Movie Review: "Cyborg 2" (1993)

In 1989, Jean Claude Van Damme was at the height of his fame and one of his best films during that time was "Cyborg", a post-apocalyptic martial arts thriller that depicted him as a lone warrior who soon finds himself trying to protect a cyborg woman, who has a cure for a virus, from a band of sadistic pirates. The film was dark, gritty, bloody, and very violent. Not to mention, it had one of the best cinematic soundtracks.

Now we have "Cyborg 2". The setting is the late 21st century and the Pinwheel corporation is trying to eliminate its competitors by use of exploding cyborgs. This is done via a virus called Glass Shadow which is injected into the cyborg and detonates once it reaches the desired point. Cash (Angelina Jolie in her very early years) is one of these unfortunate subjects and Colt (Elias Koteas) is her trainer.

After discovering her fate, the two of them escape the Pinwheel complex with the help of Mercy (Jack Palance), a mysterious man whom Pinwheel has been trying to track down for ages. He can appear on any video screen you come across, no matter where you are, and all you see is mostly his mouth talking. With these two now on the run, Pinwheel dispatches two evil cyborgs to help track them down.

After reading the plot summary above, you might be asking yourself what does any of this have to do with the original "Cyborg"? Well, apparently nothing. This is a sequel only in name (in other words, it might as well not be a sequel at all). Actually, there's a couple of quick flashback sequences to the first movie that don't really serve a purpose here, but that's about it.

Furthermore, Jean Claude Van Damme is not in this nor is his character. It's also worth noting that the world in "Cyborg 2" seems a bit more organized than it was in "Cyborg". I guess it's possible that some of society recovered from the plague, but it's kind of difficult to say due to the lack of details.

• While Cash is sleeping, Mercy uses images of Jean Claude Van Damme fighting bad guys in the original "Cyborg" to tell her that she needs a protector (i.e. Colt) to help her escape the complex. Is it me or does this feel like it was just shoehorned in there?
• Mercy is able to communicate to Cash and Colt on practically any monitor or conduit that is located anywhere. In one scene, he even does so through a monitor that is sitting amongst a pile of junk. Is this thing even plugged in?
• It is explained that Mercy used to command a fleet before the apocalypse, but since then he has gone into hiding and the authorities have no way of finding him. I guess they never thought of looking inside a ship he once commanded because that's where he's hiding throughout the entire movie.
• Bobby Lin plays an Asian fight promoter in the shipyard. But it turns out that this guy is also a vampire. Huh?