Mikadoroido (1991) User Reviews

Look out for the RoboKill! (minor spoiler?)

[devojane-2 · 6/10 · 26 November 2004]

My friend Nicholas rented this based on the title alone, but we were not disappointed. It seems like it is going to be a standard slasher, but it sorta changes gears near the end. The title was rather more accurate than I'd hoped; I was looking forward to some robokilling actually in the disco Layla, but true to the title all the robokilling really was beneath it. Watch for the Keith Haring-esquire mural... of death! I'll admit I fell asleep and missed a few minutes near the end, but that's what I get for watching a movie at 2am after all that thanksgiving turkey.

P.S. Don't miss the great neon sign at the disco Layla, it's stainless steel and neon in Arabic and English (in Japan, of course).

Good retro steam punk thriller about a "robot" on the loose

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 27 April 2008]

At the end of the second world war the Japanese buried one of their projects to make a super armored soldier. Almost fifty years later it wakes up and begins to kill. Steam punk-esquire scifi action film is a pretty good little time killer. Its very pulpy and grind house like in that its just trying to tell a rip roaring little tale made before computer generated effects (ooo models). I have to be honest since this film was highly touted by the publisher of Asian Cult Cinema in his books on the subject. Back when he was still running Video Search of Miami this was high on my must see list, but for whatever reason I never ordered it. Now that its out in an official US release I've picked it up and found that too many years of waiting for a GREAT film have taken its toll. Its a good one but not a great one. Worth a look as a rental.

Disco robot craziness

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 9 January 2021]

During World War II, the Japanese military had a secret lab in Tokyo where three soldiers would be transformed into Jinra-go, which were armored superhumans. By March 1945, only one soldier was ready when the atomic bomb was dropped and Japan surrendered.

45 years pass, as modern Tokyo is being rebuilt and an area is being made to a nightclub called Discoclub Layla, the bad wiring of the new development has reactivated the lab in the basement and now Mikedroid is loose.

Director Tomo'o Haraguchi also made Death Kappa, some of Ultraman Ginga and Kibakichi: Bakko-yokaiden, which is one of my favorites. It's interesting in this movie that the action never really seems to be seen on screen. It's either in shadow, a silhouette or in close-up almost manga-like panels, done as stills. Whether this was a budgetary or artistic choice is unclear.

There's also two ancient supersoldiers who were part of the same program as the robot, who looks like a steam-driven samurai, which is quite the artistic choice. Actually, this movie is full of that kind of off the beaten path magic, such as a kill that has a girl leave behind a stick figure of blood that perfectly fits into a mural, the drab bunker that houses the robot and plenty of shadowy kills that never really show the monster until the end. For a budget direct-to-video movie, this has plenty to like.