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CYBORG 2

Directed by Michael Schroeder, a protégé of DEATH RACE 2000 director Paul Bartel, CYBORG 2 is a solid action film with some surprisingly effective visual effects on display to envision the film's industrialized future setting. There's also solid acting work from veterans like Jack Palance and Allen Garfield and Billy Drago, as well as newcomer at the time Elias Koteas and, of course, La Jolie. So, how is Hollywood's "Bad Girl" du jour in her (adult) film debut? Well, she's great, but she wasn't exactly an adult. Despite the killer body and topless sex scene on display here, she was only sixteen when she filmed CYBORG 2, but the acting chops that have recently won her a slew of awards were more than in evidence herein.

The story involves two employees of Pinwheel Robotics: cyborg Cassela "Cash" Reese (Jolie) and her hand-to-hand combat trainer, Colson "Colt" Ricks (Koteas), who learn that Cash's body is filled with a liquid explosive in order to utilize her as an assassin against their chief competitor. It seems that Colt has developed a liking for Cash and the feeling may be becoming mutual, so with the assistance of a mysterious entity known as Mercy (Palance) - who contacts and observes them through TVs, monitors and security cameras - they escape. On their tail, two very eccentric bounty hunters (Drago and Karen Shepherd) with a grudge against each other exceeded only by their sadistic love of the hunt.

Schroeder fills the film with the requisite action, including a neat fight to the death beside the spinning propellers of a battleship, but his heart is in the love story of a man and his artificial love, who may be the most human character in the film. The action demands of the film's genre leave little time to develop a relationship between Cash and Colt. Instead, Schroeder cleverly delivers much of that element by reflecting their developing love through the undying love Mercy feels for his cyborg wife, who was created by Pinwheel and killed by cyborg tracker Drago. Palance has little screen time, but he dominates every moment with both a power and emotion that helps propel the story of the film's two lovers. In fact, every performance in the film is on the money - rare for this type of film.

CYBORG 2 is a "name only" sequel, having no real connection to the Jean-Claude Van Damme effort from director Albert Pyun. That film was all action and sadism with no plot or characters, but it was successful enough that the producers of Schroeder's film dropped their original title GLASS SHADOW and incorporated a few glimpses of footage from the Van Damme film in order to qualify for sequel status.

It's totally beyond me why Trimark has re-released this film as a budget DVD instead of adding a Schroeder commentary and a big sticker pointing out the presence of Jolie. Many other companies have promoted films featuring a later star in a small co-starring role quite heavily, but Trimark could do so legitimately since Jolie is indeed this film's female lead - and Schroeder hasn't had much of a career since, so I'm sure he'd be available for a commentary. However, their incompetent marketing is to your gain, so grab up a copy of CYBORG 2, or at least rent it at Netflix, and check out Jolie, Palance, Drago and more in a film that's much better than anyone had any right to expect.