Product Description

Martial arts wizard Jean-Claude Van Damme carves out a dazzling new domain as the future's most fearsome warrior in this adrenaline-charged sword and sci-fi thriller. Filled with non-stop action, Cyborg is a wild ride from start to finish – a post-apocalyptic battle against the ultimate evil. Deteriorating from social anarchy and a deadly plague, 21st Century America has descended into a seething, barbaric nightmare. Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a beautiful half-human/half-robot, has the knowledge necessary to develop a vaccine. But during her desperate quest to gather data and bring a cure to the world, Pearl is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates who plot to keep the antidote for themselves...and rule the globe! Now, only the awesome fighting skills of saber-wielding hero Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) can rescue her – and save what remains of civilization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16641 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 1997-08-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 86 minutes

Features

• Jean-Claude Van Damme, a.k.a. "the Muscles from Brussels," had only a few movies to his credit when he played the hero in this lame postapocalyptic action flick from 1989. It is really just another martial-arts movie, dressed down with near-future trash and dirty sets that have "low budget" written all over them. Van Damme plays the protective escort for a half-human, half-cyborg woman whose progr

Amazon.com
Jean-Claude Van Damme, a.k.a. "the Muscles from Brussels," had only a few movies to his credit when he played the hero in this lame postapocalyptic action flick from 1989. It's really just another martial-arts movie, dressed down with near-future trash and dirty sets that have "low budget" written all over them. Van Damme plays the protective escort for a half-human, half-cyborg woman whose programming contains a possible cure for a plague that's threatening to wipe out the entire population of Earth. But the woman is kidnapped by Van Damme's evil nemesis (is there any other kind?) while they are en route to her Atlanta headquarters. That leads Van Damme right into a lion's den of sadomasochistic torture and torment. If you've made it this far (and if you have, why?), you're probably a founding member of the Jean-Claude Van Damme fan club. To everyone else: Don't say you weren't warned--this is the kind of movie in which naming characters after electric guitars (Van Damme's character is named "Gibson Rickenbacker") qualifies as clever screenwriting. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

One of Pyun's best
I hope you will forgive me when I tell you I have a crushing headache as I write this review. Why? Because I devoted several hours of this sunny day thinking about not one, but two, of Albert Pyun's films. Pondering the importance of "Ticker" and "Cyborg" to the cinematic world wore me out in ways I would not think possible. Pyun, if you are not familiar with his oeuvre, constructed his B movie credentials by releasing such classics as "The Sword and The Sorcerer," "Nemesis," "Mean Guns," and "Postmortem." He's a hack's hack in the hack world of zero budget schlock. Not to pound you over the head with it, but watching a Pyun film often resembles in no little way craning your head out the window to see that car accident on the freeway. Initially, you are intrigued by what you might see only to realize later how low you feel as a human being for looking at scenes of abject horror. Ok, I am exaggerating slightly. "Cyborg," the 1989 film that launched the dubious career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, is one of Pyun's better efforts. In fact, it is one of the few movies in his canon I can watch on a regular basis and not feel too badly about it the next day.

Here's another film dealing with life in a post-apocalyptic world. Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) arises from the ruins to play the part of a Good Samaritan. He tries to help survivors of a plague flee from the ruined cities to the countryside, hopefully so they can reconstruct some semblance of a normal life. Rickenbacker, as the hero, of course has an unpleasant memory of one of his missions. He tried to save a family and ended up falling in love with a woman. You don't need me to spell out what happened next. Ever since this unfortunate incident, Gibson struggles with what he should do next. When he runs into a woman named Pearl Prophet (Dale Haddon), a cyborg attempting to carry a cure for the plague back to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he must decide whether to resume the role of hero. Why not take part in helping Pearl carry the antidote? This mission could turn Rickenbacker into the savior of the world. Unfortunately for Rickenbacker and Pearl, Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn), a scary looking dude with weird eyes and a mechanical voice, and his gang of like-minded cyborgs have their own ideas. They think if they can capture Pearl and get her to Atlanta, they will control the future of the world.

When Prophet falls into the hands of Tremolo's gang, Rickenbacker decides to get her back. With the help of a mouthy young lady he picks up along the way named Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), Gibson lurches from one violent confrontation to another. Thugs fall to the ground like leaves as the two pursue Tremolo with malevolent intent. Numerous showdowns in burnt out and broken down buildings provide Pyun and Van Damme with plenty of opportunities to showcase martial arts madness. Kicks, punches, and blunt and sharp instruments-anything you can think of that will cause damage to a human or cyborg body finds a use in this movie. And for the most part Pyun carries off the action well, much better than he has in many of his other movies. You are surprised that you actually root for this guy who speaks English like he just walked off a boat. Before feelings of giddiness carry you away, however, you need to reconcile yourself with a few of the cheesy aspects of the movie. Nearly all of the characters are named after musical instruments, the outfits look like the film crew robbed a New Wave band's wardrobe closet, and the dialogue tends towards the insipid. Still, "Cyborg" entertains as few Pyun films do.

"Cyborg" works largely due to the gritty, blasted urban background that the characters move through. It is here, in the ruins of civilization, where most of the action takes place. Moreover, the picture quality of the film (probably as a result of poor film stock) has a dirty look to it, which actually gives the movie a better, more realistic atmosphere. I even thought Pyun tried to inject a philosophical statement in the film (yeah, right) when we see Rickenbacker staked to that ship's mast. Is Gibson a Christ figure "rising" from the grave to help save the world? Maybe, but I'm probably reading more into "Cyborg" than the director intended. Sure, the acting could be better-lots better-and the fight scenes are a little over the top, but why else would you watch this movie? You don't expect Oscar performances and you don't get them. What you do get is an entertaining way to spend eighty plus minutes (the movie doesn't run for even an hour and a half).

The DVD version is strictly bare bones. If memory serves me correctly, the only extra on this disc was a trailer. Too bad, but a bit surprising considering this is officially a cult classic. It's interesting to note that none other than Cannon, the company that released TONS of low budget action flicks in the 1980s, helped fund this effort. Charles Bronson benefited from Cannon's attentions back then, so why not Van Damme? I recommend "Cyborg" not only to fans of action films, but even to fans of science fiction since the movie takes a stab at incorporating both elements under one umbrella. Is it intelligent cinema? Nope, but who says it needs to be?

Classic
Restore it? Why?!
I like the death
I like the MISERY
I LIKE THIS WOOORRRRRRRLLLLLDDD!!!

this movie rocks!.. it has some AWESOME fight scenes, really well done. They may not be overly skillful (i don't even think Van Damme is an overly skillful martial artist unlike Jet Li, Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee) But he has the ability to make his fight scenes just "look" so damn cool!

There are so many "cool" moments in this film
eg.
-Van Damme does the splits between 2 walls and waits for one of the pirates to walk under him, before killing him with his kickass knife

-Van Damme and one of the pirates eye each other off from a distance in a factory.. then run full pelt at each other screaming, then engage in an awesome knife fight (cool use of slow-mo too)

-the first appearance of Van Damme in the film is basically just a shot of his leg out of nowhere executing an awesome roundhouse kick to the face of the bad guys (soo cool)

and so many more quality scenes

blade-wielding classic
the more i see this movie,the more i enjoy it.its one of those movies that never get old.
canniballistic pirates,sword-slinging heroes,and one info-gathering cyborg.all set in a mad-max like future.
the villain (fender) is as original as they come,covering his insanely white eyes behind a mask of silver-lenses.resoundingly demonic as he curses at everyone he meets,and occasionally stopping to philosophise on the world or rant out morbid comedy.
the hero on the other hand is hellbent on destroying fender at any price after costing him his family.he couldn't care less about what is going on in the outside world,what with an apparent plague sweeping it.he just wants to rip open his arch-nemesis.and with the many styles of blades in this barbaric thrill-ride,there are various ways to do it.
more steel than bullets in this film,for the true weapons-afficianado,and loads of martial arts kicking whoop-ass,since its essentially the"Dammage's"movie.
yes,its a western,an eastern,and medieval as all getout.
not many action/fantasy movies take place on the shores of the east coast,and since i live close to that area,it makes this film all the more enjoyable.if you are into post nuclear wasteland warrior movies,like steeldawn,or beowulf,you will enjoy this.