Director: Steve Wang
Story: Steve Wang
Screenplay: Nathan Long
Based on the manga by: Yoshiki Takaya
Starring: David Hayter, Kathy Christopherson, Bruno Patrick, Christopher Michael, Stuart Weiss
Country: United States
Running Time: 123 minutes
Year: 1994
BBFC Certificate: 15
One year after inheriting the mysterious Guyver, a bio armour of alien origin which fuses with its host to create a deadly bio-mechanical weapon, Sean Barker is using his newfound powers to fight crime while also hunting for the truth behind the creators of the Guyver unit. While working at an archeological dig, Sean uncovers a mysterious ship which may finally give him the answers he’s looking for, but he’s not alone – he must use the Guyver to battle his old enemies, the evil Cronos Corporation, and their monstrous human hybrids, the Zoanoids.
Back in the mid 90’s, when anime was finally coming to UK shores in a serious way thanks to the efforts of the Manga Entertainment VHS label, one of the more popular releases was of the OVA (Original Video Animation) adaptation of the 1984 manga series Bio Booster Armour Guyver. Released across 12 VHS tapes, The Guyver: Bio Booster Armour introduced viewers to Sho Fukumachi, a Japanese school boy who inherited the bio weapon, Guyver, an armour that gave him powers beyond any human, in his battles against the evil Cronos Corporation and the shapeshifting Zoanoids. It was an instant hit and remains a fantastic watch to this day.
Unbeknown to UK viewers (of which I was one!), The Guyver had already had two adaptations by the time it arrived on the shelves of Our Price stores – the first, a film called The Guyver was produced by Brian Yuzna in 1991 and was quietly released straight to video in the UK under the name Mutronics. A much sillier, PG-13 rated film, this eschewed the violence of the manga and anime in favour of a lighter tone intended to tap into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze. Directed by Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, it’s not a terrible film but it’s a far cry from the more serious, violent and action heavy tone of the source material and it’s not surprising that it largely went ignored until Arrow Video put out a decent enough remaster in 2017. The live action version that most fans do remember, however, is Wang’s own 1994 follow up, Guyver: Dark Hero, which was also given a VHS release by Manga Video around the time they finished releasing the OVA series.
As a fan of the original Guyver series, Steve Wang was never happy with the tone of his first film and when the opportunity to direct a sequel came up, he set out to make it much closer to the tone of the manga and anime. Gone was the PG-13 rating, in favour of all the violence and bad language that came with an R rating, but also gone was the budget of the first film. In place of a meagre $3 million budget, Wang was instead offered an even more meagre $800,000 budget on which to shoot his film. Rising to the challenge, Wang worked with what he had and created a movie that, while not being a work of art, is a more than entertaining slice of 90’s B-Movie fun.
What is noticeably immediately gone from the Yuzna production is the cast of recognisable actors. Gone are the likes of Mark Hamill, Michael Berryman and David Gale, replaced with a cast of mostly unknowns. Indeed, the only actor in the cast of Dark Hero that will be recognisable to most viewers is David Hayter in the role of Sean. As well as having a writing credit on the first two X-Men movies, Hayter is mostly known for his voice acting work, particularly as the gruff voice of Solid Snake, the lead character in the Metal Gear Solid videogame series. The rest of the cast are merely fine, delivering earnest if not entirely standout, performances with the material they have.
Where the film really shines, however, is in its practical effects and costumes. Rewatching the original film in the run up to this review, it’s clear that Wang reuses some of the Zoanoid monster costumes from the first run which is no bad thing – they look great and seem to have been enhanced here with some better facial articulation. Where Wang really puts the budget, though, is into the redesigned Guyver suit. While the suit in the original felt too bulky and cumbersome, the Dark Hero suit is almost like for like with its anime counterpart, looking more like a sleek bio weapon than a clumsy prop. This has everything you’d expect from extendable elbow blades to head mounted laser canons and even the series iconic “mega smasher”, a dual canon that is hidden inside the armour’s chest plate. The story even manages to tap more into the body horror of the anime, exploring how merging with the Guyver was more of a curse than a blessing for Sean. It’s fantastic and possibly one of the most “comics accurate” representations of any live action anime adaptation.
The film also has some wonderfully kinetic fight scenes, choreographed by a professional Hong Kong stunt team and utilising plenty of wirework, it goes to great lengths to recreate a number of iconic shots from the anime, from The Guyver leaping high into the air for an attack, to camera angles that accentuate certain impacts. It looks fantastic and is accompanied by plenty of splashy practical gore that only adds to the feeling that you’re watching a more adult Tokusatsu film. While most of the effects are practical here, Wang does use a little bit of CGI, mainly for Sean’s transformations into The Guyver, but it’s used sparingly and doesn’t look as naff as most CGI from the era.
The version of the film presented here is the 2hr extended cut which includes, in addition to some violence that was removed from the initial release, some longer dialogue scenes in the first half of the film. These don’t really add to the film and only really serve to add easter eggs for viewers who have seen the first movie (which isn’t essential viewing for Dark Hero) with some dialogue even repeated to a degree in later scenes. It’s a shame as it can make the first half of the film drag, but once you hit the second hour the action comes pretty consistently and it’s an absolute blast.
Guyver: Dark Hero really is a love letter to an anime series that seems largely forgotten. A true 90’s pizza night B-Movie that’s as entertaining today as it was back then, here’s hoping that this new release from Toy Robot can drum up some interest for a series revival.
Bonus Features
- Original 1994 version of the film
- New “enhanced” edition of the film
- Three new audio commentaries including one with director Steve Wang
- New interviews with producer/director Steve Wang, actors David Hayter, Kathy Christopherson, Screenwriter Nathan Long, Composer Les Claypool III and other members of the cast and crew
- Behind-the-Scenes footage from the original shoot
- Trailers
- Photo Galleries including sketches
For a new label, Toy Robot has delivered a stellar package with one of its first releases. The presentation is solid from the outset with some great box artwork and postcards (which we sadly didn’t get to see) and popping the disc in immediately gives you a vintage trailer – in this instance, for the 1987 Masters of the Universe which is receiving a 4K release from Toy Robot later this year.
The collection is stacked with some fascinating content, from genuinely interesting commentaries and interviews which are presented almost as mini documentaries, mixing in behind the scenes footage in with the talking heads. The insight you get into the production is excellent, particularly from Wang who reflects on having to work with the films relatively tiny budget and the concessions he made from the outset to be able to deliver the film he wanted.
Also presented are two versions of the film – a warts and all original version which basically reproduces the older DVD release in all its grainy glory, as well as an “enhanced” edition which is sure to cause some controversy. Overseen by Wang, this version of the film uses AI to upscale the image, removing grain and generally giving a somewhat clearer picture, but as with all AI upscaling techniques, this comes at a cost of an image that often looks overly smooth and at times unnatural; this is particularly apparent in some shots which lose fine detail. Your mileage will absolutely vary on whether you agree or accept this but thankfully with the inclusion of the original version, fans have the choice of how they watch the film and the bonus features more than make up for it with the detail they go into.