Olivier Gruner stars as Alex, a cop in the year 2027 who has had many body parts replaced with robotics after assorted scrapes. After retiring from the force, he's assigned by his old boss, Farnsworth (Tim Thomerson) to apprehend a former partner, Jared (Marjorie Monaghan) who's smuggling data to a terrorist group. However, he will learn that things aren't as they seem; he'll come to not only question his identity but wonder where his loyalties lie.
Compared to the other B movies of director Albert Pyun, this does deliver the goods when it comes to the action aspect. It gets down to business in record time, and soon enough there's plenty of gunfire and plenty of explosions. The special effects are for the most part pretty good. Only towards the end do they get rather laughable. Both the production design and the location shooting are excellent. Pyun and company really do create the sense of a world that's gone to hell.
There's a strong accent on sex appeal, with many hot women in the cast (Deborah Shelton is particularly ravishing as Julian) and female *and* male nudity. This has also got one hell of a fun B movie cast, with a couple of familiar faces, some of them Pyun regulars. Some of the acting (and dialogue) are highly stylized, so enjoyment of both is likely to be a matter of taste. Gruner is likeable in the lead, while Merle Kennedy, playing a character named Max Impact, does her best Lori Petty imitation. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays "terrorist" leader Angie- Liv, Yuji Okumoto is a hotel proprietor, Nicholas Guest and a hilariously accented Brion James are Thomersons' colleagues, and Vincent Klyn and Thom Mathews play other baddies. Look for a young Thomas Jane (he's the provider of the male nudity) in a small part and Jackie Earle Haley in a cameo near the end as a technician.
The main problem is the screenplay, by Rebecca Charles, which is rather muddled and Pyun has to work overtime to keep the audience interested in the characters and scenario. Thankfully, the movie does get better as it goes along and it culminates in one hell of a very funny and lively finish.
The undemanding fan of low budget genre efforts such as this should find "Nemesis" agreeable if not remarkable or memorable.
Six out of 10.
Compared to the other B movies of director Albert Pyun, this does deliver the goods when it comes to the action aspect. It gets down to business in record time, and soon enough there's plenty of gunfire and plenty of explosions. The special effects are for the most part pretty good. Only towards the end do they get rather laughable. Both the production design and the location shooting are excellent. Pyun and company really do create the sense of a world that's gone to hell.
There's a strong accent on sex appeal, with many hot women in the cast (Deborah Shelton is particularly ravishing as Julian) and female *and* male nudity. This has also got one hell of a fun B movie cast, with a couple of familiar faces, some of them Pyun regulars. Some of the acting (and dialogue) are highly stylized, so enjoyment of both is likely to be a matter of taste. Gruner is likeable in the lead, while Merle Kennedy, playing a character named Max Impact, does her best Lori Petty imitation. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays "terrorist" leader Angie- Liv, Yuji Okumoto is a hotel proprietor, Nicholas Guest and a hilariously accented Brion James are Thomersons' colleagues, and Vincent Klyn and Thom Mathews play other baddies. Look for a young Thomas Jane (he's the provider of the male nudity) in a small part and Jackie Earle Haley in a cameo near the end as a technician.
The main problem is the screenplay, by Rebecca Charles, which is rather muddled and Pyun has to work overtime to keep the audience interested in the characters and scenario. Thankfully, the movie does get better as it goes along and it culminates in one hell of a very funny and lively finish.
The undemanding fan of low budget genre efforts such as this should find "Nemesis" agreeable if not remarkable or memorable.
Six out of 10.