Tuesday on Tape #6 - The Guyver

#6 - The Guyver (10/16/12)

Tuesdays on Tape Rating Scale™

Previews: .5/1
Soundtrack: .5/.5
B&T: 1/1.5
Graphics: 1/1
Sound Effects: .5/.5
Likable Characters: 0/1
Memorable Moments/Quotables/Emotion: 1/1.5
Total: 4.5/7

Rent or Buy?: Rent

Personal Thoughts: The Guyver is the 1991 American live-action film based off the Japanese manga/anime. As far as American live-action movies based on anime go, this one is pretty decent. It does its job well. I went into The Guyver expecting lots of monster suits, and that's exactly what I got.

The Kronos Company has created a mechanical suit thing called the Guyver, and our hero finds it. The company wants it back, so they send a bunch of anthropomorphic monsters to fight him.

Now, I've never read the original manga or seen any of the anime. I have no clue how this stacks up in a side-by-side comparison. I can say that this tape was a visual feast! Monsters galore! Unfortunately, it's not 100% greatness. Mark Hamill's character feels ultimately pointless, which is problematic given the amount of screentime dedicated to him. The other characters aren't too interesting either.

I got a good kick out of the scenes at the movie set, but not a whole lot of other stuff stuck out apart from the suits. I mean, suits are awesome and all, but this movie is going to score lower on our rating scale because we just don't have a category for monster suits. A lack of real characters hurt this one on the scoreboards especially.

My colleagues thought this was fun but unsubstantial. I guess I agree, but I think I may have liked it more than they did. I'd probably buy (not rent) the VHS again if I had to do all over.