Movie Talk - The Nemesis Movies

So, I got bored one night. Since we’re still in pandemic mode, that’s something that happens a lot. I started to peruse Amazon Prime and came across some sci-fi movies from the 60’s to today. One series I saw that piqued my interest was the Nemesis movies. I vaguely remember seeing the covers to the movies at the video store back in the day, and I guess I was kinda interested. I couldn’t get them since they were rated R. At least the covers looked cool. So, what did I do this week for some unholy reason? Watch these crappy movies.

The series looks like its cyberpunk but sticks to it about as well as Shaq scoring from the 3-point line. The movies are like hybrids of The Terminator, Robocop, Tarzan, Rambo, Beach Biker Babes, and that Van Damme movie, Cyborg. They were all directed by Alex Pyun, the director of Cyborg, the 90’s Captain America movie, and a lot of low-budget movies. We start out with Nemesis in 1992. We then get Nemesis 2: Nebula released in 1995.  Nemesis 3: Prey Harder (What the Frack) and  Nemesis: Death Angel (or Cry of Angels) were released in 1996. 21 years later, Nemesis 5: The New Model was released. Yeah, Pyun had to crank one more out, didn’t he?

Nemesis

Nemesis starts out in a somewhat dark future. The LAPD has gone into the cyborg business and has cybernetic bounty hunters going around taking out cyber-terrorists. Alex Raine (Oliver Gruner), our main cyborg, gets tired of the life and tries to retire. He gets conned into one more mission, though. Farnsworth, his boss, forces him to chase down Jared, his ex-girlfriend and former boss, because she stole some vital information, and she’s planning on giving to a group known as the Red Army Hammerheads. Farnsworth also plants a bomb in Alex’s heart so he’ll play along. Alex heads to a country called Sheng Loo and finds out that things aren’t what they may be. Throw in guns, cyber-gore, some nudity, and some wacky action.

While this movie wasn't great, its effects weren't half bad.

This was actually not half-bad. It’s not a good movie to be sure, but it is pretty entertaining. Compared to the other movies on this list, it’s gold. The action scenes are entertaining enough. I actually had to post this one hilarious scene in a story on Instagram. Alex is an okay protagonist, though the acting ain’t too good. Oliver Gruner also reminds me of Adrian Paul for some reason. The special effects are also not half-bad. The movie seems to take a lot of stuff from previous films like Cyborg, The Terminator, Blade Runner, and others. I even saw some actors from those movies in here. Even Thomas Jane makes an appearance!

That’s all the good I can say, though. The acting overall sucks so much. It also doesn’t help that the dialogue sounds badly dubbed. The story has some promise, but it just feels hampered with all the bad stuff. It gets confusing sometimes as well. The last 20 minutes pretty much turns into an overlong action scene. I don’t know how many times SAM (the advanced cyborg) dies, but it got old after the third time. Overall, it’s a fun, riffable movie that is the best of these bunch.

Nemesis 2: Nebula

Nemesis 2 pretty much craps on all the promise the last movie has. Also, the budget seems to be 2,000 bucks. Now, we follow Alex (Sue Price), a genetically engineered woman from the year 2077. In the future, the cyborgs rule, so what’s left of humanity creates a DNA strain that could stop the cyborgs. A woman is impregnated and has Alex. The Cyborgs get wind of it, and the woman goes back in time to East Africa in 1980. The lady dies and leaves Alex to be raised by a tribe. 20-something years pass, and the Cyborgs send an enforcer back in time to find Alex and bring her back. A lot of shooting, flipping, and bad acting ensues.

So… this wasn’t good. I didn’t know what I was running into, but when I saw how crappy and cheap the “Future” looked, I knew this was gonna suck. It’s like a bad remake of the Terminator since we have this cyborg chasing around Alex who’s not the kinda cool dude from the first movie. No, we get Alex, a short, white, buff lady who’s trying to pull off a Bo Derek look with her hair. It also doesn’t help that she can’t act and that we’re stuck with her for a few movies. So, strap in, folks!

I guess that's hot... 

The story is pretty bland and basically has no relation to the first movie. We just get “Bland Hotness” being chased by Nebula, the cyborg, for the whole movie. We also get saddled with a character who I was glad died at the end of this. When Megan’s plane crashed, I clapped because this was a horrible person. The special effects are also crap. The action and music are also not that good. It’s just all a trainwreck of a movie. I will say that the Nebula suit looked fine when it wasn’t being covered by some crappy CGI effects. Plus, there are some action beats that are okay at best. In the end, this was bad, but not as bad as what we get later.

 

Nemesis 3: Prey Harder or Nemesis 3: Time Lapse

This movie pretty much takes place right after the first movie. I even read that the movie basically takes unused footage from the second movie. We find Alex (Sue Price) in the desert suffering from amnesia. We then find Farnsworth 2 tending to her wounds. Yeah, we actually get a tie to the first movie! We then spend the rest of the movie in flashback mode. It turns out that another group of cyborgs led by Farnsworth came back to find Alex. She even has other genetically enhanced humans looking for her as well. What follows is more action, some more bland acting, some actual okay characters, and an ending that shockingly pissed me off.

These two annoyed me. Ha Ha Ha!

You know, I thought that second movie was bad, but this takes the cake. It’s pretty much more of the same in terms of bad acting, really lame special effects, and a confusing story. We literally don’t find out what’s going on until 20 minutes into the movie. Before that, Alex is having flashes of the last movie. There’s a difference between taking my time and wasting my time. After that, we get the rest of the movie in flashback. This was just a horrible way to tell the movie. Heck, the movie ends with the flashback ending, Alex wondering what happened to her companions, and the audience looking dumbfounded at the screen.

The flashback itself doesn’t help things. At least this time, the overall plot is moving forward with Alex learning of her true lineage, but that’s it. We get some really annoying cyborgs from the future in the form of two twins whose hammy acting almost made me turn this thing off. We also get some crappy mercenaries which is always good, I guess. In the end, the movie leaves us with the promise of a fourth movie… uhhhhhhghhhh. Just guess how I feel about Prey Harder. It makes me want to pray harder so these movies won’t suck so much.

 

Nemesis 4: Death Angel or Nemesis 4: Cry of Angels

Death Angel takes place in 2080. The war between Cyborgs and Humans has come to a cease-fire. Alex (Sue Price) is now a bounty hunter for a pretty shady business. How she ended up in 2080 is anyone’s guess, and she now has cybernetic enhancements. Her boss assigns her to take out a powerful crime boss, but she ends up killing the crime boss’s son by accident. A 100 million dollar hit is placed on her, so she has to go on the run yet again. A lot of talking, nudity, bad effects, and bad acting ensue.

She mostly walks around in this. Why? Shrugs.

So… this is probably the worst of the bunch here. The only good things about it are the short runtime and the fact that at least they’re trying something different with Alex. It barely works, but at least they tried to add something and gave Sue Price more lines. Other than those things, this is a turd. You’d think that it’s the usual stuff from the previous outings, but it feels worse here. It feels like they had $800 for the budget. It was shot weird and the film grain on it looked horrible. That could’ve been the copy, but another review on YouTube mentioned the same thing.

We had Alex running around in barely anything. I guess Alex Pyun wanted to add to the “Skinimax” section at Movie Gallery because we get quite a bit of nudity here. I guess folk could get pleased with seeing Alex crush dudes with her thighs.  While she’s not sporting the braids, she’s sporting a really obvious wig. Things just feel so inconsistent here with the story and her character. We don’t even find out how this ties to the last movie, and that’s kind of a shame. Overall, the whole movie is dreadful. I can see why it took 21 years for someone to attempt a sequel.

 

Nemesis 5: The New Model

This movie was released in 2018. While we get Sue Price back as Alex, it’s only a cameo. It mainly revolves around her adopted daughter, Ari Frost. In the movie, Alex trains Ari, a regular human, after all that happened to her. Ari then gets sent back from 2084 to 2077 when the Human-Cyborg war was still going on. Her mission is to stop the Red Army Hammerheads from dominating Earth through the media. In 2077, she amasses a group of followers to take down the organization. A lot of bad acting, cheap effects, and lame action occur.

Eh... her stance is off.

Well, at least it was better than that fourth movie. Yes, this movie is cheap as hell, and while Alex Pyun is an executive producer here, I wonder if he directed this because this has all the same trappings as the last three. The movie tries its best to explain everything that happened in the franchise and even gives a reason on why Alex is back in the future. The story is also not that bad in concept, but the execution is pretty much off. It does look like everyone knows that this is a Sharknado-esque type of movie, so it doesn’t seem horrible.

That being said, it’s still crap. We barely get invested in Ari, our new lead character. After the intro rolls, we basically get about 50-60 minutes of runtime. While that make the pain end quicker, it still sucks that not a lot of good quality was here. The budget also looked really low… like about 100 bucks plus some change low. The effects look horrible. As I said above, the acting is pretty dreadful all around. At least you could find some okay acting in the other movies… I mean, it’s barely there, but still. Overall, it’s another crap-fest, but it somehow seems a little better than Death Angel.

…………………………………………….

In the end, these are some crappy movies. Yes, the first movie has its charm, but even it can’t escape its problems. If you’re a fan of B to D grade movies like these, I’d at least check them out. At least check the first one out. It’s not that good, but it is pretty entertaining. As for the rest, the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in quick. Well, I think it’s finally time for me to watch a certain Batman film that has him getting up close and personal with another Caped Crusader… just guess. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Also, if the cyborg apocalypse does indeed happen, find bland, muscle-bound folk to protect you.