February 1, 2006
Nemesis
Year: 1993
Directed by: Albert Pyun
Written by: Rebecca Charles
Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: Medium
Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Medium
Key Cast Members:
- Alex: Olivier Gruner
- Farnsworth: Tim Thomerson
- Angie-Liv: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Overview: Surprise surprise - another movie with Gruner playing a cyborg - this time by Martial Arts cyborg master, Albert Pyun. Like Gruner’s performance in Automatic (1994), Nemesis is also a decent “B” cyberpunk flick. In Nemesis, Gruner does his Robocop impersonation while trying to fight bad guys in the year 2027. In a well done style over substance movie, we get a nice underground war between cyborgs and humans. Throw in a good bit of Escape from New York and Blade Runner knock-off visuals and you have yourself an evening of trashy fun! Again, nothing new here, but the action is actually done well enough that you might want to give it a watch if you’re hankerin for mindless but fun Robocop knockoffs.
Spread the word
del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Google StumbleUpon Technorati Help
23 Comments on Nemesis »
August 3, 2006
Hugo @ 4:32 am:
Isn’t there something like four sequels to this? I saw the first back in the days of VHS (back in the day, when men rode pteradactyls to and fro and women wore leopard skin bikinis…:P) but seem to remember there being a handful of sequels…
SFAM @ 11:21 am:
Hi Hugo, yeah, there is. I just haven’t gotten around to reviewing them yet. But they do drop off in quality rather dramatically.
August 4, 2006
erc1452 @ 3:20 am:
I saw Nemesis 1 back when it first came out. I was blown away, and fell in love with the movie.
A few months ago, I found it on DVD and picked up. After watching it, I was thinking “Wow, movies sure have gotten alot better since the early 90’s”
And yes, all the sequels were horrible!
SFAM @ 1:29 pm:
Wow! Found it on DVD? Lucky man. No such luck here. erc1452, If you could send me some good screencaps of this movie I’d appreciate it. I’m stuck with just the VHS.
August 5, 2006
erc1452 @ 1:45 am:
Never done screencaps before - what method works best?
January 7, 2007
Clarkone @ 10:07 pm:
Why the “correlation to cyberpunk themes” is rated here as LOW?!! That film is reffering to one of the most important problem, like in “I Robot”! I mean feelings of an cyborg! Can someone explain it to my, that ratting? Thx
January 8, 2007
Clarkone @ 7:34 pm:
a cyborg* to me* sorry for the mistakes i was drunk;p
January 16, 2007
SFAM @ 1:59 am:
Hi Clarkone, in retrospect I agree with you. In thinking back, I probably got my quality and relation to themes ratings combined. There is nothing original here, but it does deserve at least a medium on the themes. Changed accordingly!
January 17, 2007
Clarkone @ 9:06 pm:
Thx for answer, btw great site- incredible database of films, I’ve remembered slightly from my childhood (but the impression remainded:) - and now I found all those awesome movies by titles! Its great to see them again! Thx and good luck!
March 27, 2007
85% Is Still Sheep! | Cyberpunk Review @ 1:58 am (Pingback)
[…] to the tagline Albert Pyun’s movie, Nemisis (~86.5% is still human~), apparently we’re now saying similar things about sheep. But at […]
June 15, 2007
microchip @ 3:31 pm:
When I first saw Nemesis back in the days on VHS (I still have it, also in DivX version), I was fully blown away. To me, this movie is one of the best in its CP genre despite the low-budget used and the “not so good” Albert Pyun directory. I was fascinated by the mood it constantly created. A future where information terrorists and cyborg conspiracy is put in front of everything. Nemesis is also one of the most explosive and action-packed movies I’ve ever seen. It begins with action, goes through the whole movie with action and ends with action. The movie just doesn’t let you take a breath so to speak. The first time I saw it, the storyline was a bit confusing, but after watching it for the 2de and 3rd time, it became very clear. To me, Nemesis is one of those movies I could watch over and over again without getting tired - not many of those around anymore. Nemesis is still in my Top 5 list and will always be together with Nirvana, Blade Runner, Hardware and APEX. The sequels of Nemesis where absolutely horrible. They totally drifted away from the original storyline and their acting and story lines were absolutely horrible beyond words. A total waste of time, budget, acting and energy
June 20, 2007
Quaver @ 2:22 pm:
Its a case of Great Premise, Crappy Budget. I have a huge fondness for Nemesis and would urge anyone with a passing interest in CyPunk / SciFi to give it the time of day. Sure, its not the greatest film ever and the film begins to unravel into shlock towards the end (Max Impact? Come ON!) but I think Nemesis should be given the time of day at least once by everyone. It seemed to have close ties to both Shadowrun and Rifts (Roleplaying games) and even Syndicate (video game released around the same time) and had more than enough drawn from the rich history of cyberpunk to flesh out its weaker points. Its just a shame that the writer and/or directors were unable to develop the film out of its “Futuristic Action” hole.
Farrkin Huumans!
SFAM @ 9:40 pm:
I absolutely agree that Nemesis deserves a real DVD release. It’s definitely good enough for that. Microchip, I’m afraid I’m not with you in placing it with Blade Runner, Hardware, or even Nirvana (I need to see Apex so I can’t comment on this). This is definitely one of Pyun’s most enjoyable flicks though.
June 21, 2007
microchip @ 12:49 am:
SFAM, to be honest with you, I’m not very found of Blade Runner, the movie just bores me at the beginning, if I have to choose between Nemesis and Blade Runner, I choose Nemesis any time, but this is just personal taste so I’m not gonna argue with anyone here which one is better ;). The same goes for Nirvana which I’ll choose over Blade Runner any time. Nemesis is much more packed with action than Blade Runner and to me it has a very interesting story. Sure, it could be better, but this goes for most of the movies out there
SFAM @ 4:56 am:
Hi Microchip, Albert Pyun stops by here every now and then. My guess is he’ll be thrilled to see your comments.
microchip @ 10:36 am:
SFAM, wow, I didn’t knew he comes around here, but if so, I’ll be more than happy to congratulate him about Nemesis, but I’ll be also more than happy to give him a headache about the sequels of Nemesis, hehe
Again, I don’t want you to think that I hate Blade Runner, but years ago when I saw Nemesis it really left a huge impression on me, and I can’t say the same for Blade Runner
October 10, 2007
Jack Swift @ 8:06 am:
Found this from a flea market yesterday. (VHS) Ok condition.
Not bad! I’d give it a 7.
October 13, 2007
skylined @ 2:08 pm:
Any screenshots? Amazon sellers want £17 or more for this!
November 2, 2007
skylined @ 2:31 pm:
i watched this movie. the ending was hilariously bad.
November 19, 2007
Anonymous @ 5:00 pm:
awful movie. end of story
March 19, 2008
sysscan @ 3:49 am:
One of the coolest movie covers I’ve seen. Pretty good movie if you like cyberpunk cliches. Didn’t the main character shoot a hole in the floor like in Underworld?
April 23, 2008
toxicwaste @ 7:24 am:
dudes, where can i find these movies to download. i mean all nemesis movies.
May 12, 2008
9d523970339a @ 1:02 am (Trackback)
9d523970339a…
9d523970339ad159b8f4…