{"id":4115,"date":"2012-08-20T12:58:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T18:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4115"},"modified":"2012-08-20T12:58:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T18:58:00","slug":"the-guyver-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4115","title":{"rendered":"The Guyver"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Guyver (released in Europe as Mutronics) is a 1991 American Science fiction Tokusatsu film loosely based on the Manga Anime series of the same name. The film tells of a young man, Sean Barker who discovers an alien artifact called The Unit which manifests Barker into a alien-hybrid super soldier called The Guyver. Barker learns that a major corporation called Kronos is after The Guyver Unit and soon discovers that the people behind Kronos are not human after all. The film was met with a mixed to negative reaction from critics and fans. A sequel was followed in 1994 called Guyver: Dark Hero, which was received more favorably than its predecessor.<\/p>\n

CIA agent Max Reed (Mark Hamill) witnesses Dr. Tetsu Segawa\u2014a researcher for the mysterious Kronos Corporation\u2014being murdered. Dr. Segawa had stolen an alien device known as \u201cthe Guyver\u201d from Kronos. College student Sean Barker, whose girlfriend\u2019s father was Dr. Segawa, finds the Guyver\u2019s hiding spot while watching the forensic team investigating the crime scene. Through further events, the Guyver fuses with Sean and causes him to be covered in a suit of bio-armor. The president of Kronos, Fulton Balcus (David Gale), wants the Guyver back and sends his mutant henchmen, the Zoanoids, led by Lisker (Michael Berryman), to steal it back.<\/p>\n

Glenn Kenny of Entertainment Weekly said the film features \u201csurprisingly convincing costumes and effects, inspired casting, and energetic direction, [but] what sinks it is its unfortunate adherence to the time-honored direct-to-video clich\u00e9s: an unearned paycheck for a onetime A-picture star, and a tendency to fall back on lame humor whenever the going gets slow.\u201d David Johnson of DVD Verdict criticized the film\u2019s \u201cham-fisted over-acting,\u201d \u201cludicrous plot contrivances,\u201d and \u201cnauseatingly hokey soundtrack.\u201d Johnson called the film \u201ca big, dumb joke,\u201d saying: \u201cDespite some good creature effects, the movie crashed and burned and crashed again, weighted down by preposterous acting [and] corny music.\u201d Nathan Shumate of Cold Fusion Video Reviews criticized the film, in particular \u201cthe annoying demeanor and lack of personality\u201d of lead actor Jack Armstrong, adding: \u201cIf there ever was a movie made for fan appreciation only, this is it, […] but not everything can be blamed on audience unfamiliarity; there are plenty of elements in this movie that don\u2019t work even by fanboy standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film generated enough interest for a sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero, with Armstrong replaced by David Hayter in the role of Sean, which was more well-received critically than its predecessor.