Bullet Points: Cyborg: Deadly Machine
Future wars always suck. It seems like we’re destined to get our asses handed to us by either aliens or laser-wielding robots and I, for one, and sick and tired of it. In fact, as I write this, I am gathering up all of the additional football shoulder pads from the local used sports store and getting as much black spray paint as possible. I’ll be damned if those robots catch my shoulders unprotected!
Synopsis: In an apocalyptic future, a group of hunted resistance fighters led by Stacy try to find a simple chef named Alex Rayne, who holds the key to the annihilation of the cyborg army, controlled by Magnatron Corp.
- The war to end all wars…for now: It is the year 2039 and a massive war between “east and west” has broken out. Mega Corporation Magnatron Corp. has developed some robots that will make wars much less deadly for us humans. Sadly, we all know how this story ends and the cybernetic soldiers quickly turn against humanity and kill half the world’s population. Bummer….
- That opening: As soon as Cyborg: Deadly Machine opens, you will be immediately transported to 1980 something and feel like you’re watching that Terminator sequel that never happened. You know, the one where we actually got to see the future war between humanity and a very deadly robot army. This film begins with that old familiar text from The Terminator and nods don’t end there. The entire film is essentially some parallel story to that of John Connor, but none of it was as cool as seeing that opening text.
- Indy’s frying pan: The entire story to Cyborg is Aurelie Aloy’s Stacy searching for badass Alex Rayne (Dave Trix) in a world that is totally shit. It isn’t necessarily Rayne that they want, though, but his little robot toaster AI buddy who can hack into the robot system and blow up a nuclear warhead in their possession. Rayne isn’t much to sneeze at, either. He kicks plenty of ass himself and even gets to have an Indiana Jones moment but instead of the pistol in a swordfight, he gets a frying pan in a fist fight.
- Tough guy scientist: With a short runtime and a smaller budget, Deadly Machine gets off to a frantic pace and unloads as much action as possible in between all those word things. Stacy finds Rayne and his robot friend and takes them to a human safehouse/base where they are soon infiltrated by a super terminator robot and most of the base is wiped out. Even one of the nerdy scientists takes up a gun and goes out to fight this thing. He even gets to utter a couple good lines (“It seems I’m fucked. But so are you.”) before he meets his end.
- Homage City, baby: Despite by bad Dick Vitale reference, Deadly Machine is spilling over with homages to some of the greatest sci-fi/horror/action movies in history. From the word “go”, images and words ripped straight from The Terminator, Predator, RoboCop, and Aliens flow across the screen in a way that truly shows how much writer/director Mathieu Cailliere loves this genre.
- Same shit, different day: Rayne uses this as his go-to line and you can most definitely see this on the poster for the sequel (fingers crossed). It becomes his life mantra in a way. Each day is just as bad as the previous, with little hope of anything better. I think that may go out the door a bit when Stacy shows up but I could be thinking with the wrong head again.
- Cross promotions: The film blasts its way to the finale and then all of a sudden we’re in one of the side-scrolling Double Dragon style video games. In it, Rayne and Stacy still kick a whole lotta ass and we’re left wondering what exactly could come next. The answer? Toys…..
The Verdict: I had a blast watching Cyborg and if you enjoyed Kung Fury a couple of years ago then I think you’ll love this one too. The bar for short films like this has been raised and I believe that this is another case where it will lead to bigger things for writer/director Mathieu Cailliere. At least I hope it will. It’s not hard to see how much love he put into this humorously bloody sci-fi actioner. Check this puppy out on YouTube now and see for yourselves!
