Bullet Points: Cyborg Cop

I am not exactly sure how 1993’s Cyborg Cop and I never crossed paths before my recent viewing, especially considering I saw both of the sequels years ago and admittedly had some Rifftrax like fun at their expense on this very site.

So I was excited to see Cyborg Cop pop up in my Tubi recommendations, finally I would be able to complete the trilogy…

• Double Trouble: The movie gets right into it with D.E.A. agents Jack Ryan (David Bradley, American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt) and his brother Phillip Ryan (Todd Jensen, Warhead) are in pursuit of a drugged out of his mind maniac who has taken a hostage and believes he is the son of a wealthy newspaper mogul… Phillip wants to call in a psychiatrist to try to talk their high as a kite target down, but Jack ain’t waiting and when he gets a shot, he takes it… there’s one problem, the guy WAS actually the son of the wealthy newspaper mogul as he claimed and Jack is absolutely buried in the press and forced to quit his Drug Enforcement Agency gig.

• Life Goes On: Jack may be out of the D.E.A. game, but his brother Phil is still going strong. Jack meets up with Phil and Frankie, Phil’s adopted son to be, at a local watering hole. While Frankie is enjoying his usual at the bar (a Coke mixed with root beer, orange soda, ginger ale and milk with a cherry on top), Phil tells Jack about a big mission he is going to be a part of on the island of St. Keith… an area of the world that Jack describes is about as stable as a two legged milk stool. Despite his brother’s protests, Phil is all in on this mission that is looking to take down a major drug lord named Kessel (John Rhys-Davies, Bloodsport III)
• The Kessel Run: Things go sideways with Phil’s mission in seemingly less than 12 parsecs. It is almost like the whole thing was a setup and Kessel knew they were coming, hmmmm… Kessel is definitely wired in to the goings on of the island with eyes and ears everywhere. From his control room, Kessel watches Phil in action and he is impressed, so impressed he wants to recruit Phil. That’s when Phil finds out the hard way that Kessel has his own personal cyborg named Quincy (Rufus Swart, River of Death) and worse, Phil the Cop is about to be turned into Phil the Cyborg… which I guess explains the title of the movie.

• Special Delivery: Phil must have figured out that Jack’s worries were justified the moment he stepped foot on St. Keith, because he had the good sense to send a message back to Jake, under the guise of a gift for Frankie. Hidden in the bottom of the box was a recorded message for Jack from Phil basically saying shit ain’t right. And that is all that Jack needed to hear before he meets up with Phil’s boss (and his former boss) at a bar where Jack manages to get into the obligatory action movie bar fight before he himself is setting footing on St. Keith looking for his brother.
• Jacked Up: Jack’s first run in on St. Keith is not with any of Kessel’s minions, instead it is a reporter named Cathy (Alonna Shaw, Double Impact). Jack is no fan of reporters after the whole killing the son of the newspaper mogul incident, so Jack and Cathy get off to a rocky start, but it is the kind of rocky start where you know the two are going to eventually hook up and they’ll earn that R rating with some tasteful nudity. Cathy’s reporter skills prove to come in handy too as Jack tries to track down his brother and that eventually make some trouble for Kessel. When that happens Kessel has a light bulb moment where he decides he will turn Jack into a cyborg too. Surely some of his nefarious business partners will jump at the chance to bid on a pair of brother cyborgs to provide security for their illegal activities… as you might imagine Jack is not down with that plan.

Cyborg Cop was easily the best of the Cyborg Cop series… David Bradley does not always get the love he deserves in my opinion (and that includes by me), but Bradley really shines in Cyborg Cop… John Rhys-Davies is at his bombastic best in this one, although you could make the argument that he is too entertaining to be considered truly evil, still his mere presence helps elevate the movie.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, David Bradley was a more than capable action hero and leading man. But he also was coming up at the same time as so many other direct to video action stars that it makes sense that he could be lost in the shuffle. It probably doesn’t help that Bradley stopped making movies after 1997, while some of Bradley’s contemporaries like Gary Daniels and Mark Dacascos are still in the game, so it is easier to forget what the action world had in David Bradley.

I have not stopped making Bonus Bullet Points and here is the proof…

• AKA: The working title for the movie was Cyborg Ninja and after I read that I found myself really wanting there to be a movie named Cyborg Ninja.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Alonna Shaw do a wardrobe change in the back of a pickup truck, then Cyborg Cop is the movie for you. This special cinematic moment also inspired my favorite quote in the movie…
• Favorite Quote: “Lady, what the hell were you doing in the back of my truck with your pants down anyway?” – Jack Ryan
• Movie Magic: While the bulk of the movie is set on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Keith, the movie was actually shot in South Africa. This was reminiscent of another Sam Firstenberg film, American Ninja 2: The Confrontation. To help create the Caribbean illusion, Cyborg Cop featured reggae music by Ringo.
• One Question: What happens to Frankie?