Ganheddo (1989)

In a Terminator-style techno-hell future, salvage-seeking bandits land on an island in the Pacific that was the site of the last battle between the armed forces of humanity and Chiron 5, a renegade supercomputer. While seeking out valuable computer chips and robot spare parts, the scavengers are attacked and swiftly killed off by the resurgent computer. The sole survivor, a Japanese mechanic called Brooklyn (Takashima) reluctantly teams up with Sergeant Nim (Bakke), a Texas Air Ranger who's come to the island in an attempt to save the world from the reawakened Chiron 5.

An expensive Japanese live-action movie that was a big hit on its home turf in 1989, this travels rather less well than such cartoon equivalents as Akira or even the micro-budgeted but more visionary Tetsuo films. Also on hand are a pair of feral but irritating kids called Seven and Eleven and a former friend of Brooklyn who's been resurrected as a killer cyborg. Gunhed itself is a cross between a Transformer Robot and one of the Thunderbirds, and boasts enough firepower to stir-fry Godzilla. To take on Chiron 5, Brooklyn has to get Gunhed operative again, and overcome his own claustrophobic dread of sitting in a cockpit so he can pilot the deathware for the final blast 'em up.

With its race-against-time progress through the levels of Chiron 5's lair and Gunhed's continual battles against new perils, the script seems patterned on the structure of a computer game, which sadly gives it a numbing, button-pushing feel even when spectacular elements are in play. There are fun moments, mainly when things are being blown up or torn apart, but it has a gloomy, oily look that isn't very pleasing and somehow dampens the thrills.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: Empire no.58 (April 1994) p.32 (UK)

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