Cyborg Soldier

First of all, if you expect to find an actual cyborg soldier in this film, you will be looking for a long time. The title character played by UFC fighter Rich Franklin is actually a human who has been genetically engineered with amphibian DNA. There are some nanobites working inside the guy, but you won’t be finding a Borg clone in this low budget affair. Unfortunately, you won’t find much in the acting department either. Many of the show’s supporting cast are actors who are usually stunt performers and not often charged with doing the hard stuff… like delivering lines.

Isaac (Franklin) is the aforementioned genetically altered guy. He has just escaped from the facility where he was created. An assault force containing mostly those stunt actors I told you about are out to bring him back to the lab. Along the way Isaac comes across lone deputy Lindsey Reardon (Thiessen). She ends up his hostage and eventual partner. Together they are running from the lab guys and the cops who have been tricked into thinking Reardon killed another deputy and is on the run. The plot is a lowbrow X-Files affair with plenty of conspiracy and some cheap escape thrills. There are actually a couple of actors in the film, but we’re not talking Oscar collectors here. Tiffani Thiessen plays Reardon, and while she’s got the cutest puppy dog eyes, she’s never once believable as a cop. She’s mostly a television actor with bit parts. Bruce Greenwood is perhaps the most recognizable name here as Simon Hart, the mad scientist who created Isaac. Greenwood will play Christopher Pike in the upcoming Star Trek film, and all of Trekdom is on their knees praying that he shows better skills in that film. He was quite good as the Prez in the recent National Treasure sequel, so I’m left to assume either he just didn’t care about this film, cashing the check, or the script is just so awful there just wasn’t anything he could do. Frankly I’m inclined to believe the latter, as this was pretty much a dud from start to finish.

I guess the real problem here is that the film is one long cliché after another. The attack team drives in black SUV’s that look like something out of a Ross Perot paranoid fantasy. The dialog is so corny that it almost has to have been written for laughs. It’s no surprise that one of the writers is a stunt guy by trade. Franklin can do little but mimic the deadpan delivery of a robotic soldier even though he’s not. If you’re expecting Terminator or even RoboCop here, you’re in for one heck of a long 88 minutes.

Video

Cyborg Soldier is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Everything here is washed out. Flesh tones are always pale. Darker colors look faded. You get about an average of 5 mbps here and little to no compression artifact. Still, black levels are weak. Combine all of that with poor contrast, and what can only be described as intentional lack of sharpness, and you get a visual presentation as weak as the film itself.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is an absolute disappointment. It might as well have been a simple stereo presentation. The dialog is pretty much all this thing has correct. Explosions and firefights add up to a muffled soundtrack. It almost appears as though rough audio from the shoot was included, and almost no ADR work was done to the film.

Special Features

Nothing

Final Thoughts

No budget. Low budget. I’ve seen them all. You always look for that silver lining somewhere in the picture to make it worth at least the time investment. It’s no wonder there aren’t any bonus features. This was a quickie release by a small studio to try and bring in some quick cash. Look, I’m all for amateurs making low budget stuff. The problem here is you have these UFC guys who don’t know that they’re amateurs and figure you chumps are going to buy anything they put out. I don’t know about you but…”I’m not playing that game”.