{"id":11763,"date":"2014-07-16T22:21:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T04:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11763"},"modified":"2014-07-16T22:21:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T04:21:26","slug":"albert-pyun-loves-cyborgs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11763","title":{"rendered":"Albert Pyun Loves Cyborgs"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a career spanning over 30 years, Hawaiian director Albert Pyun has worked in just about every genre, and forged a reputation as a modern era answer to Ed Wood. Pyun\u2019s career has pretty much entirely taken place in B movies. Almost fifty films ranging from low budget, to virtually no budget. His passion for movie-making is immense and he still works to this day, even through ill-health.<\/p>\n

Pyun broke through in the early 80\u2019s with fantasy epic, The Sword and The Sorcerer<\/strong>, which alongside Conan The Barbarian<\/strong>, played it\u2019s part in re-popularising the sword and sorcery genre throughout the 80\u2019s. He followed that with a string of often strange, cult films (Radioactive Dreams<\/strong> being a stand out). Pyun was also at the helm of an unsuccessful Captain America<\/strong> film back in the days when Marvel film adaptations were about as successful as the current England football team.<\/p>\n

Pyun regularly oversees his films with a strong visual eye. Even if the end product sometimes feels like a jumbled mess, there\u2019s often visual style and plenty of kinetic energy. Though critical acclaim has often eluded him, his choice of projects don\u2019t often lend themselves to that response. He\u2019s done fight films, he\u2019s done creature features, and a number of out there ideas. He has certainly produced some original features in his time, as well as a large number that evoke the B-pictures he undoubtedly grew up watching. He persistently shows a willingness to experiment, to try new things. In 2005 he shot Infection<\/strong>, a film that takes place in one long continuous take (from the dash cam on a police car). This was a brave act that he would repeat in the recently completed, The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper<\/strong>, which takes place in one take and entirely in an interrogation room. If there\u2019s one thing Pyun can never be accused of it\u2019s predictability.<\/p>\n

So, what of Pyun\u2019s fascination with cyborgs? Well, whether or not he genuinely has a fascination with cyborgs, I don\u2019t know, but his back catalogue would suggest so. He\u2019s made a number of films about, or featuring, cyborgs, starting off with Cyborg<\/strong>. It\u2019s been something Pyun has revisited many times since. With that in mind I look at three of Pyun\u2019s films featuring cyborgs. Let the fun begin\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cyborg<\/strong> (1989)<\/p>\n

Having gained some popularity after the success of Bloodsport, Jean Claude Van Damme found himself headlining one of a slew of Mad Max<\/strong> inspired post apocalyptic action films which littered video stores in the late 80\u2019s. Cyborg<\/strong> has often been rumoured to have been the afterbirth of a failed Masters of the Universe<\/strong> sequel which never got off the ground. In part that is true. Pyun was hired by Cannon to direct a sequel to Masters<\/strong>, minus Dolph Lundgren and with Surfer Laird Hamilton set to don He-Man\u2019s loin cloth instead.<\/p>\n

At this point in Cannons history, they were falling apart following the joint failure in 1987 of Masters of the Universe<\/strong> and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace<\/strong>. Indeed Cyborg<\/strong> would mark their final theatrical release, and not long after, the company died. In the end it was decided not to pursue the Masters sequel, nor a mooted Spider-Man<\/strong> film (which Pyun was also attached to) but by this point a lot of sets and costumes had already been made for both. Some of these sets and costumes were then recycled and used for Cyborg<\/strong>, an idea Pyun quickly came up with following the demise of the two projects he was due to work on.<\/p>\n

Van Damme stars as Gibson Rickenbacker, a drifter tortured by the memory of his lover and her son being killed by a gang of scavenging pirates, who also left Gibson for dead. Gibson now wonders the wastelands of a plague riddled post apocalyptic wasteland working as a hired bodyguard for those looking to travel the wastelands. He\u2019s approached by a cyborg named Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), who carries the cure for the plague in her memory, and needs transporting to Atlanta. However she\u2019s soon captured by the Pirates who want to own the cure and the power that will come with that. Gibson joins forces with another drifter (Deborah Richter) to track the pirates and retrieve Pearl.<\/p>\n

Cyborg