Gunhed (1989) [Tokusatsu Review]

Gunhed; or, Post-apocalyptic Tech-Noir Made in Japan

This week’s review will be about a film that originated as a scrapped idea for the 17th part of the Godzilla franchise. Nevertheless, Toho decided to give this project a green light on condition that King of the Monsters be written out of the script. As a result, the text written by James Bannon (however wikipedia lists a certain Tatsuo Kobayashi as the co-writer) was heavily reworked by director Masato Harada and the end result is a mixture of some awesome cyberpunk and not-so-breathtaking storytelling.

Release Info

Directed by: Masato Harada Starring: Masahiro Takashima, Brenda Bakke, Yujin Harada, Kaori Mizushima
Language: Japanese Original Title: ガンヘッド Runtime: 100 min

Synopsis

In the year 2005, on a small, desolated island 8JO, the first self-sustainable industrial complex was built. It was managed by the most advanced and highly sophisticated computer called Kyron-5. However, after 20 years of efficient work, Kyron-5 reached a conclusion that humans are dispensable units in the new world of high-tech. Thus, the computer declared war on mankind. In response, a specialised battalion of military robots called Gunheds (Gun UNit of Heavy Eliminate Device) was sent to the island in order to destroy Kyron-5. The computer was disabled but all the robots perished in succeeding their goal.

Now, 13 years later, a group of daredevil scavengers in search for some old computer chimps (that are allegedly “more precious than gold”) lands on the forgotten island. In the ruins of an old facility, they discover a Bio-Droid that attempts to reboot Kyron-5. Surprised by the facility’s defences, treasure hunters are killed off one by one. The only people who survive are a tech savvy Brooklyn (Masahiro Takashima) and Texas Air Ranger Sgt. Nim (Brenda Bakke). After encountering two children who live on the island, they decide to rebuild one of the Gunheds and stop reloading of Kyron-5 before all hell breaks loose.

 

Completing the mission

Yeah, that’s quite a lengthy synopsis, but the film quite swiftly manages to introduce the viewers to this post-apocalyptic world with the usage of an off-camera narration (highly similar in tone to The Terminator (1984) opening) and the following title cards:

As interesting as it may sound, Gunhed unfortunately fails to deliver much of its promises. The opening shot of Mary Ann ship flying through the storm with an epic music score by Toshiyuki Honda and Takayuki Baba is literally awesome. In addition, members of the scavengers group seemed quite likeable and vivid characters that could carry on the picture, thus it’s a huge shame seeing them killed off after the first 15 minutes!

Afterwards, the film mercilessly slows down and it doesn’t get any better until Brooklyn launches Gunhed and they start making their way to Kyron-5’s core room. Throughout the movie’s middle section, we either see Brooklyn fixing the robot and dealing with one of the children, or Nim trying to make her way to Mary Ann ship with the other annoying kid. Instead of kick-ass cyberpunk characters, the film is driven by Masahiro Takashima (who later gives an incredibly bland performance in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993)) and Brenda Bakke (before appearing in Hot Shots 2 (1993) and having her Lana Turner moment in L.A. Confidential (1997)), who looks great as a commando soldier, but seems underused. On top of that, the movie is dubbed in English, which makes it even harder to watch.

Nevertheless, Gundhed’s main advantages are undoubtedly the visuals. The whole scenography and layout of the facility is simply spectacular, together with the design of Gunhed and Kyron-5’s core. Great special effects and miniature fights done by Koichi Kawakita and combined with great music score guarantee great entertainment, but only at the beginning and the end of the film.

 

Recommendations

If you like cyberpunk in general (and Godzilla as well), you can give it a go, but don’t expect anything exceptional. Gunhed can be watched for action, visuals, and music only. Other than that, it’s just... boring and not engaging in terms of a far-fetched plotline. Recommended for one view as a trivia for Tokusatsu fans.

Overall score: 5/10