My Cultural Diet

First off, I did enjoy the tokusatsu action on display here, what with all of the creature suits and practical effects. This is 1991 we’re talking about, so advanced CGI was still in its infancy and really only accessible to big budget blockbusters (e.g., James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was also released in 1991). The creature suits, while certainly cheesy, were kind of refreshing to see (though the racial and sexual stereotypes displayed on some of the suits have not aged well at all). Unfortunately — and I know this will seem obvious about a film featuring people in alien creature suits battling each other with martial arts — The Guyver is just way too slight and silly. Be it the Keystone Cop routines, Jimmie Walker’s (of Good Times fame) rapping, the chintzy soundtrack, or the godawful dialog, this is prime “Grade A” MST3K fare. Or at least it should have been. David Gale clearly had a blast chewing up the scenery as the main baddie, and Mark Hamill tried to give his CIA agent character some hard-boiled dignity, but their efforts are largely wasted. Fortunately, director Steve Wang would go on to make the much more enjoyable Drive, starring Mark Dacascos, in 1997.

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