DanTheMan 2
"The cruel fact was that human beings were unnecessary. On July 4th in the year 2025, Kyron declared war on the world..."
Theatrical Cut
Given that Japan is the spiritual home of the robot, it does make me wonder why it took them nearly five years to make something derivative of James Cameron's The Terminator, which director Masato Harada even acknowledged the influence of. Although you can feel that Terminator influence from the get-go, GUNHED actually takes more of its hallmarks and structure from Cameron's other beloved science fiction film of the 80s, Aliens. Cameron even later acknowledged this film in interviews stating that it was one of his favourite B-movies, I love that, Big Jim keeps winning.
During the year 2005, the Cybortech Company built one of the most advanced robotics development facilities upon a small Asian island simply called 8JO. Controlled by a highly advanced A.I. system, Kyron-5, the A.I. autonomously ran the island for 20 years until it come to realize humanity wasn't needed and began to use its own technologies to rebel against humanity; the great robot war began. To quell Kyron-5's insurrection, the allied powers dispatched a GUNHED battalion in an attempt to stop Kyron-5; however, it was being protected by a powerful guardian, Aerobot. The battalion was defeated and all of its remains were thrown in a scrap yard. The conflict never had a clear victor, but the world allies chose to leave 8JO alone, it would be 13 years later for anyone to discover Kyron-5's survival and true intentions.
It might have started out in life as the original script for what would later evolve into the second entry in Godzilla's Heisei run, Godzilla vs. Biollante, released later the same year, GUNHED does feel like it's fallen short in a lot of fronts. Although conceptually brilliant, bringing to life what a Metal Gear Solid movie could eventually end up like if it were written by Hideo Kojima with the look and designs of James Cameron and H R Giger. The problem is that almost everything about GUNHED feels so standard and somewhat safe, that if the story had been nearly as good as its production aspects, you could guarantee this getting a lot of cult western home media releases.
I've already said that director Masato Harada is open about his influences and the look of the film definitely comes across like it was shadow-directed by Big Jim Cameron himself. The cool blues, intense steel industrialisation and grim nightmarish images of humanity's future, all of it scream Cameron and Harada does a decent enough job emulating this style with his own twists. The problem stems from the editing ranging from relatively okay to downright awful and the story getting completely lost the further it goes on. Although I will note the rather charming aspects like the use of baseball terminology to relate to our protagonist, characters speaking different languages to one another and nearly every character of the crew of the Mary Ann all having names beginning with the letter B.
That being said, however, a lot of the saving graces of this film are its designs and visuals. This is easily one of Koichi Kawakita's best special effects efforts, the model work is simply to die for and executed to the highest standard as expected of the man behind practically all of the Heisei Godzilla series. Kawakita is given the rare opportunity to develop life-size models of the two fictional characters in the story: GUNHED and the Aerobot. These models, like the mechs themselves, are huge in terms of scale, and allow for some very impressive scenes featuring them.
What makes the special effects cohesive, though, is the even more impressive sets decorated by Kazo Suzuki. Having to craft numerous sets for the backdrop of the large futuristic island, Suzuki remains consistent in terms of attention to detail, allowing for each to be credible. His most impressive work in the film, when combined with the special effects of Kawakita, would be the gun sentry littered oil field that GUNHED must pass through.
The acting in GUNHED is one of the weaker aspects if I'm honest, the standouts are only really contained to the respectable voice acting from Randy Reyes as the titular robot and Michael Yancy as this movie's more than welcomed narrator. The rest of the cast doesn't turn in very good performances despite a few decent efforts from the likes of Masahiro Takashima as this movie's protagonist, Brooklyn. Brenda Bakke is cute and intimidating at times as Sergeant Nim, but her acting in the film leaves a lot to be desired. In her defence, this might have been because of the language barrier between her and the crew, like other American actors before her in Toho films she spoke her lines in English. The two children, Seven and Eleven, the pun is never elaborated on, are none too memorable either.
The other major saving grace of this film for me is the soundtrack work by Toshiyuki Honda. Although, a very contemporary score for the time and admittedly dated in a few areas, I don't care one bit as I love most 80s scores and I can very easily see myself listening to Honda's work on this film in my spare time. The main theme while overused is a good one but needed some moderation but the whole thing within the context of the film is exceedingly pleasant to listen to.
Overall, GUNHED, despite all its problems, remains a unique little gem of Toho's library that could have only ever been made in the 80s. It's a film that is in dire need of a re-edit but as it stands is a certified cult classic that any tokusatsu enjoyer owes themselves to view at least once.
"Odds don't mean anything when humans want something bad enough."
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
08/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
While certainly derailed by lengthy exposition, terrible editing, and an awful English dub, this film's ambitious special effects, cool production design, and atmospheric soundtrack give it just enough charm to be worthy of a cult following.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A typically bad story from this Japanese science fiction film is made easier to swallow because of the very cool production design and model work. Though live action, the usual nonsensical science, plot, and characters that you would find in your average anime/manga get in the way of what seems like a genuinely cool setting. Too bad this effort hadn't been accompanied by a good script. I don't care much for giant robots, and transforming ones even less. But this was still worth a watch, if for no other reason than the sets and models. And at least the characters didn't just scream each others names for the last half hour. So that's a plus.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I can't adequately comment on this movie, because I have NO idea what was going on.There's no character, no plot, nothing! It was a bunch of Japanese people doing stupid things that confuse the hell out of you! In fact, the only good thing about it is that it isn't Transformers 2!
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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Audience Member
Unfortunately it was just terrible, and not terribly hilarious.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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Audience Member
eh its ok , coulda had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more robots! manga live action?! i couldnt resist!! interesting characters! great terminater -aliens -blue smoky -80's atmosphere!!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
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