Nemesis

• Denmark / USA • 1992 • 95m •

• Directed by: Albert Pyun. • Starring: Olivier Gruner, Tim Thomerson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Merle Kennedy, Yuji Okumoto, Marjorie Monaghan, Nicholas Guest, Vincent Klyn, Thom Mathews, Marjean Holden, Brion James, Deborah Shelton, Jennifer Gatti. • Music by: Michel Rubini.

Los angeles, 2027. Japan and America have merged, politically and economically. Man and machines have merged as well. But mankind is threatened when the Cyborgs decide they are better suited to rule the planet than humans. When police officer Alex Rain discovers the plot to replace world leaders with Cyborg clones, he embarks on a full-scale war to stop them.

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Trailer

2:30

Review:

I first saw NEMESIS on late night TV when I was about 15. The first time I saw it I thought it was exciting if a bit confusing. It was a lot better than most other movies they showed at that time of night. On subsequent viewings the plot became very clear and it was the action that got less appealing. Strictly speaking, NEMESIS is not a good movie. It is however, a kind of crap genre classic that had an influence on some mainstream film.

Alex (Oliver Grunner) is an LA cop in the future where "it pays to be more than human". He fights terrorists who are all cyborgs. Alex gets hurt a lot, so he also he's also part machine. Rebecca Charles's weak script has most things explained by a narration. This explains Alex's motivations for leaving the police force (after getting himself blown up and put back together again). He goes to Mexico with his dog and has another run-in with the terrorists. He gets hurt and put back together again. This time when he wakes up, he finds himself blackmailed into the service of a government official. He goes to an island in the South Pacific where nobody is what they seem and everyone carries a gun. Alex eventually learns of a coming war between the cyborgs and the humans. The rest is shooting and shifting loyalties.

This film had a number of good ideas going into it. Some of the action sequences are exciting and memorable. At one point Alex is trapped in a hotel room and shoots a hole through the floor, falling and shooting through three stories. The sunglasses and trench-coat look most of the characters have is very MATRIX like. The hero has to deal with a bomb in his heart and the listening devices his bosses have planted in his body. Sadly the conclusion is weak, the would-be love interest is annoying, and the last half hour or so ditches substance entirely. The make-up effects are good. Some of the special effects are weak, but it's to be expected for a low budget flick like this. Grunner is fine as our hero.

Albert Pyun has proved he can make better movies than this (MEAN GUNS, THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER), so he isn't really to blame. A better script would have improved this immensely. A remake might be in order, with more money and better writers. NEMESIS really could have been something, although it isn't exactly nothing. For this crap genre, though, it scores fairly high.

Review by nutsy from the Internet Movie Database.