For those of us who dwell in the world of the cult film, the name Albert Pyun is regarded with some notoriety, with some people claiming him to be the modern Ed Wood during the 80s. The reason why a lot of people either derided him or flat-out ignored his movies is because he focused more on low-budget indie films during the 80s. That was his bread and butter. His “break-out” hit was 1982’s The Sword and The Sorcerer, a sword-and-sandals fantasy film in the vein of Conan: The Barbarian. His focus was on the science fiction and fantasy genres. Most people would recognize Mr. Pyun’s name because it was attached to Cyborg, a post-apocalyptic action flick starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. He also did the first Captain America movie in 1990. Sadly, his experience in the industry with the big distributors and producers led him to forge his own path in the indie film scene. He often had control of his movies taken away from him for one reason or another, especially when the Weinstein’s were involved. That brings me to Nemesis, his first real franchise. Now, this is not going to be a straight-forward review of the Nemesis films, but rather an overview of the first four films. Yes, there’s a fifth, but it wasn’t directed by Mr. Pyun. Albert Pyun passed away last November, so he isn’t here to defend himself, but I will be offering honest thoughts about these films.
The first film in the series, simply titled Nemesis follows a cybernetically augmented police officer, Alex Rain(Olivier Gruner in his second lead role)as he uncovers a cyborg conspiracy that threatens the existence of the entire human race. There are some very obvious science fiction influences on display here. Nemesis is The Terminator mixed with Robocop by way of Blade Runner. It’s set in the far-distant future of…2027. Yeah. Very dystopic. I’m going to get the obvious out of the way: The acting is not good. Honestly, the only actor here that puts forward anything resembling a performance is B-movie legend Tim Thomerson, the star of such classics like Trancers and Dollman(also directed by Mr. Pyun). Olivier Gruner is not a particularly great actor, BUT, he handles the physical parts of the film very well. It’s the least a former French special forces commando and kickboxer can do. Say what you will about Mr. Pyun’s ability to deliver an emotionally competent film, he delivers on the action. This movie is packed with it. The action and stunt-work are outstanding. The visual effects are pretty good too. There are some interesting ideas at work in this movie that surprised even me. The use of cybernetic implants and prosthetics is actually not far off from what we’re able to do now. Granted what we can do now is not as advanced, but the possibilities are there. I thought that was pretty cool. Overall, I really enjoyed Nemesis. Narratively and performance-wise, the film left a bit to be desired, but it delivered on every other aspect. The following movies, though? Better get this over with
The second film, Nemesis 2: Nebula is pretty much a Terminator knock-off. There’s no getting around it. The story sees humanity being enslaved by cyborgs in the year 2077, so a woman with a genetically modified child goes back in time a hundred years to protect said child. 20 years later, the child has grown up to be Alex Sinclair, a young woman raised by an African tribe. But she ends up being hunted by a cybernetic bounty hunter from the future called Nebula. Yep, Terminator knock-off. It also has a bit of Predator thrown into the mix with the villain played by stuntman and future action director Chad Stahelski. Honestly, it’s actually a decent DTV sequel, which was extremely rare for the 90s. Alex is played by body-builder and former Ms. Olympia contestant Sue Price. She’s not half-bad. Obviously, she can handle the physical stuff, but she definitely has more charisma than Olivier Gruner did. Again, the action and stunt-work are pretty decent here. The explosions are nice and big, and most of the effects are done practically. The CGI, though, is bad. The pacing of the film is inconsistent, considering it’s only 80 minutes long. Still, it’s not a complete waste of time.
Nemesis 3 is where my issues with Mr Pyun’s consistency start coming into play. I’m not saying that the previous films were narrative classics by any stretch of the imagination, but they were positively Shakespearean compared to third and fourth films. 2 and 3 were filmed in tandem with each other, but the writing is substantially worse with number 3. It starts off with an unconcious Alex having flashbacks to events in the second film. She wakes up and finds a man named Farnsworth 2(played once again by Tim Thomerson). She doesn’t realize that he’s from the future as well, trying to determine if her DNA is stronger than other humans from his time. It’s murky. Apparently she has at least 20 half-sisters that are waiting for her in 2077, but the film never follows through with particular plot. In fact, by the end of the film, it’s pretty much forgotten. Alex ends up meeting a bizarre mercenary and a brain-damaged soldier along the way, while being tailed by twin cyborg assassin. It’s a convoluted story-line that goes NOWHERE. I don’t know if it’s because Mr. Pyun ran out of time or got distracted. The action in this film is also a step backwards with some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen in a movie like this. The ending is infuriating, because it’s never followed up on. So, what happens with Alex’s sisters? You never find out. I’ve seen movies with unsatisfying endings, but Nemesis 3 is the worst offender. It’s a non-ending. Oh, it gets worse from here.
Nemesis 4 is about as far removed from the original film as you can get. In fact, it’s not even about the war between cyborgs and humans. That all gets pushed to the side. If you were expecting this film to answer questions left by Nemesis 3, forget it. Alex somehow ends up in the future as an assassin, who ends up taking out the wrong target. This movie is PLAGUED with issues. From what I understand, Albert Pyun was shooting this film between reshoots of another movie he was working on, Adrenaline. So, he shot Nemesis 4 in 4-5 days. Right there is where the issue is. Did Mr. Pyun forget about how the third film ended? I seriously doubt there were enough people clamoring for another Nemesis film, but Nemesis 4 is about as unwanted as a red-headed step-child. Nothing about this movie makes any sense. It’s slow, plodding, and totally batshit crazy in the wrong way. The best parts about this film are the performances from Sue Price(who looks a hell of a lot different from the previous films)and the one-and-only Andrew Divoff from Wishmaster. I get that Mr. Pyun was trying for a truly cyberpunk kind of film, but he failed. Royally. This movie is awful and not even a “so bad, it’s good” kind of way.
The Nemesis sequels have strayed so far from what the original film was, it’s not even funny. I’m not going to lie, I have a lot of respect for Albert Pyun. I don’t think he got the break that I think he deserved from most studios. But he clearly enjoyed making movies and he certainly had an eye for certain details, even if he couldn’t get the performances he should have out of his actors. He did deliver stuff that I absolutely loved like Cyborg, the first two Nemesis films, and Road To Hell. There was definitely talent there, but I think he overreached on a lot of projects. There is a fifth Nemesis film, but I’m not going anywhere NEAR that one. The trailer looks terrible. Overall, I would say, if you’re in the mood for low-budget action flicks from the 90s, Nemesis is a decent bet with the 2nd film. Just don’t bother with the last two/three.