I love tokusatsu, in any shape size or form. So I was excited about this film when I first heard of it, an American tokusatsu based on an anime I had never heard of with a really cool premise, a human discovers an alien device which turns into a suit of living armour (I love living suit superheroes). But there is one distinct problem with this concept, translation. This was during the 90s and people weren't sure how seriously to take anime yet, a problem which translates into this film which has no idea what kind of tone it's going for. Firstly the positives; the fight choreography in this movie is nothing short of fantastic combining martial arts and wirework with really cool powers, the look of the Guyver and the Zoanoids is really really well done, the music is intense and energetic and the acting ranges from over the top and goofy to good, Mark Hamill is in this film as a cop trying to solve the mystery and he is great as always. But the film is completely ruined by it's tone, there are two movies going on here, a goofy over the top fun film and a serious gritty film, the two mesh HORRIBLY and so the film ends up being no fun at all, Give it a miss.

I first watched this in the early 1990's, and I wasn't familiar with the animation or Manga versions of the "Guyver". I merely found this movie because of Mark Hamill was in it. And I have watched it a couple of times since then, with years in between each viewing.

And I will say that "Guyver" actually still holds its ground today, as it is still watchable and enjoyable, just as it was back in the early 1990's.

The story is about a young man who discovers an alien device which fused his own body with that of a cyborg organism, effectively making him an ultimate fighting machine. But the secrets of the guyver is sought by others, and soon monstrous creatures start to show up to take back the guyver unit.

"Guyver" has adequate special effects, especially taking into consideration that the movie is from 1991. Sure, you can clearly see that the creatures are just suits worn by actors inside them. But the design of the creatures is still impressive and passable even by today's standards. And the conceptual ideas behind the guyver and the creature designs is unique and quite memorable.

As for the acting, well, people were doing good enough jobs with their roles and characters. Of course, this is not thespian acting in the making, so you know what you are in for.

It was nice to see Mark Hamill in this movie, despite not being the lead actor, although he was billed on the front of the movie cover. So people might actually be lured in on false pretenses, because he does not have the lead role. But it was also nice to see David Gale, Vivian Wu and Jeffrey Combs make small appearances in the movie. And if you are a fan of Jeffrey Combs, then you should get a kick out of the fact that his character in "Guyver" is named Dr. East.

As campy and cheesy as "Guyver" actually is, it is still a very enjoyable and entertaining movie.