Cyber-Tracker 2

The 1994 movie "Cyber-Tracker" from director Richard Pepin and writer Jacobsen Hart wasn't exactly a stellar movie, and I only opted to watch the 1995 sequel because it was readily available, but I harbored no expectations to the movie.

And with good cause, because writer Richard Preston Jr. Didn't exactly conjure up a compelling or interesting script and storyline. Throughout the course of the movie, I sat at the screen with an overwhelming sense of 'why?' and 'just because you can make a sequel, doesn't mean you should'. Yeah, this movie was not well-written or thought-through. And it showed on the screen, as it was a lackluster script and mediocre plot.

I was only familiar with Don Wilson on the cast list, and he even seemed not to be particularly engaged in this movie. Something that I just didn't understand was why the movie makers opted to have 'World Kickboxing Champion' included after Don "The Dragon" Wilson's name on the screen. It was the first time I've seen someone's title in a movie, what's next? The Gardener? Flyfishing Runner-Up? The acting performances in the movie were mediocre.

Visually, then I will say that the movie was a tad better than the 1994 prequel, but without a proper script and storyline, it hardly mattered.

Not a particularly memorable or entertaining movie, if I have to be honest.

My rating of "Cyber-Tracker 2", from director Richard Pepin, lands on a four out of ten stars.

This PM Entertainment production is laced with enough bullets to make John Woo say, "Enough already!" Of course, it isn't nearly as beautiful as Woo can deliver but it gets the exploitive job done in 90 minutes. Eric Phillips (Don Wilson) is an undercover cop in the near future. When his wife is framed for murdering the Governor by a team using a look-a-like cyborg, it is up to Eric to clear her name. Wilson gets to pull Van Damme duty as he plays the heroic lead and his evil cyborg doppelganger. Why the Academy failed to take notice is beyond me. Being a PM production, there are tons of car chases, exploding cars (4 in the first 5 minutes!) and shoot outs. I particularly liked the van that flips in midair before it even comes close to touching an exploding truck. My other favorite bit involved a neighborhood girl coming over to perfect her karate in Don's simulator. It is merely a chance to show off some cheapo LAWNMOWER MAN effects circa 1995.

Plot Synopsis: When his wife, a news reporter, is kidnapped & replaced with an android double, Secret Service agent Eric Phillips tracks her down & uncovers a plan by an arms dealer to create an army of invincible androids to assassinate world leaders.

I wasn't expecting much when I first saw this sequel to Richard Pepin's low-budget sci-fi / action hybrid "Cyber Tracker". That film was nothing special, not to mention a blatant rip-off of both "The Terminator" & "RoboCop". This sequel is the same as before, with an all-out action sequence opening the film. There are plenty of explosions, heavy gunfire & a huge bodycount, as well as some martial-arts moves courtesy of the film's star, Don "The Dragon" Wilson. The whole film seems like a series of action scenes strung together with minimal plot. On the acting front, Wilson is a bad actor. He really needs a personality transplant.

CYBER TRACKER 2 is not a great sci-fi film, but it is notably better than its underwhelming precursor. The rating I give it is somewhat generous, but for both action fans and Don Wilson devotees, this energetic robot schlock is not among the worst movies you could rent.

The story: The returning Eric (Wilson) and Connie (Stacie Foster) are framed for murder by robot lookalikes controlled by an evil arms dealer (Anthony De Longis).

Compared to the original film, this movie's best attribute is that it actually does something with its premise of assassin robots, which have been made into more interesting killing machines and are definitely utilized more creatively. One of them (Jim Maniaci) even has something of a personality, and Don makes a pretty good TERMINATOR knockoff. However, there is no DOUBLE IMPACT moment wherein Don is fighting himself, and to build on this, the movie's worst attribute is that missed opportunities like this pile up: characters are underutilized (e.g. non-fighting karate prodigy Eboni Adams), fights are often over before they begin (e.g. the Super Tracker showdown), and the examination of civil rights from the first film is lost on this one.

Most of the film's action content is in the form of shootouts, which are almost unanimously overlong and unimaginative. This has the surprising effect of making Don Wilson's questionable fights seem a little better than usual, at least as the movie progresses. Anthony De Longis, who had that cool swordfight with Jet Li in FEARLESS, is presented as a suit but then shows off some surprisingly mighty martial arts and makes for a surprisingly formidable opponent against Don in the finale. Enforcer Athena Massey has only one fight, but it's not terrible.

While the level of energy slackens at times, the bright setting and occasionally fun special effects help keep the film alive to the end. I'm not heartbroken that this series has apparently ended, but it's heartening to be reminded of what a difference that small improvements can make.

The first Cyber Tracker was a painful cinematic experience, one so atrocious it was impossible to even laugh at it. I quite literally bugged out on hearing that this follow up existed. I tried to ignore it, but morbid curiosity compelled me to witness it. While not by any stretch good, it outright steals so many scenes from other films that it ends up being bearable.

Watching Cyber Tracker 2 is almost like watching a homage to all previous action sci-fi, because there are so many scenes that have been stolen directly from other films and inserted into this script on a fraction of the budget. That said, they seem to have pushed the boat out for this film as no scenes look particularly awful indicating a reasonable amount of money has been spent on it.

The majority of the budget must have gone into the pyros. Pretty much everything explodes, whether it wants to or not. Even if there's no particular reason why a door should explode, it blows up. This is a movie that would have Michael Bay thinking, "Man, that's a lot of explosions". It's all so overblown that it becomes a lot of fun after a while. If you like stuff blowing up, rest assured you'll have to go no more than 5 minutes before something goes boom.

I was shocked to see that most of the leads have taken some time to learn to act a bit. Steve Burton's still a little wooden as Jared, but not too reprehensible, and everyone else takes their hackneyed roles quite well. While never stopping to mug at the camera, it's clear everyone knows this isn't high art and doesn't take it too seriously. This was another mis-step in the first effort, as everyone played it so straight it sucked all the life out of it, not having the skill or effects to pull off a serious approach.

Theoretically I ought to pan this for managing the unique feat of being far less original that the first, but if you're going to nick a film outright then Alien 3, Terminator 1 & 2 and Robocop are pretty good sources. As such the script seems more replicated than written, although the dialogue is still largely poor. Nothing like as bad as the last one though. Pepin's direction in unremarkable, but there aren't too many ways to motivate his main character, Mr. Explosion.

I'm generally not a big thievery supporter, but imagining the horrors that could have unfolded if they'd went their own way gives me a sense of dread that shakes me to the very core of my being. There are a few amusing moments, and the continual booms mean there's little time for a plot to drag or get in the way of the shooting. The movie moves along fairly logically, and displays an unexpected sense of continuity both internally and with the first film, although I would have disavowed all knowledge of that travesty if I were in charge.

Were I in the business of passing quantifiable judgements, I'd award this 2/5 TippyMarks.