Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Simply A Masterpiece

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Guyver II Dark Hero is based upon the anime 'Bio Booster Armour Guyver', which follows a teenager fighting threats to the world with his newly discovered bio-armour.I know what you're thinking. What about the first Guyver movie? Well, all you need to know it starred Mark Hamill and it wasn't very good. Steve Wang directs the film and he's most well-known for special effects. He has worked on countless films including Predator, The Monster Squad, DeepStar Six and Gremlins 2. Steve Wang also uses his talents in this film to create some exceptional creature effects, especially for a low budget production.David Hayter, who plays the Guyver, went onto voice Solid Snake in the critically acclaimed video game series Metal Gear Solid. Despite Guyver II Dark Hero having its fair share of bad acting and slow moments, it also has plenty of monsters, bloody moments and cool fight choreography to make it a worthwhile viewing.

I remember seeing the first of these movies back when I was in my late teens, getting it on VHS and it was titled "Mutronics", oddly enough. I do have fond memories of that movie, so I decided to get this "Guyver: Dark Hero" and see what it was all about as I never saw it when it was initially released.Hand on heart, then I only remember the first movie in fragments as it has been many, many years since last time I saw it. So whether or not "Guyver: Dark Hero" picks up and stays true to the first movie (much less the comic book), well I wouldn't be able to say that actually."Guyver: Dark Hero" was fun to watch, just bear in mind that it was made back in 1994, so the effects here are somewhat, well let's just say out of date, in lack of better. But still, the movie was pulled off nicely, and I am sure that for 1994, then the effects were actually up to code and off the charts back then. I enjoyed seeing the details on the Guyver armor and the details on the Zionoids. Despite it being rubber and all, then they actually put a lot of work and effort into it and it looked really, really nice - even today.The story in "Guyver: Dark Hero" was pretty straight forward and easy to follow, even if you haven't seen the first movie or like me can't fully remember it. There wasn't really any big twists or turn of events, so you know what you are in for here, be it predictable and all.Actually they had some fairly impressive people on the cast list, I mean, you have David Hayter (playing Sean Baker/Guyver) and Christopher Michael (playing Atkins).I must say that I found the fighting scenes to actually be nice, but also funny to behold at the same time, because there just was something comical about the Zoinoids when they were fighting.If you enjoy Sci-Fi of the older type, then "Guyver: Dark Hero" is well worth watching, and I am pretty sure that the kids will enjoy the movie as well because of the story and because of the Zoinoids. Odd, though, I seem to recall the first movie being somewhat more dark, brooding and brutal than this one.

Here we go, I just reviewed the first movie not to long ago and here I am on the sequel. What's with the "Dark Hero" kick? I mean Wolverine kills bad people and they don't call him a dark hero. This whole dark thing doesn't sound right to me. The Japanese Guyver never worried about killing bad people or is he turning into a monster. That's the whole American thing about killing is wrong, even to save your own butt and that's just crazy talk. But enough about that, let's see what else. Ah, the script follows close to the script of the anime, like the first movie. The broken Guyver unit situation is cool. It's basically a good movie, besides the whole "dark hero" thing. 9 STARS!

PLOT: Sean Barker became the unwilling host to an alien bio-armor known as the Guyver. A year ago he destroyed the Kronos Corporation, an organization of mutants who want the Guyver. Now he is trying to find why the Guyver unit forces him to fight and kill evil. He is lead to an archelogical site where scientists discover an ancient space craft. Now he must fight Kronos again before they discover the secrets of the Guyver's origin.ACTING: 3/10- Not especially impressive. Interestingly, though, the main character went on to write the script for the X-MEN films.DIRECTING: 5/10- Dry and boring, shaky. Steve Wang should have stayed doing the F/X.GORE: 8/10- This film is quite gory. A man gets his throat cut, lots of blood poor from the wound. A creature gets his head cut off while in a river, the water turns red. A creature gets his eyes gouged out by a laser, his hands broken off at the rists, stabbed in the stomach multiple times and then gets his head crushed. A creature gets electrocuted and then shot two times. A creature's head explodes. A creature melts down to the bone. A creature gets stabbed with a crow-bar. The death scenes are graphic and bloody.MONSTERS: We get a whole bunch. A Rihno creature, A Frog monster, a intelligent-looking "Predator" like creature, a Bee creature,a beetle man, a scaly humanoid creature, a big ugly alien, and several indistinct aliens in tubes. SPECIAL EFFECTS: 7/10- The creature suits are fun, the monster designs are cool and original.MUSIC: Uneven. Nothing special or memorable.Final verdict- The story is good, the creature effects are fun and film showed consistant effort but the poor acting and weak direction hammer it. 5.5/10.