This 1992 sci-fier is often proclaimed the best film made by the late Albert Pyun, and that assessment may well be accurate. NEMESIS is stylish, involving and, in a rarity for a nineties-era Pyun production, actually received a legitimate theatrical release. It does, however, contain its share of issues–issues that have dogged many a Pyun film.
NEMESIS is stylish, involving and, in a rarity for a nineties-era Pyun production, actually received a legitimate theatrical release.
NEMESIS had its inception in late 1980s, as the last of a three picture deal with Cannon. It was to be titled ALEX RAIN and star Kelly Lynch. Cannon’s financial troubles killed the project, which took until 1992 to reach the screen, courtesy of Imperial Entertainment; it was they who forced Pyun to ditch his female protagonist in favor of Imperial’s “discovery” Olivier Gruner, a French kickboxer tapped to become the next Jean-Claude Van Damme (with Pyun doing justice, conceptually at least, to his original screenplay in three female led straight-to-video NEMESIS sequels).
The story, which borrows heavily from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, BLADE RUNNER and ROBOCOP, is set in 2027 AD. Alex (Olivier Gruner) is an LA cop whose motto is “You break the law, go to Hell!” Following a shootout with some women terrorists (nearly all the authority figures in this film are female) that wounds him severely, the cybernetically-enhanced Alex decamps to South America, where he becomes a data smuggler. But then he’s blackmailed by the LAPD.
The story, which borrows heavily from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, BLADE RUNNER and ROBOCOP, is set in 2027 AD.
Commissioner Farnsworth (Tim Thomerson) wants Alex to track down his former lover Jared (Deborah Shelton), who’s apparently looking to give incriminating political data to a terrorist organization. To help persuade Alex a time bomb has been implanted in his heart, and is set to detonate in 72 hours.
Alex’s three day odyssey takes him to Java, Indonesia (actually Pyun’s native Hawaii). Alex quickly learns that the terrorists are actually the good guys, working to free humanity from enslavement by androids who are replacing powerful people, including Farnsworth, with robotic duplicates. That revelation is of course followed by lots and lots of shoot-outs, explosions and shots of ripped android skin exposing metal innards.
Pyun was in a more stylish mood than usual, resulting in a film that despite its many issues (see below) largely delivers the grade-B goods. The Steadicam camerawork is sleek and assured, and the action sequences extremely well-choreographed. Standout set-pieces include a mass brawl in which Alex knocks out several androids who all immediately get right back up after he exists the scene, and, in the most striking and diverting—and flat-out nutty—sequence, a shoot-out on the top level of a hotel that Alex escapes by machine gunning his way through each floor (far more, clearly, than the mere four stories we’re shown).
Pyun was in a more stylish mood than usual, resulting in a film that despite its many issues (see below) largely delivers the grade-B goods
Unfortunately that scene occurs halfway through the film, and nothing in the second half is able to top it. Nor are the special effects (shepherded by TERMINATOR 2’s Gene Warren Jr.) anything special, particularly in the shockingly crude stop motion robots shown in the final scenes (Pyun made an attempt at digitally enhancing the effects in 1999, but the money ran out before he was able to get much done).
Pyun’s script (credited to “Rebecca Charles”) is ridiculously complicated, especially in light of the film’s highly simplistic, action-based orientation. Nor is Pyun above utilizing numerous action movie clichés, such as the overly talkative bad guy trope that takes the form of Farnsworth in a climactic scene, who trains a gun on Alex and then, instead of firing, delivers a lengthy monologue that allows the hero time to figure out a way to save himself.
The cast is a nineties B-movie buff’s wet dream, with Tim Thomerson, Brion James, Deborah Shelton and (in a tiny role) Thomas Jane all making appearances. Olivier Gruner, alas, is a liability; the man cuts a striking figure, but his wooden emoting and limited grasp of the English language (in which area he makes the aforementioned Jean-Claude Van Damme look downright Shakespearean) ruin the effect.
Vital Statistics
NEMESIS
Imperial Entertainment
Director: Albert Pyun
Producers: Ash R. Shah, Eric Karson, Tom Karnowski
Screenplay: “Rebecca Charles” (Albert Pyun)
Cinematography: George Mooradian
Editing: David Kern, Mark Conte
Cast: Olivier Gruner, Tim Thomerson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Merle Kennedy, Yuji Okumoto, Marjorie Monaghan, Nicholas Guest, Vince Klyn, Marjean Holden, Jennifer Gatti, Thom Mathews, Brion James, Deborah Shelton