, those lovely 90s… especially the beginning of the 90s… when we had those low budget, simple and somewhat likable movies… OK, when it comes to this one… it's low budget, simple… but not likable. This is one of those movies… during which you basically turn off your brain and enjoy it. Don't expect some good acting, script, adventure, or anything else. We have a solidly fun action scenes and that's all. David Bradley is back, with his usual appearance just like in the first film… dark clothes, white athletic shirt, unshaved, waist bag, husky, quiet (badass) voice and of course… martial arts skills, the only thing that actually appreciate for Bradley. He is Jack Ryan (a usual hero name), a DEA that captures a dangerous criminal Starkraven (pretty generic and usual name for a villain), and to increase the plot intensity, Ryan killed Starkraven's brother… so, the movie didn't even begin properly and we already have personal story… Shortly after arresting Starkraven, he is sent to a scientific facility where he's turned into a cyborg… a little naive I feel… always picking those evil villains to be a proud solution of scientists who made some miscalculations… To add that actor who played Starkraven (Morgan Hunter), is nothing special… he was picked for a part, definitely because of his bald, menacing looks. When he becomes a cyborg, his voice changes, and it's ridiculously enhanced. The cyborg make up is… funny… you can clearly see that their feet, hands and some other body parts are in rubber, all cyborg units look stuffed… like they suffered some taxidermy syndrome. So, Jack finds out that Starkraven is a cyborg, and he went on to stop him. And Jack pops cyborgs like a candy… just like we saw in the first film, so this means that Jack is using his experience with cyborgs pretty good. So… overall, a dumb, but enjoyable low budget film, to also mention that it contains a scene that is stolen from Terminator 2… he he he… Enjoy it, if you want.

Other than the same lead(and both sorta being revenge flicks), this isn't particularly connected to the first one(and no, the reporter doesn't return, nor is she referred to... at all). Yes, our motorcycling renegade DEA officer is back(and he's gotten less subtle about ripping off Terminator 2: Judgment Day). He takes down a terrorist(...I think), a man who takes no less than two separate hostages when they meet. Ah, but then the guy is taken away from death row because someone wants to make him into a cyborg(and no, there's still no "cop", the title remains a lie... their arsenal is cool enough though, with a flamethrower, a "blow-crap-up"(they refer to it as a laser... and it ain't) and a gatling gun), meaning combine his flesh with obvious rubber suits... I mean, metal, and they call him Spartacus, because they failed history class and the writer/director(who did the original, and some of the American Ninja movies) thinks that it's clever. He and the others turn on their masters, leading us to believe that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't smart to arm the crap out of criminals. Meh. Watching RoboCop 2 could have told them that(and no, the similarities couldn't be by chance). So, they want to take over the world... of course. If the religious tones to their dialog wasn't enough, we get beaten over the head with organ funeral music when they're on screen. This is as stupid as its predecessor, and not as much fun. It remains entertaining... in the opening, someone clotheslines someone, in the torso, whilst the latter is on a truck. No, seriously. Half the guns are automatics, yet everyone gets hit once. And we get some odd cuts, like no explosion(of which there are plenty in this) from a grenade launcher, yet one from a shotgun literally a second later. We get physical fights(one of them ought to be referred to as the "stop hitting yourself and your buddies" match) and shootouts again. The acting is hammy and poor. There's a new kid, I think, and he delivers about as bad a performance. Clichés aplenty, bad comic relief and, when they need to be, ineffectual wristcomputers(meant to control the bots). There is a nice amount of violence(less brutal, bloody or gory, for some reason), a few topless women and a little strong language in this. I recommend this to fans of B-movies. 1/10

With a misleading title (there is no Cyborg Cop, only a criminal "converted" to a Cyborg who escapes and goes on a rampage), a director who doesn't exactly have a clean track record, filmed in a foreign country trying to pass off as USA and a rather low rating on IMDb (although I always prefer to judge for myself), this had all the makings of being completely awful. I did however decide to check it out as the DVD was cheap and it was by NuImage who did an excellent straight to video movie titled Hard Justice the following year. And to my huge surprise, I actually found this to be an enjoyable little cheesefest.Sure it's campy, it's clichéd and doesn't exactly score high in terms of acting, plot or originality but it's well aware of all those, and with those all taken into account, makes the best of them and comes out smiling. David Bradley, who I've considered to be one of the better "actors" in the B-action genre provides a fun performance. He's well aware of the movie he's in, and makes the most of it. Morgan Hunter as the mobster turned cyborg provides a suitably over the top performance that's a lot of fun to watch.Certainly, it doesn't let down in terms of action. You'll get plenty of explosions and our hero flying through the air with a pistol in each hand numerous times. Opening with a huge warehouse shootout with a large bodycount and an especially huge explosive scene at a Gas station. Production values are generally above average, only let down by some obvious stunt doubles and blatant modelwork which fortunately doesn't appear on screen for very long. Overall, they're definitely no worse than Commando. It doesn't appear that producers have ever said "No" at any point to what director Sam Firstenberg has asked for, as you'll get several big scale action scenes with tons of stunts and explosions which is rather impressive for such a little known and obviously low budget movie. Embarrassingly, there isn't actually a huge amount which Universal Soldier for example does which this doesn't, which either says a lot of bad things about it or a lot of good things about this, depending on your point of view.One thing I did notice however was that while the movie is set in the USA, it is quite obviously not filmed there. Where it is I'm not sure, but if you know a thing or two about cars, you'll notice a LOT which aren't sold in the USA such as Fiat's and an exploding Ford Sierra at the gas station scene.Like a James Bond movie, Cyborg Cop 2 provides the familiar ingredients that fans of B-action movies like to see time and time again. Turn off your brain, grab a few beers and watch and by the end you'll probably have the overblown organ music stuck on your mind for a few days. Yes it's silly, it's clichéd but for what it is, it works.