Too much of everything

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

For all intents and purposes, "Guyver: Dark Hero" is a fairly competent and oft-thrilling adaptation of the popular Japanese source material created by Yoshiki Takaya back in 1985. It boasts plenty of action, cool creature designs and blood by the bucketful. And as a follow-up to the generally disastrous 1991 release "The Guyver", "Dark Hero" is most definitely a substantial improvement, eschewing the comedic stylings and slapstick humor that plagued that film and replacing it with darker imagery and a more violent tone. In my review of the first American film, I noted that I almost viewed the franchise as being an adult version of properties like the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"- a claim I'll stick to. And this movie delivers on that kitschy promise for the most part, despite a clunky and sometimes unsatisfying storyline.It's been one year since Sean Barker (David Hayter) bonded with the alien Guyver unit and destroyed the vile Cronos Corporation. But Sean's personal life has suffered due to these events... His relationship with Mizki has come to an end and he is plagued by haunting dreams and the blood-lust that the Guyver brings to him as he uses it to fight crime. When he learns of a recent archaeological dig that has unearthed strange remains and cave-paintings appearing to depict the same symbols he sees in his sleep, he sets off to discover the truth behind the Guyver unit- along the way encountering a beautiful scientist named Cori (Kathy Christopherson) and learning that his Zoanoid enemies are still out there... waiting to strike back.What makes this film work in comparison to the previous effort is the dedication returning director Steve Wang has to craft a tale true to the darker and more adult tone of the original manga and its earlier anime adaptations. Wang clearly listened to the fan-base and its general dismissal of that 1991 original and decided to reward those who stuck around with a proper "Guyver" story. And thus, the rating has been upped to a "hard R", the action is made far more brutal and hard-hitting, and the comedic overtones have been greatly reduced, giving the entire experience a more serious flavor. While it is true that this sequel has a greatly reduced budget and was released direct-to-video in 1994... these factors really don't have all that big an impact on the final product. It's well-made, with excellent fight choreography, a wonderfully moody score and excellent effects work for the most part.I also felt the performances benefited greatly this time with the new cast. David Hayter- famous for being the former lead voice- actor in the "Metal Gear Solid" video-game franchise- makes for a very cool and troubled brooding protagonist. Sure, he's not the world's greatest on-screen actor, but he gives Sean a nice sense of pathos and also knows how to kick some serious butt. What more could you ask for? Supporting roles by the likes of Christopherson are generally well-played. And villainous roles are all adequately cast, including Bruno Patrick as a deliciously vile cretin of a baddie.All that being said... the story is nothing to write home about, and it does drag the movie down a bit. I don't know if its because of the reduced budget or because they were afraid to try doing too much, but the plot is just generic and pretty darned unsatisfying at the end of the day. We've seen stories like this, told better, a million times before. Sure, you could argue that the story was never the main focus of the franchise, but it was still vital. I used to own the entire twelve-part OVA series based on the manga, and it did quite a bit with the setting and the characters. But this movie just feels like any 90's sci-fi action schlock flick. You know what's gonna happen. You know the twists and turns that are coming from a mile away. And there's no surprises at all.It all comes down to this. "Guyver: Dark Hero" is not a great film. I don't even think you could make a compelling argument that it was even particularly good. But it is fun. It is entertaining. And it does nail the tone and the spirit of the original source material. If you're looking for the definitive adaptation of the characters and the story, you won't get that here. But if you're just looking for a halfway decent time and a pretty entertaining little film to enjoy, you could do far worse. The strong action, darker tone and halfway decent performances definitely make this one I could recommend. Especially if you're a fan of the series. And so, I give "Guyver: Dark Hero" a very enjoyable but only slightly above average 6 out of 10. Great entertainment value. So-so film.

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.

Sean Barker is still huanted by the living parasitic alien armor, the Guyver. Set a couple of years after Guyver a.k.a. Mutronics, Sean cant deal with the Guyver existing inside of him and takes his mental frustration out on the gangs of Los Angeles. One day, Sean comes across of a new report of a bear/were-wolf attack near an archeological dig in the heart of Utah, Sean travels to the site to investigate the origins of the Guyver and begins to become less alienated, anti-social and frustrated when metting his new love interest, Corrie Edwards... Unfortunatley the site becomes a battle field when the Chronos Corporation, an evil alien empire of shape shifters (the Zoaniods). Will Sean be able to save his new girlfriend, the lives of innocent people at the site, defeat Arlen Crane's team of Zoaniods and the new threat of the cross bred Guyver-Zoaniod or even discover the origins of the Guyver?Cons: *Should've been an actual cinematic film instead of a straight-to-video-film. *More Zoaniods and fight scenes.Pros: *Highly entertaining and enjoyable. *Great fight cherography and Zoaniod costumes. *A good and interesting plot. *A very original Sci-Fi, Horror, Action & Martial Arts film.Verdict: 8.5 out of 10, "An enjoyable Sci-Fi film".