Phil Hubbs
So apart from 'Angel Town' this was Oliver Gruner's other best known vehicle, probably one of director Pyun's best known films also. The plot is again about androids in human form and borrows heavily from many many other sci-fi films most probably the Terminator franchise.Despite the fact this is a low budget sci-fi action flick the plot is so darn twisty. Basically its all about a cop who is part machine (body enhancements), trying to track down and stop rebel freedom fighters. These rebels are fighting against the government that are allowing a new type of android to take over which is duplicating or replacing people, or something like that.Of course Gruner's half android character realises what is happening and changes sides to battle against the evil government assassins. These assassins are led by the wonderful low budget sci-fi master Tim Thomerson and bad guy regular Brion James, both of which give brilliantly hammy performances.To be honest the plot is messy and confusing, so many characters and names flying about its easy to get lost at times. That aside the action is actually pretty good throughout the film with some really impressive set pieces and stunt work. Its not original by any means but there are some great camera angles, cool weaponry, plenty of squib action all coupled with a low budget visual appearance which gives that gritty and realistic look.I must also give kudos to the neat android effects, the odd moment when someone gets blasted and we see their robotic interior. You'd think it would look terrible but its actually quite good, not stunning but very acceptable if completely unoriginal. The finale fight sequence against a mechanical endoskeleton kinda reminds you of something.Impressive cast of character actors too I might add, Pyun always manages to get good B-list stars. I gotta admit I do like the visuals in this film, that kind of slightly colourless/washed out, cyber punk, wasteland set dystopian future. The action is way over the top but fun whilst Gruner looks good and does fit into this world perfectly.6/10
Scarecrow-88
In the future, cybernetic beings are replacing humans with perfectly duplicated cyborgs which mimic human behavior and look the part. Oliver Grunner is an LA cop, Alex Raine, who is a human with cybernetic parts, who hunts terrorists for his department, under Commissioner Farnsworth (Tim Thomerson). What Alex doesn't realize is that Farnsworth has been "replaced" with a state-of-the-art cybernetic recreation who is to lead a revolution with a plan to wipe out humankind. There are characters like Angie-liv (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), Max Impact (Merle Kennedy, who moves like a monkey), Jared (Marjorie Monaghan, a "good cyborg" and once Alex's lover before he discovered she was in fact an "it"), and Julian (Deborah Shelton, Jared's cybernetic ally whose naked body actually looks synthetic) who are trying to stop the evil cyborg's from the planned human holocaust.The plot, with a lot of technical mumbo jumbo as dialogue to explain facets of the story play second fiddle to the non-stop action and you can most definitely see the John Woo influence in the grand ways director Albert Pyun and cinematographer George Mooradian stage action sequences. Gruner, in exceptional shape, even moves like Chow Yun Fat , at times, with how he shoots his various guns, particularly hand weapons. Lots of buildings take abuse, sparks emitting when metal is blasted into, the ground exploding from missiles and bullets, trees in Java toppling, old factories no longer in use taking an ass whooping thanks to the stunt coordinators and action choreographers allowed to work their cinematic magic.Coolest scene could be where Gruner must escape from certain death by blowing out several floors under him in order to escape. Plenty of "cyborg effects" which should appeal to fans of "cyberpunk".
Jan Strydom
I saw NEMESIS back in the mid 90's where it probably looked a lot better but the age factor with this film isn't really the issue, if you watch it today the effects will obviously be dated but the main thing that still stands out about this film after all these years, is that its very energetic, you never once get bored of watching it because despite the fact that this is now an old film, its still one of the most entertaining rides I've ever been on, the pace keeps the film moving and the direction by on and off director Albert Pyun is well handled.The acting by the cast is better than you'd expect from a film of 90's low budget standards, Olivier Gruner certainly gives one of his better performances in this film and it features a good performance from the late Brion James.Overall, NEMESIS is one of my old favorites from way back, now its part of my DVD collection and its as good as it was the first time I saw it.Also this is the kind of film Albert Pyun directs on one of his on days, if you want to know what he does on his off days, check out the NEMESIS sequels and that URBAN MENACE junk, not to mention the MAX HAVOC series
Frank Markland
Olivier Gruner stars as Alex Rain, a cyborg who has lost all his faith in humanity after barely walking away with his life after a gun fight with terrorists, However his former employers want him back and they want him to get rid of a renegade agent and to insure that he does this deed, they implant a bomb in his heart, not impressed by his former employer's antics Rain goes AWOL and joins the rebels. There are many similarities between this and Pyun's other movie Cyborg. Although where as I remember everyone in Cyborg laughing at the antics on screen, I remember everyone walking out of this one saying how good it was. I however was no fan. I thought the narrative was a bit hard to follow and while the action sequences were well staged, I often found myself distracted by the circumstances surrounding them. (Same thing with Cyborg.) However Nemesis is better than Cyborg, there is more depth in the script however there isn't enough exploring of the depth that could have made this thing great. Indeed there are some very good moments to be found here but had Pyun explored these (Mainly the relationship between Gruner and the renegade agent Jared(Played well by Marjorie Monaghan) as well as Gruner's dilemma to being a cyborg) Nemesis might have really been something. Nemesis has it's fans and I can see why, I just was often bored with the corporate clichés and confused narrative. Ed note:However it's still way better than any of the sequels, so if you must watch one from this prolific series, see only this one. * * out of 4-(Fair)
AD
