I didn’t have any big ideas for what to cover for this week, so I figured we could take a look at the sequel to that awful, awful movie I talked about a few weeks back. Surprisingly, this one was actually an improvement, at least in terms of overall film-making quality. The storytelling is better, the action is better, and the overall presentation is generally better too. Now, I still wouldn’t call this an amazing film, and I do think there’s an argument to be made for hilariously bad versus just decent quality, but I do at least give the team marks for creating a more solid film on a legitimate level. Alright, let’s talk about the story.
Since we last left Sean, he’s been continuing his crime-fighting spree as The Guyver. However, the suit’s lust for killing has taken a toll on him, as it’s wearing upon his sanity and has practically forced him into an isolated lifestyle (even Mizky’s left him). However, he learns from a news report about drawings found in a cave in Utah, which just so happen to correlate with dreams he’s been having recently. He decides to go and check them out, and along the way meets Cori, one of the archeologists who are working at the cave sight. As he gets settled in, some Zoanoids come and attack the camp at night, leading to Sean fighting them off Guyver-style. While he’s able to cover for himself when the team arrive, Commander Atkins, a special ops leader, seems suspicious and questions Sean. Through their talk, Sean learns that Chronos is much bigger than he thought it was, with branches that stretch all over the world. He only managed to take one of them out, so he might very well be in trouble. Not long after, the crew uncover a Zoanoid ship buried within the cave, which they can’t seem to open, that is until it opens itself up. Sean with a small team explore the interior, and he manages to find the central hub of sorts. He tries to communicate with the ship, asking it to take the Guyver suit out of him, but to no avail. Cori even manages to find another Guyver unit, though its not in as good condition. Sadly, these potentially fruitful discoveries are cut short when it’s revealed that Arlen Crane, the site’s main benefactor, is actually a Zoanoid working for Chronos. He’s going to take out every human on the team to keep these discoveries hushed up, and also has his minions take Cori hostage, since she knows too much. Remarkably, another Zoanoid attacks the jeep they’re leaving in, and tries to defend Cori from the other Zoanoids. It turns out that he’s actually her father Marcus, the main archaeological leader, and he does his best to fight the others off, but sadly, they get the best of him. While all this is going on, Crane tries to get Sean to join him, but to no avail, as you’d expect, so he has one of his henchwomen restrain him. Thankfully, Atkins frees Sean and he’s able to rush out and save Cori from the Zoanoids just in time. Marcus isn’t so lucky, sadly, but Sean tells Cori all about who he is, and now has to make it back to the camp before Crane can execute his plans. Will Sean save the archaeologists? Will the ship and Guyver unit fall into Chronos’s clutches? Well, I won’t spoil it, so for now, let’s talk about my impressions.
So, as I was saying before, I do think this is an overall better film than its predecessor. The acting still isn’t top-tier or anything, but you can at least believe the characters and what they’re going through. The campiness has been remarkably toned down, feeling more along the lines of a typical superhero/B-action movie of the time-frame. On the note of action, that’s majorly been improved. Instead of the awkward slow-trying-to-look-quick movements of before, now things are much more accomplished, looking more along the lines of a decent martial arts film. Apparently, this film was handled solely by Steve Wang this time around, so perhaps he was able to work with what had been done before and find a way to improve upon it. I also noticed that Brian Yuzna wasn’t involved this time around, so that might have helped to steer it away from the camp of the first film. Now, while I do say that this film is an improvement overall, I still wouldn’t call it amazing. The story it tells of a tortured hero wanting to find out about where his powers came from, and maybe even how to remove them, isn’t really anything too spectacular. Honestly, it’s probably not even the best telling of that sort of story that we’ve had over the years, so I can’t say that this film is really up there in the upper echelon of superhero or action/sci-fi stuff. This is just the kind of film that you rent because it’s fine enough and you want to see guys in suits fight and die. If that’s what you want, if you’re already into that kind of thing, or if you grew up with things like Power Rangers and want to see what a more “adult” version of that might be, then this probably isn’t a bad choice. Plus, they replaced the actor of Sean in the first film with the guy that plays Snake in the Metal Gear series, so fans of that might want to check this out for novelty’s sake. I’ll admit I don’t have too much to say about this film overall, I just think it’s a decent enough execution of what it wants to be more than anything else. However, I do want to ponder this one question: is it better to have a decent film that just does what it does well enough but doesn’t really excel, or is it better to have a film that’s so horrendous that it’s hilarious? While I did have a more competent film watching experience with Guyver 2 and wasn’t really wincing at anything in it (or not much, anyway), Guyver 1 had me laughing harder than I ever have at a bad movie, and thus I remember that experience much more. It’s an interesting thing to think about. I suppose it helps that I don’t have any investment in the Guyver to begin with. I’ve never read the comics or watched much of the animated stuff, so I don’t have any fan-attachments going on. I’d imagine for people that really love the series, Guyver 2 is probably the more preferable option, but for those that just want to have a bad movie night or something, it’s Guyver 1 all the way. In the end, I’d probably just recommend Guyver 2 to the types of folks I’ve mentioned already, but I do still give props to the team for improving upon what they’d done before. Personally, I don’t think I’d go back to it, but it was at least cool to see how they handled things going forward. I’d imagine that the comics or animated versions are the more “authentic” Guyver experiences, but Guyver 2 is a fine enough option if you want to see a live-action version of that idea. Anyway, I don’t have much more to say, so I’ll move on to my conclusion.
Guyver: Dark Hero accomplishes what its predecessor probably set out to do, but this does come at the cost of the memorable awfulness of said predecessor. Ultimately, it’s a choose your poison thing, I feel. I apologize for the less than in-depth review this week, but I didn’t find as much to go into with this one. Still, don’t let that dissuade you from this film if it at all sounds interesting to you. After all, a Dark Hero is just as much, if not more, valuable than a Campy-As-Hell Hero.