Although there have been countless movies based off western comic books, there haven’t been many movies made based off Japanese manga and anime.There has been a few movies that Hollywood has made based off of it such Speed Racer(2008) and Dragonball Evolution. Both of these movies were received very poorly and were quickly forgotten. And while there is one or two other movies that Hollywood had made based off anime and manga. Guyver Dark Hero is actually a movie based off a somewhat overlooked series. This movie came out around a time before anime had gained a major following in the west. This movie came out in 1994 which was before popular series such as Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and Naruto had come to the U.S.
So it’s surprising to see that they made the two live action Guyver movies during this time. The first movie simply titled The Guyver was released in 1991 and while it had a lot of similarities to the source material but it was still very inferrer to it. With it’s silly tone, sloppy fight choreography, and hammy acting. Surprisingly the movies cast does feature Mark Hamel and no sadly he does not play The Guyver himself. It received negative reviews saw little success during its limited theatrical release. The second movie Guyver Dark Hero(also known as The Guyver 2) was only released on video but saw much more positive reception and has gained a cult following.
The Guyver is an alien suit with powers that it wore by the main character Sean who uses the suit and its powers to fight against an alien race known as the Zoanoids. They can disguise themselves as humans and run a company know as Kronos Corporation, the Zoanoids are secretly of course trying to take over the world and the Guyver suit presents threat to them and their plan of domination.
The Guyver Dark Hero see’s the main character from the last Sean having strange visions which eventually leads him to cave that is being excavated by archaeologist. Once there Sean encounters more of the Zoanoids aliens and is trying to get answers of the visions and about the Guyver suit. The film presents well choreographed fights with the Guyver suit being able to pull a lot stunts. Although there was one seen in the film where zoanoids were fighting and it felt like they were sort of just swatting at the air.
The Guyver suit itself is very cool looking with a lot of detail put into it, the other suits for the Zoanoids look good as well. The acting is also much better than in the first movie as David Hayter plays the role of The Guyver this time around. If you don’t know who he is you might know as the man used to voice SOILD SNAKE!
Yep! Solid Snake from the video game series Metal Gear Solid is in this movie or at least the the man that used to voice him after in Metal Gear Solid V:Ground Zero’s and Metal Gear Solid V:The Phantom Pain they changed Snake’s voice actor.
The plot is well…ok I didn’t really get all that invested in the story and their are parts of the film where it drags for a bit. The story isn’t awful or anything I just think that it could have been more captivating. Also most of the movie takes place at the dig site which you probably get sick of seeing quickly as staying in the one single setting for this kind of movie makes feel like it just dragging along and decreases its entertainment value. And thats the main problem of this movie it just wasn’t as entering or fun as it should have been. There is cool action in it though, and its definitely not a snooze fest.
Overall Guyver:Dark Hero that could have been better but is worth seeing if your into cheesy monster movies or if your a fan of the Guyver anime or manga.
Score:5/10
Inside the Film 