Customer Reviews

Guyver Data 12 [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I liked it alot at first cause I'm a fan of the anime, and it was cool to see the Guyver in live action. But this is more like a spoof than an adaptation. Kinda like the 60s Batman show.

Pros: the action is hot. The Guyver does some cool martial arts. Plus his bladed weapons looked cool. And if you're into the comical action this movies for you. Plus there are alot of guest stars from horror fame.

Cons: Too campy. The cover is misleading: When I first saw it I thought Hamill was playing the Guyver, he's actually not. He plays an FBI agent. The acting is pretty bad, except for Hamill who did an OK job.

If you're more of a fan of serious action monster flicks, get Guyver 2.

Every time I mention The Guyver(not that I mention this movie a whole lot, mind you) to someone, they always think I'm saying MacGyver! Just thought I'd let you know. I don't know squat about the Japanese cartoon, so I'm not here to point out how accurate or inaccurate this movie is. As for the movie itself, I personally find this a guilty pleasure. It was produced by Brian Yuzna, and you can definitely tell. In fact, you could almost swear he directed the film. Now basically we got a guy who stumbles across this one-of-a-kind body armor unit and it makes him a kind of superhero(it's supposed to be the most destructive and dangerous weapon on the planet yet it only really seems to make you a kung fu expert with a snazzy look. Plus, it's got an awfully lame and exposed weakness). An evil corporation wants to get their mitts on this body armor, and they're not about to let some snotnose punk just waltz away with it. Certain employees of this corporation are humans with the ability to transform into monsters that look like Gremlins, werewolves, Gamera-ish things, etc. The head honcho of this corporation is none other than everybody's favorite cinematic severed head, David Gale. He's still playing the evil scientist....and still unable to keep his hands off the female lead. The leader of the bumbling pack of monsters is Michael Berryman! Jeffrey Combs shows up in a small role as well. The coverbox has you under the impression that Mark Hammill is the Guyver, but this isn't true. He's wasted in a CIA agent role while some goof named Jeff Armstrong plays our hero. I do enjoy this movie for it's cheesy thrills, but some of the fight scenes, one in particular, goes on way too long. The makeup jobs are decent enough considering the budget, but there is such a thing as overdosing on big rubber monsters in halfassed kung fu battles(for most of us anyway). It's too much like a kaiju movie or Power Rangers episode. In fact, you almost think it's a kids movie, but then it becomes too violent for that. Not really highly recommended, but it is harmless cinematic junkfood.

My 1st review so spelling errors aside keep with it.
Seeing some of the other reviews I thought I'd put in my useless words as well.

I've always been a fan of the Guyver anime, it was the first anime I've ever picked up (Seeing how he sort of had a Spider-man look to him when I was younger, I instantly picked it up) So of course I have to try out the movies no matter, to see if they could've made the Guyver cooler in the big screen than he was in a anime. This was probaly years ago but now when I look back at them. It adds to my collection.

I didn't mind the movie, its old, those old movies tend to be corny as time goes on. I sadly made the mistake of watching Guyver 2 on the SciFi channel years ago before I watched the 1st movie so I held my standards higher back then. I can imagine more and more movies will come along and blow our "Movie of this year" yadda yadda. What I'm trying to say is pretty soon the Matrix or Star Wars will be looked back at and criticized just as much, as this flick.

Overall opinion:
Acting was ... decent they could've chosen a better cast of actors

Special Effects were decent

Costumes were decent (reminded me of a violent power rangers back then so I instantly loved it)

The movie was a attempt to bring Guyver to the big screen, I really wish Guyver 2: Dark Hero was what they did. They could've easily have made that into the first Guyver movie. I still gladly have both in my collection, and watch them time to time. Maybe they'll re-make this one
like they've done with other movies seeing how we can't produce anything original anymore.

The second movie blows this one away, and it didn't require them to grab any big names to fetch them some Mark Hamill fans.

The Guyver series is a really good comic book and animated series. But for this movie they just really f@#ked it up. They made like a damn Power Rangers movie. If u really want to see the Guyver in action watch the sequel. And for the record on the movie cover I know it has Mark Hamill with half of his face with the Guyver's and people tell me he plays the Guyver. WRONG! Mark Hamill is the starring actor of this movie, Jack Armstrong plays the Guyver. But anyways, I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

What is wrong with this movie? They should have left it as anime. I don't think that they even saw the first five series, and decided to go by word of mouth on this one. The only good thing about this movie was maybe the Guyver suit(Reason for the one star). Other than that this movie sucked. The second one faired slightly better.

My opinion is if you your a fan of Mark Hamill, watch The Star Wars Trilogy, Time Runner, Amazing Stories VI, or one of his many others. This movie will only cause heart ache, ( when Hamill's character dies at the end,) and cause you to lose your lunch. So rent any other Mark Hamill or sci-fi movie. And complain to your local movie house that if they have this movie, chunk it. END

For Guyver fans like me (I've read the original Japanese comics that the movie was based on), you will probably be satisfied with this film. I mean, the costumes were good (good enough considering it was filmed in 1991, anyway), and the special effects, stunts and actions were great. But if you were looking for a strong storyline, then I suggest you turn to the animated series, which is a replica of the comic books. In my opinion I think the producers paid too much attention in special effects.

As for the acting... well, I almost thought the movie was trying to teach you speak proper English (maybe that was the producers' original intention to ensure its marketability in Japan?). Even the slangs and bad languages used were pronounced ever so clearly, word for word...

And why is Mark Hamil shown on the cover of the video with the Guyver costume, anyway? He's not the Guyver in the movie if I remember correctly...

Having said all this, DON'T miss out "Guyver 2: The Dark Hero". That's how a movie should, in my opinion, really be.

Not Oscar worthy by anyone's standards, but a really good late night movie for teenage boys. This can really fit the bill as a gift for those kids that only get the typical politically correct dvd's as gifts. Almost any father should be able to watch this one with their son.

I really enjoy this movie everytime I see it. The Guyver is one of my all time favorite movies and I love the special effects. I would recommend this movie and the sequel.

I am a fan of the Guyver anime series and this movie does to The Guyver, what Adam West did to Batman: Makes it look freakin' ridiculous!

That being said it's still a fun B-movie and worth a watch.

The Good:

-The costumes and creatures are very well done.

-The main villain, Balcus, actually resembles the anime character.

-Like the anime, the Guyver dies and is then regenerated.

-The scene where Sean becomes the Guyver is hilarious due to the fact that the street gang is such an 80's stereotype, with lines like "Hey, cool, chilly man, I'm just trying to help you out".

-The movie doesn't take itself seriously, so you don't get too mad that it's not faithful to the original source material.

The Bad:

-The acting is terrible, especially Jack Armstrong & Vivian Wu and then you have Mark Hamill who is so over the top its embarassing.

-The fat german thug Ramsey, who they dress up like a foreign exchange student with a Mr. T obsession and Hitler mustache.

If you are a fan of The Guyver you'll either accept it as camp or burn it in disgust, either way check it out so you can have an opinion.

If you just like cheesy Cinemax-style action movies, this is for you.

If none of the above then you obviously have too much class.