From IMDb trivia: "Albert Pyun's original cut of "Cyborg" was a two hour, black-and-white, rock opera that was much darker and more violent. Jean-Claude Van Damme's dialogue, including extensive narration, was dubbed by another actor. Cannon held a test screening of that version for an audience of 100. Of the 100 surveyors, 99 of them said they hated the film. As a result, Pyun was kicked out of post production. Van Damme convinced Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus to give him and his producer friend, Sheldon Lettich, two months to re-edit the film (as he previously done with "Bloodsport") and make it more commercial. This also started a trend where several of Pyun's later films were taken away from him and re-cut by the studio." Poor Pyun.
@@AkujinGGa rock opera suggests a musical/singing/songs. It wasn't. It was operatic. As in melodramatic and big. In the way that Star Wars is a "space opera". And it utilized a hard rock musical score/soundtrack.
😂😂😂😂😂😂 The Coke in the 1980s may have gave us 2 things.. Amazingly insanity of a movie or a shockingly turd of a movie 😂😂😂.. Pablo Escobar gave the World that quality coke which could have made you or break you..
Kill bill was told in flashbacks(sort of), once upon a time in America was told in flashbacks(not the studio cut, that was awful), Goodfellas was told in flashbacks. So good movies told in flashbacks can be done.
I must've rented this movie at least a dozen times when I was kid. It is the greatest Van Damme movie ever made (besides Timecop). This is one of those films you need to watch a few times to fully appreciate what's actually going on because there's multiple hidden plotlines within this epic masterpiece that you guys weren't picking up on (except for Erin, she gets it).
To appreciate this movie it is necessary a bit of backstory to it: Cannon films was in bad shape and, after cancelling another 2 movies, Pyun made up this thing in a single weekend in order to film Cyborg using the assets left over. After filming the "final" result was so bad, Cannon allowed JCVD to make his own edit to try to save it, focusing on the fighting and cutting story. They end up releasing JCVD's cut.
I feel like Cyborg is the kind of movie you had to see as a kid for nostalgia value. I love it because I did, but if I was only discovering it today I would probably think it was sh1t.
I agree with this! I still remember renting this to watch at my dad’s and it was a big deal! It was an older JCVD movie and I had not watched it yet! This was cool and exciting back then! I can see how people of today would probably expect more, and I’m sure it’s even hokey! But I hunted down the company that made those guys sunglasses and bought me a pair 🤣. I still have them too!
I still love it. And that sound effect is part of the score. That's why you hear it so much. Pearl was sent to retrieve data and return to Atlanta so they could cure the plague. Fender was escorting her to gain access to the facility in Atlanta, take it over and control the cure or just loot the rich folk. Both were lying, Pearl planning to double cross Fender and him likewise. Gibbs was purely out for revenge against Fender for killing his girlfriend and her brother and abducting the little sister. Lil miss hidden tits was tagging along for idealistic reasons. And to provide dialogue so JC could keep his talking to a minimum.
Fun fact. The bad guys voice was completely dubbed over by Branscombe Richmond who was in Seagals Hard to kill and also played The Rocks brother at the beginning of the scorpion king. Done alot of other stuff too. The reason for it was the bad guys real voice was too "high and feminine" according to Sheldon Lettich (bloodsport, lionheart writer) the editor of the film, when they tested the movie the audience was laughing at him.
Thanks! According to IMDB this film used discarded props from the He-Man sequel and Spider-Man film Cannon had to not make because they were broke… it’s listed as the last cannon film.
This is a straight up guilty pleasure!!! Canon films ran into trouble, not only with the masters of the universe sequel, but also the amazing Spider-Man movie. $$$$ was already spent on costumes and set designs for both films. Pyun was brought in to write a movie that could incorporate those elements in a very quick amount of time. Van Damme was under contract, so he had to make this film. Delving into the crazy backstory behind this movie makes you appreciate it that much more.
Cannon bought the rights to Spiderman but never started production on anything. Same with a Masters of the Universe sequel. Masters of the Universe, Superman IV, and Over the Top were the over-priced disasters that were the primary drivers to bankrupting Cannon Film Group. As far as I understand it, they couldn't scale up to larger budgeted films. They were blind to the costs and didn't understand US culture. They paid an unheard of amount of money to get Stallone to make Over the Top, which they thought would be their "Rocky". Part of their agreement with Stallone was that they would make Cobra, which they really really didn't want to make (there is a whole story about how Stallone got fired from Beverly Hills Cop because he kept trying to turn it into his Cobra movie). Cobra (the movie they hated and didn't want to make) was the highest grossing movie in the history of Cannon, by a large margin. Hell, at one point Cannon owned the rights to thousands of films, yet never did anything with any of them. No matter how big they got their focus was only to make weird knock offs of popular films while trying to maintain worn out franchises with their two prime stars, Chuck and Charles. When the founders split the first things they made, separately, was two competing Lambada movies. crookedmarquee.com/lambada-movie-forbidden-dance-30th-anniversary/
@@MichaelTotin It should also be mentioned that WB gave Cannon $40 million to cover the budget of *Superman IV,* only for Cannon to spend $23 million of that across several other projects and leave *Superman IV* with only $17 to work with (and eventually cut 45 minutes from the film following bad test screenings). And because Cannon cooked the books, nobody knows exactly what all the missing *Superman IV* budget money was spent on. *Masters of the Universe* was said to be one of the films that benefitted from the missing *Superman* money, but it was wrongly accused of being funded with ALL that missing money when in reality it was suffering cash shortages and production shutdowns of its own (and its filmmakers were led to believe Cannon was making Mattel pay for the movie in full, which Mattel later disputed). The Nostalgia Critic likened Golan-Globus to Uwe Boll for the way they'd pilfer other movies' budgets to pay for other projects, and I don't think he was wrong in that respect.
I haven't read all the comments so I don't know if anyone's mentioned this but "Godfather 2" was essentially a prequel. It can be watch as it's one movie but it technically told the story of Michael and Vito Corleone.
Pyun originally wanted Chuck Norris for the lead role, but Cannon had recently acquired JCVD and wanted him for the role, so Pyun cut back on the dialogue since JC was still iffy with his English. Others have mentioned the Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man connections. Pyun was working on the MOTU sequel and it would have involved Skeletor coming to our world in disguise and becoming an evil businessman selling advanced weapons and plotting to take over Earth. Dolph wasn't returning as He-Man, so Pyun hired surfer Laird Hamilton to replace him. Laird brought his surfer buddy Vincent Klyn to the He-Man audition/meeting and Pyun ended up hiring Klyn as the main villain for Cyborg.
Saw CYBORG in theaters when I worked there in 1989. Still holds up as a fun genre hybrid with better-than-expected production values for a low-budget affair. If you haven't screened it yet, check out Albert Pyun's (RIP) 1982 opus THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER. You'll thank me...
The "Stupid Horror Sound" is made by an instrument called the Waterphone. This sample was particularly popular and common in film and music in the 80's.
I unironically love this movie and have seen it countless times. The fight scenes are awesome and the story is totally comprehensible. I don't even see how somebody could possibly be confused by it. And I disagree that it's nostalgia glasses and that you had to be a 10 year old boy in 1989 to get this movie or enjoy it today. It's just a legitimately great movie that succeeds both as one of the better entries into the post apocalyptic genre and as a kung fu movie (and the successful combination of the two was way too awesome of a formula to have been used as seldom as it was). And for how low budget it was, it looks fantastic and punches way above its weight. And I like the horror movie sound effect. In fact, I think that's a cool stylistic touch to put it in a film that isn't a horror film. The flashbacks are totally coherent and work just on the level of dramatic logic. Gibson is a Shane style strong and silent character, an archetype from a western. He barely speaks in most of the movie, yet as a character he's way more memorable than what you'll find in 90% of films of this kind in that era or even today, and that's due totally to the way the flashbacks were done combined with JCVD's performance. I'd even argue his performance in this movie is superior to almost every other movie he made. This is was one of his most memorable characters.
The sound that Jason keeps hearing seems to be almost identical to the sound used by Vangelis in the soundtrack to Blade Runner. Apparently a glissando on a koto (Japanese stringed instrument) and then fed through his mountain of synths for that sci-fi flavour.
Interesting thing to note: This was one of Cannon's last gasps. It was made in part to make use of sets they'd built for bigger projects that fell through LOL
Fun fact… The voice of the pirat leader "Fender Tremolo" was not hes original voice… He actually had a voice that was too high and did not fit he’s character… The voice of Fender was removed and edited with a voiceover of another actor (I forgot he’s name)…👌🏼👍🏼
Seeing this in the theater with my dad back in the day, that sewer wall kill was epic. He was contractually obligated to do the splits once in every movie.
OMG I remember watching this back in the day at the peak of JCVD's popularity. Gonna watch it this weekend as part of a nostalgia party......the other ones being Lost Boys, Repo Man and of course Big Trouble in Little China !!!! Get well soon, Erin 🙂
In my childhood i liked this movie. It is very memorable and creepy, like a sort of a horror/martial arts/post-apocalypse hybrid, and the creepy synth music is adding a lot to atmosphere. At the same time around the fall of USSR on tv there were many depressing movies about the breakdown of society and spread of criminal gangs, with lots of such scary synth music with deep bass. For example the soviet film Псы (1989) (or Hounds/Dogs, if translated to english) taking place near the drying up Aral sea with cannibal dogs attacking people, the atmosphere is very similar, or the mini-series Посредник (1990) aka Mediator, about the invasion of aliens taking over people's bodies, but is shot too slow, extending to 3 series. Also there's some semi-hidden religious element in Cyborg with crucifixion, crosses and mentions of Jesus in the background, or the main villain Fender wearing an upside down cross earing, probably meaning he is a satanist, who likes to sacrifice people. In conclusion it is a sort of a martial arts Mad Max with some inspiration from Conan the Barbarian, Terminator and Once upon a time in the West. The scene where Van Damme hides the weapons in the chest is directly copied from Mad Max 1. It seems the beat'em up video games like Double Dragon and Final Fight influenced this movie too - about having different stages with lots of weird characters and the final boss to fight. But the plot is very simplistic, though some ideas were adapted later into Universal Soldier 1, especially the last fight in the rain, near a car and the barn, where the journalist woman also seemed to have died initially like Nady in Cyborg does die. The way Fender dies implies he was a cyborg, or had some cybernetic modifications, but the movie did not have the budget to show it. And yeah, Albert Pyun was inspired by the Fist of the Northern star too.
Thanks for reviewing it, it was one of my favorite martial arts movies in the 90s, yeah now it is pretty bad, though then in comparison to a lot of low budget crap shown on tv, it seemed almost a masterpiece. So on several views more details are seen and some things were clarified later by Albert Pyun in the Slinger cut.
I'm so glad you guys did this movie! This was a staple rewatch of mine as a kid. As one of the other commenters said, if you watched this as a kid it was great, but if you watch it now as a fresh take, it doesn't really hold up. I put found it on a random streaming service a couple years back and started watching it again and I have to admit I fell asleep while trying to give it a chance to live up to my adolescent expectations. I think I enjoyed it because it was so different than its contemporaries at the time and it had a certain level of edginess that was relatively rare at the time. Thank you for suffering through this zircon in the rough
I saw this as a kid because I was a JCVD fan growing up. I didn't get what was going on though, and at the time, I thought it was because I was too young. Now I see that it really didn't make any sense.
Goodfellas did some of the best storytelling through flashbacks and The Big Lebowski had the best narration. It was Sam Elliot ffs, who wouldn't want him narrating their lives?
YES!!! My aunt and I rented it from Blockbuster when I was 11, which would have been 1992. It's low key bonkers but it's always been a fav of mine 😊 The main villain reactions/noises are pure gold and hilarious as f**k lol 😂
I was hoping you'd watch this, but sorta dreading it too. I adore this one. I actually think the sequence between the old warehouse -> Sewers -> desert -> crucifixion is legitimately badass.
Hopefully Erin is back on her feet and back in the chair for some bad movies soon. Hope you had a merry Christmas. Here’s to a great 2024 of so bad it’s good movies
@RemingtonSteel There's a famous video of the pro wrestler Vader getting his eyeball popped out by Stan Hansen. Stan hit him way too hard in the face, broke his eyesocket and the swelling pops his eye out.
Heck yes!! Love this movie, stupid but so iconic in that SBIG movie way. Fun fact. Many of the costumes used were meant to be used in the Masters of the Universe sequel. As a matter of fact, the main villains chain mail, actually was part of “Blades” costume in the 1st masters of the universe movie. Another fun fact, the main villain was the leader of the drug dealing surfer group in the original Point Break. His name was Warchild.
Also many of the sets were originally built for the Spider-Man movie that Canon was supposed to make. Both the Master’s sequel and Spider-Man were going to be filmed simultaneously, but both were canceled.
All the "AHHHHHHHrrrr!" and crazy facial expressions in that final fight scene draws laughter from me every time. Turning up the Apocalyptic Pirate Slasher Villain to twelve on the ridiculous scale. 😅 "Bring me my Rub-AHHHHHHHR duckey, matey! AHHHHHHR!"
Ah cyborg. What a wild movie. It's crazy that JCVD actually slashed one of his co-actors with a knife during the production, causing him to lose an eye. IIRC, that scene was left in the cut of the film.
During the production of the film 'Cyborg', Jackson, who played a pirate, lost his eye during filming when Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally struck his eye with a prop knife. Pinckney sued Van Damme in a North Carolina court and was awarded $485,000. The scene where he lost his eye allegedly made it into the final cut of the movie. - imdb
Never watched this back then. Van Damme looks amazing. Makes me wish they had made a Fist of the North Star movie with him as Kenshiro. I'm with Erin on this one. It's a cool movie, has high fun factor as long as you don't take it too seriously.
Its funny because that spooky jingly harp sound was then used in a bunch of kids shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps on Nickelodeon : P
Jason and his obsession over the chimes . Sounding like Brodie from Mallrats !! “That kid is Back on the escalator again!!” 😆 and yes Jason u was gone for 3 Weeks . Six episodes with out you 😂
Was that Steven SeJason I saw blocking punches during that Rocket Mortgage ad? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🙌🙌🙌 Movie related: I can’t believe Van Damme’s character was named Gibson RICKENBACKER 🤣🤣🤣
@@JasonBrant I remember renting it or watching it on cable back in the day and thinking to myself that it was one of the better Van Damme movies because it wasn't so...Van Dammy. And you're definitely right about the style, for me that puts it high on my list.
Thanks. Sound effect was glass harmonica. '87: Satch / "Circles" (Surfing with the Alien). '89: Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" & this movie. It was all the rage for a couple years. tavi.
As annoying as that overused sound effect is, what's even more annoying is having to repeat how annoyed you are every time you hear it. I can block out an annoying background sound effect like I block out the traffic noise outside but I can't block out someone repeatedly reminding me that the sound is there every 20 seconds.
What up JB. Heard about your reactions to these 'kind' of movies. First off, big fan of JCVD. i was age 9 when i saw Cyborg & Kickboxer in the year they came out and loved both. Cyborg to me was a masterful movie (I know, I know, let me explain). Good camerawork, not a lot dialogue, decent score, pretty good action, some kind of emotion/expression with the characters, good or evil. Van Damme as Gibson Rickenbacker, The Slinger (like gunslinger) literally playing off the strong, silent type was cool to me. The pirate gang were clear, cut psychopaths. The connection between hero Gibson & pirate leader, Fender made the story even better. Half a million to make, filmed in 23 days, debuted in theaters at no. 4 ($9-$10 mil) before home release. A one-shot comic book came with the home video by writer Noah Sirk and artists Mike Van Cleave/Pete Von Sholly, along with BTS and interviews (wish I kept it). There is director's cut of Cyborg. It was released in Germany, 2014 under the name, "Slinger". The standalone sequel, Cyborg 2 (1993) with Angelina Jolie, Elias Koteas and Jack Palance, Billy Drago and Karen Shephard was kinda of fun. Part 4:The Recycler (1994), i don't know much about it and it sounds like a extremely bad movie.
I remember seeing this when I was younger and just seeing the bad guy flexing with all his body and soul made be melieve the myth of Bruce Lee causing his heart to explode from flexing too hard. Like this dude was on the verge of that. He was like Anime villain charging up their attack level of flexing. Like it made my body hurt just watching it.
I thought I'd seen this but couldn't remember a single frame. (It was on a Van Damme Double Feature VHS bargain bin video in the UK in the early '90s. I think the other film must've been the more memorable one.)
17:28 "You can't see him?!" He couldn't see up because the bangs of his wig were in the way. Plus, I recognize that actor from a bunch of movies. Best of the Best 2. The Russel Crow Gladiator.
Ralf Moeller (former bodybuilder) is in there! Gets killed by the sword. I remember him being so proud that he gets acting opportunities like his role model Arnold, but in the end his "greatest" role was in Gladiator and that was it. Back to Germany after that.
Unlike others have said, i didnt see this as a kid, and only sat and watched it maybe a few years ago when i was well into my 30s. I still loved it. Shouldve been a sequel. Our lead villain is one for the ages, and the cyborg puppet looks like Michael Jackson lol.
Semantics is about the relationship between a symbol and its meaning. For example, arguing about the definition of a word is semantics. Semantics doesnt mean "unimportant" or "inconsequential".
Also, for flashback goodness,check out Bogart's "Passage to Marseille" which might include a flashback within a flashback within a flashback within a flashback.
This is the movie that got JCVD sued, he popped out one of the actors eyes with a prop knife in one of the final scenes where he did a roundhouse kick with the knife in his hand.
JVC got sued by a stuntman on this movie. JVC messed up his eye during a fight scene. At this time JVC had bad reputation of hitting the stunt team "accidentally" a lot.
I look at that silvery thing he's wearing and remember that on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" they used knitted sweaters painted silver as armor. Looks about as good.
To try it out today and unlock more features with Premium, follow my link, rocketmoney.com/jbrant
Cyborg is one of those classic movies we don't see today.
It's a good movie.
Jason the music are samples from Star Trek the motion picture and Star Trek II the Wrath of Kahn.
albert pyun needed a writter, but not as bad as zack snyder needed a writter, at least albert pyun knows what his format is
Fruck this! This movie is one of my favorites from my childhood!
This movie is a 10 outta 10. Kiss. My. Azz!!
Is there anywhere I can watch the full video of you doing the segal fight moves?
Erin wasn't feeling well, which is why she wasn't on camera. We didn't expect her to watch the whole movie, but McFlex mesmerised her.
I hope she now feels 100%!
Get well soon.
I just assumed that she exists only as a disembodied voice!
That sound effect that keeps happening needs to be your ringtone
She's good now.
From IMDb trivia: "Albert Pyun's original cut of "Cyborg" was a two hour, black-and-white, rock opera that was much darker and more violent. Jean-Claude Van Damme's dialogue, including extensive narration, was dubbed by another actor. Cannon held a test screening of that version for an audience of 100. Of the 100 surveyors, 99 of them said they hated the film. As a result, Pyun was kicked out of post production. Van Damme convinced Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus to give him and his producer friend, Sheldon Lettich, two months to re-edit the film (as he previously done with "Bloodsport") and make it more commercial. This also started a trend where several of Pyun's later films were taken away from him and re-cut by the studio."
Poor Pyun.
Lol A rock opera? I mean I've always wondered why they had guitar names like Gibson Rickenbacker and Fender Tremolo.. guess that explains it 😂
@@AkujinGGa rock opera suggests a musical/singing/songs. It wasn't. It was operatic. As in melodramatic and big. In the way that Star Wars is a "space opera". And it utilized a hard rock musical score/soundtrack.
‘If they didn’t cocaine themselves out of money!’ is an inspired line. Good work Jason 👍
Thanks!
😂😂😂😂😂😂 The Coke in the 1980s may have gave us 2 things.. Amazingly insanity of a movie or a shockingly turd of a movie 😂😂😂.. Pablo Escobar gave the World that quality coke which could have made you or break you..
Kill bill was told in flashbacks(sort of), once upon a time in America was told in flashbacks(not the studio cut, that was awful), Goodfellas was told in flashbacks. So good movies told in flashbacks can be done.
I must've rented this movie at least a dozen times when I was kid. It is the greatest Van Damme movie ever made (besides Timecop). This is one of those films you need to watch a few times to fully appreciate what's actually going on because there's multiple hidden plotlines within this epic masterpiece that you guys weren't picking up on (except for Erin, she gets it).
To appreciate this movie it is necessary a bit of backstory to it: Cannon films was in bad shape and, after cancelling another 2 movies, Pyun made up this thing in a single weekend in order to film Cyborg using the assets left over. After filming the "final" result was so bad, Cannon allowed JCVD to make his own edit to try to save it, focusing on the fighting and cutting story. They end up releasing JCVD's cut.
That would explain why the story was so shit, haha.
From what I’ve read JCVD’s edits actually made the movie more bearable. It was something like 30 mins longer, and the fights were slower.
One of the cancelled Movies was the second part of The Master of the Universe Franchise.
And the OTHER cancelled Cannon movie they took assets from was Cannon's SPIDERMAN movie lol
Plus, JCVD blinded a stunt man in one eye during this movie.
"Is there a river there?" All I can say is "Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee..."😂
It gets hotter than a hootchie cootchie
I feel like Cyborg is the kind of movie you had to see as a kid for nostalgia value. I love it because I did, but if I was only discovering it today I would probably think it was sh1t.
I agree with this! I still remember renting this to watch at my dad’s and it was a big deal! It was an older JCVD movie and I had not watched it yet! This was cool and exciting back then! I can see how people of today would probably expect more, and I’m sure it’s even hokey! But I hunted down the company that made those guys sunglasses and bought me a pair 🤣. I still have them too!
Yeah, I can see that.
it gives me cable tv as a teen nostalgia vibes
Yeah, young teen me absolutely loved this movie.
I still love it. And that sound effect is part of the score. That's why you hear it so much.
Pearl was sent to retrieve data and return to Atlanta so they could cure the plague. Fender was escorting her to gain access to the facility in Atlanta, take it over and control the cure or just loot the rich folk. Both were lying, Pearl planning to double cross Fender and him likewise.
Gibbs was purely out for revenge against Fender for killing his girlfriend and her brother and abducting the little sister. Lil miss hidden tits was tagging along for idealistic reasons. And to provide dialogue so JC could keep his talking to a minimum.
Not gonna lie, I love this movie!! One of my favorite JCVD movies!
It's straight up his best film, imo. It's either this one or Bloodsport.
"Blaaaaah!!!! Bleeeeh!!! Bwaaah!!!" while flex attacking.. epic.
Agreed, Fender was a brilliant baddie.
An underrated classic post apocalypter that has grown with age. A good b-movie!
Fun fact. The bad guys voice was completely dubbed over by Branscombe Richmond who was in Seagals Hard to kill and also played The Rocks brother at the beginning of the scorpion king. Done alot of other stuff too. The reason for it was the bad guys real voice was too "high and feminine" according to Sheldon Lettich (bloodsport, lionheart writer) the editor of the film, when they tested the movie the audience was laughing at him.
Aka Bobby Six Killer from The Renegade!
Aka the best goddamn name for a sidekick in television history!
That was Branscombe??
@@JasonBrant Yep. I've heard this story as well.
@@JasonBrant Damn right it was!
Thanks! According to IMDB this film used discarded props from the He-Man sequel and Spider-Man film Cannon had to not make because they were broke… it’s listed as the last cannon film.
That would explain the nonsensical nature of it.
This is a straight up guilty pleasure!!! Canon films ran into trouble, not only with the masters of the universe sequel, but also the amazing Spider-Man movie. $$$$ was already spent on costumes and set designs for both films. Pyun was brought in to write a movie that could incorporate those elements in a very quick amount of time. Van Damme was under contract, so he had to make this film. Delving into the crazy backstory behind this movie makes you appreciate it that much more.
That explains a lot about why this is so bad 🤣
Cannon bought the rights to Spiderman but never started production on anything. Same with a Masters of the Universe sequel. Masters of the Universe, Superman IV, and Over the Top were the over-priced disasters that were the primary drivers to bankrupting Cannon Film Group. As far as I understand it, they couldn't scale up to larger budgeted films. They were blind to the costs and didn't understand US culture. They paid an unheard of amount of money to get Stallone to make Over the Top, which they thought would be their "Rocky". Part of their agreement with Stallone was that they would make Cobra, which they really really didn't want to make (there is a whole story about how Stallone got fired from Beverly Hills Cop because he kept trying to turn it into his Cobra movie). Cobra (the movie they hated and didn't want to make) was the highest grossing movie in the history of Cannon, by a large margin.
Hell, at one point Cannon owned the rights to thousands of films, yet never did anything with any of them. No matter how big they got their focus was only to make weird knock offs of popular films while trying to maintain worn out franchises with their two prime stars, Chuck and Charles.
When the founders split the first things they made, separately, was two competing Lambada movies.
crookedmarquee.com/lambada-movie-forbidden-dance-30th-anniversary/
@@MichaelTotin It should also be mentioned that WB gave Cannon $40 million to cover the budget of *Superman IV,* only for Cannon to spend $23 million of that across several other projects and leave *Superman IV* with only $17 to work with (and eventually cut 45 minutes from the film following bad test screenings). And because Cannon cooked the books, nobody knows exactly what all the missing *Superman IV* budget money was spent on. *Masters of the Universe* was said to be one of the films that benefitted from the missing *Superman* money, but it was wrongly accused of being funded with ALL that missing money when in reality it was suffering cash shortages and production shutdowns of its own (and its filmmakers were led to believe Cannon was making Mattel pay for the movie in full, which Mattel later disputed).
The Nostalgia Critic likened Golan-Globus to Uwe Boll for the way they'd pilfer other movies' budgets to pay for other projects, and I don't think he was wrong in that respect.
I haven't read all the comments so I don't know if anyone's mentioned this but "Godfather 2" was essentially a prequel. It can be watch as it's one movie but it technically told the story of Michael and Vito Corleone.
That ad was amazing. I too, wish to walk with an air of confidence that's rarely seen in this day and age. 🤣
It takes practice, but you can do it.
All jokes aside, I think Erin is getting really honing her advertising skills
Erin did a great job on that one.
She really did 👏👏@@JasonBrant
29:24😂 That’s how I reach for my beer right before my lunch break ends.
Pyun originally wanted Chuck Norris for the lead role, but Cannon had recently acquired JCVD and wanted him for the role, so Pyun cut back on the dialogue since JC was still iffy with his English. Others have mentioned the Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man connections. Pyun was working on the MOTU sequel and it would have involved Skeletor coming to our world in disguise and becoming an evil businessman selling advanced weapons and plotting to take over Earth. Dolph wasn't returning as He-Man, so Pyun hired surfer Laird Hamilton to replace him. Laird brought his surfer buddy Vincent Klyn to the He-Man audition/meeting and Pyun ended up hiring Klyn as the main villain for Cyborg.
It seems Pyun and Klyn got along well cause Klyn had roles in Pyun's later films NEMESIS and KNIGHTS.
Saw CYBORG in theaters when I worked there in 1989. Still holds up as a fun genre hybrid with better-than-expected production values for a low-budget affair. If you haven't screened it yet, check out Albert Pyun's (RIP) 1982 opus THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER. You'll thank me...
The "Stupid Horror Sound" is made by an instrument called the Waterphone. This sample was particularly popular and common in film and music in the 80's.
Ahh, the waterphone! Thanks!
Think I heard it in the beginning OG Janie’s got a gun. Aerosmith. Thought I heard it in the Elm street movies.
It's definitely at the beginning of "Circles" by Joe Satriani.
I remember it being a staple in the 90s, everything from x files to resident evil in 1996...
I remember hearing it in Are You Afraid of the Dark and Power Rangers
I unironically love this movie and have seen it countless times. The fight scenes are awesome and the story is totally comprehensible. I don't even see how somebody could possibly be confused by it. And I disagree that it's nostalgia glasses and that you had to be a 10 year old boy in 1989 to get this movie or enjoy it today. It's just a legitimately great movie that succeeds both as one of the better entries into the post apocalyptic genre and as a kung fu movie (and the successful combination of the two was way too awesome of a formula to have been used as seldom as it was). And for how low budget it was, it looks fantastic and punches way above its weight. And I like the horror movie sound effect. In fact, I think that's a cool stylistic touch to put it in a film that isn't a horror film. The flashbacks are totally coherent and work just on the level of dramatic logic. Gibson is a Shane style strong and silent character, an archetype from a western. He barely speaks in most of the movie, yet as a character he's way more memorable than what you'll find in 90% of films of this kind in that era or even today, and that's due totally to the way the flashbacks were done combined with JCVD's performance. I'd even argue his performance in this movie is superior to almost every other movie he made. This is was one of his most memorable characters.
The sound that Jason keeps hearing seems to be almost identical to the sound used by Vangelis in the soundtrack to Blade Runner. Apparently a glissando on a koto (Japanese stringed instrument) and then fed through his mountain of synths for that sci-fi flavour.
No, it’s a waterphone. ua-cam.com/video/foSJstDFDfg/v-deo.htmlsi=A6MhnUmma-5SmQ6D
I was waiting for this movie reaction for the longest time , i don't believe it's finally happened. And i hope erin is feeling okay now ❤👍
She's feeling much better, thanks.
Interesting thing to note: This was one of Cannon's last gasps. It was made in part to make use of sets they'd built for bigger projects that fell through LOL
I believe it was for a Spider-Man movie ?
@@Viglin123 That and Masters of the Universe 2.
Ahh, interesting.
@@BusStopProductions.I would watch JCVD play Jesus and He-man.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it's the main bad guy's outfit just Blade's costume from the MOTU movie?
Fun fact… The voice of the pirat leader "Fender Tremolo" was not hes original voice… He actually had a voice that was too high and did not fit he’s character… The voice of Fender was removed and edited with a voiceover of another actor (I forgot he’s name)…👌🏼👍🏼
Seeing this in the theater with my dad back in the day, that sewer wall kill was epic. He was contractually obligated to do the splits once in every movie.
I always find the chase scene through the buildings / swamp so intense , can't imagine what that must've been like on the big screen
Honestly my favorite Pyun movie, feels the most competently done even with its shortcomings.
Had Cyborg and Bloodsport on 2 in 1 VHS in the early 90s. This villain terrified me... still does 😂
Came here to say the same thing, my dad bought the weird movie double feature VHS ex rental.
I remember excitedly watching this as a kid and being just crushed by how disappointed I was
JCVD put more effort into one movie than Sifu put into his entire career!
Of course.
One of my favourite jcvd films. Can watch this forever , truly a guilty pleasure
OMG I remember watching this back in the day at the peak of JCVD's popularity. Gonna watch it this weekend as part of a nostalgia party......the other ones being Lost Boys, Repo Man and of course Big Trouble in Little China !!!!
Get well soon, Erin 🙂
In my childhood i liked this movie. It is very memorable and creepy, like a sort of a horror/martial arts/post-apocalypse hybrid, and the creepy synth music is adding a lot to atmosphere. At the same time around the fall of USSR on tv there were many depressing movies about the breakdown of society and spread of criminal gangs, with lots of such scary synth music with deep bass. For example the soviet film Псы (1989) (or Hounds/Dogs, if translated to english) taking place near the drying up Aral sea with cannibal dogs attacking people, the atmosphere is very similar, or the mini-series Посредник (1990) aka Mediator, about the invasion of aliens taking over people's bodies, but is shot too slow, extending to 3 series. Also there's some semi-hidden religious element in Cyborg with crucifixion, crosses and mentions of Jesus in the background, or the main villain Fender wearing an upside down cross earing, probably meaning he is a satanist, who likes to sacrifice people. In conclusion it is a sort of a martial arts Mad Max with some inspiration from Conan the Barbarian, Terminator and Once upon a time in the West. The scene where Van Damme hides the weapons in the chest is directly copied from Mad Max 1. It seems the beat'em up video games like Double Dragon and Final Fight influenced this movie too - about having different stages with lots of weird characters and the final boss to fight. But the plot is very simplistic, though some ideas were adapted later into Universal Soldier 1, especially the last fight in the rain, near a car and the barn, where the journalist woman also seemed to have died initially like Nady in Cyborg does die. The way Fender dies implies he was a cyborg, or had some cybernetic modifications, but the movie did not have the budget to show it. And yeah, Albert Pyun was inspired by the Fist of the Northern star too.
Damn. You went way deeper on this than my drunk ass did.
Thanks for reviewing it, it was one of my favorite martial arts movies in the 90s, yeah now it is pretty bad, though then in comparison to a lot of low budget crap shown on tv, it seemed almost a masterpiece. So on several views more details are seen and some things were clarified later by Albert Pyun in the Slinger cut.
It is such an underestimated movie of JCVD. I loved it growing up ❤
Definitely not one of my favorites, but I see why people dig it.
20:21 The Terminator? I mean the narrative was explained but it still used flashback to explain Reese's backstory 😅
I saw this in the movie theater with my friend and we came out doing karate on each other. Great memories. 😂
Nice!
I missed it in theaters.
Got it on video and it came with a comic book.
I'm so glad you guys did this movie! This was a staple rewatch of mine as a kid. As one of the other commenters said, if you watched this as a kid it was great, but if you watch it now as a fresh take, it doesn't really hold up. I put found it on a random streaming service a couple years back and started watching it again and I have to admit I fell asleep while trying to give it a chance to live up to my adolescent expectations. I think I enjoyed it because it was so different than its contemporaries at the time and it had a certain level of edginess that was relatively rare at the time. Thank you for suffering through this zircon in the rough
This used to be my favorite movie as a kid, thank you for bringing back so many memories.
Also, get well soon Erin
She's good as new now. Thanks!
I saw this as a kid because I was a JCVD fan growing up. I didn't get what was going on though, and at the time, I thought it was because I was too young. Now I see that it really didn't make any sense.
The Usual Suspects. The Shawshank Redemption. Slumdog Millionaire. Deadpool. Flashbacks and narration done right.
Goodfellas did some of the best storytelling through flashbacks and The Big Lebowski had the best narration. It was Sam Elliot ffs, who wouldn't want him narrating their lives?
Your ❤️ wouldn't leave! Lmao😅 love it. She like * Jumping spin kicks!*
YES!!! My aunt and I rented it from Blockbuster when I was 11, which would have been 1992. It's low key bonkers but it's always been a fav of mine 😊 The main villain reactions/noises are pure gold and hilarious as f**k lol 😂
His screams are so insane, haha.
His acting is brilliant.
I was hoping you'd watch this, but sorta dreading it too. I adore this one. I actually think the sequence between the old warehouse -> Sewers -> desert -> crucifixion is legitimately badass.
I remember feeling some serious Conan: the Barbarian vibes with the whole desert/crucification part
It's goofy, but he's definitely reaching about the budget.
American Shaolin soon? 😄
Hopefully Erin is back on her feet and back in the chair for some bad movies soon. Hope you had a merry Christmas. Here’s to a great 2024 of so bad it’s good movies
All good now. She returns next week.
THanks!
She's good as new. Happy New Year!
This film was infamous because JCVD really poked some stunt dude's eye out in the finale. The lawsuit helped end Canon films.
I thought he really kicked someone in the face? Your version is better anyways
@RemingtonSteel There's a famous video of the pro wrestler Vader getting his eyeball popped out by Stan Hansen. Stan hit him way too hard in the face, broke his eyesocket and the swelling pops his eye out.
FYI: The main villian also played one of the bullies that Keanu and Swayze fight on the beach in the beginning of Point Break.
Heck yes!! Love this movie, stupid but so iconic in that SBIG movie way.
Fun fact. Many of the costumes used were meant to be used in the Masters of the Universe sequel.
As a matter of fact, the main villains chain mail, actually was part of “Blades” costume in the 1st masters of the universe movie.
Another fun fact, the main villain was the leader of the drug dealing surfer group in the original Point Break. His name was Warchild.
AKA Lupton Pittman
That was Warchild? I recognized him, but couldn't place him. Thanks!
@@JasonBrant No problem!!
@@JossParkerPopArt Warchild only lives to be radical.
Also many of the sets were originally built for the Spider-Man movie that Canon was supposed to make. Both the Master’s sequel and Spider-Man were going to be filmed simultaneously, but both were canceled.
The best thing is that the two main character was named after guitars: JCVD is Gibson Rickenbacker and the bad guy is Fender Tremolo.
Don't forget Pearl Prophet - after a drum maker and synthesizer! 😂
Cyborg is a classic and was on TBS all the time in the 90s.
All the "AHHHHHHHrrrr!" and crazy facial expressions in that final fight scene draws laughter from me every time. Turning up the Apocalyptic Pirate Slasher Villain to twelve on the ridiculous scale. 😅 "Bring me my Rub-AHHHHHHHR duckey, matey! AHHHHHHR!"
Ah cyborg. What a wild movie. It's crazy that JCVD actually slashed one of his co-actors with a knife during the production, causing him to lose an eye. IIRC, that scene was left in the cut of the film.
Pun intended?
@@AztecUnshaven only slightly
@@AztecUnshaven if it was left in was it by the director was it- Pyun intended... :)
During the production of the film 'Cyborg', Jackson, who played a pirate, lost his eye during filming when Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally struck his eye with a prop knife. Pinckney sued Van Damme in a North Carolina court and was awarded $485,000. The scene where he lost his eye allegedly made it into the final cut of the movie. - imdb
Never watched this back then. Van Damme looks amazing. Makes me wish they had made a Fist of the North Star movie with him as Kenshiro. I'm with Erin on this one. It's a cool movie, has high fun factor as long as you don't take it too seriously.
Well said. Jason and Brian were too Siskel and Ebert in this review
Its funny because that spooky jingly harp sound was then used in a bunch of kids shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps on Nickelodeon : P
I loved this movie! Filled with jacked beautiful people! Awesome pick Jason, took me back to better days. ❤
Erin loved it for that reason too.
Jason and his obsession over the chimes . Sounding like Brodie from Mallrats !! “That kid is Back on the escalator again!!” 😆 and yes Jason u was gone for 3 Weeks . Six episodes with out you 😂
I remember liking this when I was younger. Now that I'm older and more refined...I fucking love it! 🤣🤣🤣
haha
I was 16 when this came out and it was without a doubt one of the best sci-fi movies from the 80's. I haven't seen it since, and it still holds up.
I loved this movie as a kid. I still enjoy it; got it in my collection.
Sweet.
Sailing to Atlanta....when Atlanta is like, 200 miles inland.
Never would I imagine Jason get overly annoyed over a sound effect.
And hate a Cannon Classic
I couldn't have imagined it either.
Hope you guys had a great Christmas and wish you all a happy New Years from Los Angeles.
Jason will be haunted by that sound effect forever. Erin should make it a ringtone on her phone. 😊
That would drive me nuts, haha.
I recognize ot from the Matrix but I guess it's older than I thought.
14:29 One less member of the KISS army. 15:30 Unless you count the Wilhelm scream. 21:45 Way to give someone a messiah complex. 22:16 TIMBER!
Even offscreen Erin proves she's the primary reason to watch these videos.
It's true.
Just no.
Was that Steven SeJason I saw blocking punches during that Rocket Mortgage ad? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🙌🙌🙌
Movie related: I can’t believe Van Damme’s character was named Gibson RICKENBACKER 🤣🤣🤣
It was Steven SeJason!
@@JasonBrant 🤣
Oh man, cyborg isn't bad, it is awesome! I've watched this movie many times over the years
It's pretty bad 🤣
@@JasonBrant I remember renting it or watching it on cable back in the day and thinking to myself that it was one of the better Van Damme movies because it wasn't so...Van Dammy. And you're definitely right about the style, for me that puts it high on my list.
Thanks. Sound effect was glass harmonica. '87: Satch / "Circles" (Surfing with the Alien). '89: Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" & this movie. It was all the rage for a couple years. tavi.
As annoying as that overused sound effect is, what's even more annoying is having to repeat how annoyed you are every time you hear it. I can block out an annoying background sound effect like I block out the traffic noise outside but I can't block out someone repeatedly reminding me that the sound is there every 20 seconds.
What up JB.
Heard about your reactions to these 'kind' of movies.
First off, big fan of JCVD.
i was age 9 when i saw Cyborg & Kickboxer in the year they came out and loved both.
Cyborg to me was a masterful movie (I know, I know, let me explain).
Good camerawork, not a lot dialogue, decent score, pretty good action, some kind of emotion/expression with the characters, good or evil.
Van Damme as Gibson Rickenbacker, The Slinger (like gunslinger) literally playing off the strong, silent type was cool to me.
The pirate gang were clear, cut psychopaths.
The connection between hero Gibson & pirate leader, Fender made the story even better.
Half a million to make, filmed in 23 days, debuted in theaters at no. 4 ($9-$10 mil) before home release.
A one-shot comic book came with the home video by writer Noah Sirk and artists Mike Van Cleave/Pete Von Sholly, along with BTS and interviews (wish I kept it).
There is director's cut of Cyborg.
It was released in Germany, 2014 under the name, "Slinger".
The standalone sequel, Cyborg 2 (1993) with Angelina Jolie, Elias Koteas and Jack Palance, Billy Drago and Karen Shephard was kinda of fun.
Part 4:The Recycler (1994), i don't know much about it and it sounds like a extremely bad movie.
Erin trolling off cam the whole time was hilarious! 🤣🤣🤣
I need to re watch and count how many times, as Erin said "Briinnggssss" there is 😂😂
I remember seeing this when I was younger and just seeing the bad guy flexing with all his body and soul made be melieve the myth of Bruce Lee causing his heart to explode from flexing too hard. Like this dude was on the verge of that. He was like Anime villain charging up their attack level of flexing. Like it made my body hurt just watching it.
I thought I'd seen this but couldn't remember a single frame. (It was on a Van Damme Double Feature VHS bargain bin video in the UK in the early '90s. I think the other film must've been the more memorable one.)
Loved this movie as pre-teen. Seriously would have been 20 min long if it wasn't for all the slow mo shots.
You know it's gonna be a good episode when there's JCVD and Cannon ❤ love from the UK
I haven't seen this since the early 90s. My sister and I used to wake up around midnight or so to watch late night movies and this was one of them.
Never knew I was supposed to be afraid of the singer from C and C Music Factory. If he has Brian Bosworth as a henchmen, we’re all screwed!
haha
Holy shit. Been so drunk the last couple days I didn't even realize it was Thursday until I saw a new So Bad It's Movies upload 🤣😊
17:28 "You can't see him?!"
He couldn't see up because the bangs of his wig were in the way.
Plus, I recognize that actor from a bunch of movies. Best of the Best 2. The Russel Crow Gladiator.
I think it's Ralf Moeller, a German, he was in "Universal Soldier", and yes, 1 of the Gladiators
Fun fact, if I remember correctly this is the movie in which JCVD hit a guy for real, blinding him in one eye and getting sued by said guy
im sure it was an accident 😅... still hope JCVD lost the lawsuit though, or at least settled it in the other guys favor
Ralf Moeller (former bodybuilder) is in there! Gets killed by the sword. I remember him being so proud that he gets acting opportunities like his role model Arnold, but in the end his "greatest" role was in Gladiator and that was it. Back to Germany after that.
That screaming during the end fight is almost Suburban Sasquatch level
"if they didn't cocaine themselves out of money" bro 😂
- "Mom, I want some Mad Max!"
- "We have Mad Max at home"
Mad Max at home:
About time!! Christmas is still here!
Unlike others have said, i didnt see this as a kid, and only sat and watched it maybe a few years ago when i was well into my 30s. I still loved it. Shouldve been a sequel. Our lead villain is one for the ages, and the cyborg puppet looks like Michael Jackson lol.
There was 2 sequels.
Cyborg 2 (1993) with Angelina Jolie and Cyborg 3 (1994) with Malcolm McDowell.
8:22 it’s called a waterphone (there’s that sound again) you’ve heard it in The Matrix score before too
That sound effect is a water harp, its a pretty neat instrument.
Semantics is about the relationship between a symbol and its meaning. For example, arguing about the definition of a word is semantics. Semantics doesnt mean "unimportant" or "inconsequential".
Also, for flashback goodness,check out Bogart's "Passage to Marseille" which might include a flashback within a flashback within a flashback within a flashback.
This movie doesn’t belong in this SBIG category…. It’s actually just a good movie, classic
The guy playing 'Fender' has a small part in Swayze Point Break
Plus the names in Cyborg?
Fender lead baddie.
Gibson Rickenbacker Van Damme.
Lol
This is the movie that got JCVD sued, he popped out one of the actors eyes with a prop knife in one of the final scenes where he did a roundhouse kick with the knife in his hand.
So many flashbacks we start seeing the early scenes again
JVC got sued by a stuntman on this movie. JVC messed up his eye during a fight scene. At this time JVC had bad reputation of hitting the stunt team "accidentally" a lot.
You know the composer probably used the waterphone once, the director went "oh i like that!" And it just got out of hand 😂
I look at that silvery thing he's wearing and remember that on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" they used knitted sweaters painted silver as armor. Looks about as good.
"Listen, Carl, we paid good money for that sound effect and we're gonna get every cent of value out of it!"