Cyber Tracker

CyberTracker is set in Los Angeles sometime in the near future where bodyguard Eric Phillips (co-producer Don 'The Dragon' Wilson) saves senator Robert Dilly (John Aprea) from an assassination attempt by a group known as the UHR, the Union of Human Rights, who are angry at Dilly for spearheading the Computerised Judicial System in which robots called CyberTrackers are sent out to determine & dispense justice on the guilty. Anyway, Eric saves Dilly who is very impressed & decides to see if he can trust Eric in his shady activities like the cold blooded murder of a traitor, being the fine upstanding guy that he is Eric isn't impressed when Dilly kills a woman & he is asked to keep it quiet. Eric escapes & sets out to bring Dilly down, however Dilly has lots of powerful friends & he uses his influence to frame Eric & have his CyberTrackers sent out in pursuit of him... Co-produced & directed by Richard Pepin I think films like CyberTracker give films a bad name, I didn't like it that much at all. The script by Jacobsen Hart is pretty predictable, it doesn't excite, it steals most of it's ideas & theme from other better sci-fi films & the heady mix of martial arts action & sci-fi don't gel that well. There a few fights, some car chases & a couple of shoot outs but it's all rather bland & forgettable. The film lacks imagination considering the film is set in the future & it deals with robots, technology & the way society is run & it's judicial system in particular. Speaking of which the fantastic Robocop (1987) mixed it's violent action & clever social commentary brilliantly but CyberTracker doesn't even try to make any relevant social statement or try to portray any meaningful moral message about law enforcement, the script basically uses the concept to have robots & shoot outs which Robocop did as well but also managed to include a good story. There is very little in CyberTracker that I can say was entertaining & that's what films are about right? Director Pepin does OK but nothing stands out, it's all rather forgettable & it's not particularly exciting. The sci-fi elements are nothing more than the robot side of things & as a whole the film doesn't look that futuristic. The action scenes are alright, there's some exploding cars & some shoot outs but nothing spectacular. Technically CyberTracker is average, for a film supposedly set in the future it already looks dated & the special effects are poor. The acting was bad, I wonder if Don 'The Dragon' Wilson signs cheques with that name? CyberTracker was a waste of my time, there is nothing here original or exciting & the action is instantly forgettable. Poor & that's all that needs to be said, not recommended.

This movie was obviously made with a very low budget, but did they have to make it so obvious? It looked like they made no effort to make the "future" look in the least futuristic. For example, the first scene takes place in an 80's office building and all the cars that get blown up are from the late 70's (I assume they didn't want to blow up cars that cost more than $500). Additionally, its pretty obvious that Don "the Dragon" is driving his personal car during the movie (after all, he did partially fund the film). Finally, they point out at the beginning of the film that all kinds of drugs are now legal in this new "cyberpunk" society. Not only does this never become important in the film, but later when don needs surgery without anesthesia, why doesn't he just go out and get some legal heroin or morphine? The whole movie is sloppy like this and completely anticlimactic since Don easily blows up an "unstoppable" Cybertracker about 25 minutes into the movie. However, if you find this movie cheap or free I'd watch it, the last scene is almost worth putting up with this whole film.

Oh, dear! This has to be one of the worst films I have ever seen. It's unbelievably repetitive; every scene seems to consist of people being gunned down, running round screaming, or being kicked in the face, which quickly becomes very dull. I wouldn't mind if the combat was even any good, but it isn't; the main character Phillips pushes the various goons over with ridiculous ease, and no matter how often he stands in full view of the Tracker, he never gets hit, even though extras and minor characters are being shot and blown up all around him. I've rarely seen a worse cast of actors (especially Don Wilson, if you can even call him an "actor") but that's not really surprising, given the dialogue they have to work with (sample line: "Computers killed my brother!"). The plot is a sub-par ripoff of the excellent Terminator; the special effects are laughable. Overall, this film is just utterly dreadful. And why does everything explode?

Here's a lively actioner with plenty of firepower but not much brain power behind it. Yep, we're back in the world of '90s straight-to-video cheapo science fiction thrillers and CYBER TRACKER shamelessly rips off THE TERMINATOR for much of its action sequences and plot ideas. Yes, the plot is light and merely an excuse for copious amounts of action, ranging from numerous explosions, car crashes, martial arts mayhem and extended shoot-outs, and you just end up wanting more out of the film in the end. I've lost track of all the flicks like this that were made in the '90s, mindless entertainment which doesn't register at all and which I probably will have completely forgotten about in a few days time. It's not that the film is that bad, it's not, and at least all the cast and crew have a minimum of skill behind them. It's just that the ambitious (but unimaginative) storyline is severely hampered by the low budget which states that all action scenes must take place in the dark in cheap-looking sets. Thanks to the lack of imagination on the part of the scriptwriters, the film's fate hangs on the strength of these action scenes which are pretty but very routine; it's amazing that so much action can be so unexciting. Pepin seems to have an obsession with filming cars flying up ramps and crashing down in flames which is nice the first time but soon becomes plain stupid. One time, a huge black van hits a car facing horizontally across its path and instead of ramming it to one side or flipping it in the air, the van instead flies OVER the bonnet and crashes into flames. There seems to be no logic behind these vehicle stunts. The "Trackers" of the title - there are about half a dozen, all played by the same big butch bald guy - are very unimpressive creations; somebody obviously hoped to emulate Arnie's menace but Jim Maniaci is a poor man's substitute for Schwarzenegger. He just looks like a typical street thug you see in a lot of movies with no visible intelligence. The minimal robot special effects involve the Trackers getting limbs blown off, shot and exploded, which leads to some cheap mechanical make-up effects and some weird animation of a "polymorph" substance inside these cyborgs (huh? what rot!). You've just gotta laugh at the opening shot, which rips off the beginning of TERMINATOR 2 as a Tracker enters a nightclub and surveys the crowd for possible threats complete with green robo-vision! The extended shoot-outs are monotonous and stupid, because the Trackers only hit their targets when it's convenient (ie. killing a minor character), and excessively violent as injured innocents are repeatedly shot in the chest in a cold-hearted manner. The martial arts scenes are okay but unimpressively shot, despite the best efforts of the cast. And what of the cast mired in this no-budget display of ineptitude? The lead is straight-to-video action man Don "The Dragon" Wilson, who has about half the acting ability of your average Van Damme but is pretty good at showing off his high kicks. Stacie Foster is the worthless love interest, and along with her the rest of the supporting good guys are so wooden and uninteresting characters that you don't give two hoots when they get massacred. The bad guys are far more interesting, led by the slimy John Aprea and Joseph Ruskin as a slimy corporate reptilian dude who unmistakably looks like Reggie Nalder. Also hanging around as a heavy is Australian martial artist Richard Norton. Sadly, this can't save what is undeniably cheap and tacky bottom-of-the-barrel slice of home video entertainment.

In the Los Angeles of the future, crime is rampant. So to help clear up the overly clogged judicial system, Senator Dilly (Aprea) institutes the American Computerized Judicial System. This basically consists of a robot, or android, or cyborg, or whatever (actually called a Tracker), that metes out justice right there on the spot, which means he's just going to shoot you. Dilly's bodyguards are Phillips (Wilson) and Ross (Norton). An underground movement of anti-robot revolutionaries springs up named the Union for Human Rights, who protest all of Dilly's ideas and plans. When Phillips falls in with this crew, Ross feels he knows too much and the former co-workers become mortal enemies on opposite sides of the issues. What will become the nature of justice in America? Find out by letting CyberTracker tell you today! Here we have a cross between R.O.T.O.R (1988)., American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993), Abraxas (1990), and Future Force (1989), along with fellow PM vehicle Hologram Man (1995) and more mainstream fare such as Universal Soldier (1992), Terminator (1984), Terminator 2 (1991) and Robocop (1987). But since it's a PM, it has all the high-quality explosions and action/stunt setpieces they're known for. And the movie as a whole is well-shot, in the PM style. So that prevents it from being your average sci-fi slog. But, falling into a common trap of low-budget future movies, everything is written in "future font", so you KNOW you're in the future. Just see David Heavener's Twisted Justice (1990) for further proof. That being said, the film drags once Phillips gets involved with the Union for Human Rights, but this is quickly corrected by the final fight between fan-favorites Richard Norton and Don the Dragon. Together at last, it's really a fan's dream to see them together. Their final fight is certainly worth seeing. Both Norton and Wilson show their prowess well in this movie, and it's always fun to see that the many goons all think they can take down Don the Dragon. As the bodyguard of Senator Silly..er...I mean DILLY, Wilson looks especially like Lou Diamond Phillips here. And his character's name is Phillips? Could that possibly be a coincidence? While the bald "judge jury and executioner" of the Tracker is a bit too ROTOR-y for its own good, it was played by Jim Maniaci of Timebomb (1991) and Cartel (1990) fame. Of the protesters, whose big gripe is that "Computers don't have hearts", Art Camacho appears. Wait until these people get a load of Apple. Hey-Oh! (to quote Ed McMahon). In another weird parallel, Phillips has a computerized companion in his apartment with a female voice named Agnes 1000. This is a lot like what Ed Marinaro has in The Protector (1999). CyberTracker is a good chance to see two of the DTV genre's leading lights in an offering by one of the top companies. Does it fulfill all the promise that description holds? Maybe not entirely, but you should probably see this anyway. For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I've never really warmed to Don 'The Dragon' Wilson as an action star. I think I remember seeing one of his early nineties flicks in my teens years and thought it was a cheap looking, badly acted affair with crappy fight scenes and then some! Mind you, I had been glued to the very best of Hong Kong action cinema since I was 6 years old, so it would take a lot to surpass that. In a nutshell - Cyber Tracker is a typical early nineties sci-fi B- movie, with crummy acting, bad fashion sense, and dodgy effects, but plenty of watchable fighting and gunplay that delivers lots of unintentional humour! In my opinion - Don Wilson is an odd looking man. That, along with his oddly shaped yet muscular body, can be very distracting when on screen. At times, he gets away with the acting side of things, but most times, fails to engage you with anyone he is portraying. None more so than in Cyber Tracker. But we don't usually watch these kind of movies for the acting right? Or the story? Right? Cyber Tracker came to us in the flood of early to mind nineties cyborg films, with the infamous Terminator franchise leading the way, and the fantastic Albert Pyun and Van-Damme feature, Cyborg, to name just a couple. Set in the near future, and shot on empty streets to give a more abandoned look, Cyber Tracker's main problem is its cast and their acting abilities, followed by the action and fight scenes. While not completely unwatchable, it just lacks a certain kind of choreography, especially with the martial talents of Wilson and the always wonderful Richard Norton on hand. Coming across as an opportunity wasted, the most of the action then turns to gunfire and explosions which passes the mark and helps get the viewer through to the end, offering a few more chuckles along the way. Cyber Tracker isn't great, but it ain't so bad either. Its a harmless mid nineties action flick that passes the time with a hint of nostalgia...

It's Terminator 1/2 right down to the shooting off the arm, the bar scene, and the flexing. Throw in some clear Robocop homages, even down to the shots and locale, then sprinkle in some pre-Matrix Matrix-esque rebellion bits and pieces. Once you're done there, sprinkle in some explosions and a bullet-proof chrome dome, a bunch of mullets, a vaguely Australian guy, and Don Wilson inspiring the movie "Her" by simulating getting an AI system drunk and you've got yourself Cyber Tracker. That being said, it's a fun movie, and Pirates of the Caribbean ripped off the "explode a guy by trapping explosives in him" scene.

I admit that I have a bit of a liking for B-Movies. Sure I like good ones like Spielberg and that as well, but I love a good no-brainer at times. And CYBERTRACKER certainly falls into that category. I can see how this film could be considered a TERMINATOR rip-off. Hell, the Core Trackers even have an Arnie dress sense (black leather biker jacket.). But the story is very entertaining, and the action pretty good. It's pretty obvious that Don Wilson and Richard Norton are going to have a showdown, because they're both martial artists. As for their performances: well Wilson (who reminds me of a bulked-up Lou Diamond Phillips) is okay, as is Norton. Jim Maniaci, who plays all the identical Core Trackers, is pretty menacing too. But a problem is, some of the characters are not too well-developed. Case in point: Joseph Ruskin's character Rounds, head of Cybercare, is meant to be the main villain, but he just comes across as a typical BUH-HAH-HAH villain. Also Steve Burton as Jared has little room to develop here. SPOILER WARNING: I haven't seen all of CYBERTRACKER 2 yet, but Jared turns up in it, despite having been apparently killed in this movie, and NO explanation is given for his survival. That said, the performances are all generally good, but they're the kind you might expect from a B-Movie. Also, like a typical action movie, it seems that the bad guys only miss when they shoot at the hero, which can be a bit ridiculous. I love the two little twists at the end of the movie (what Operation Echo turns out to be and how Rounds gets his comeuppance). I recommend this film if you're just looking for a good time.

Eric Phillips (Don Wilson) is a secret service agent who prevents the assassination of a senator however along the way he finds a conspiracy and has a tracker on his tail. The tracker by the way is bent on terminating Phillips. The most obvious inspiration for this low budget cheeseball action flick, is of course Robocop and while that film had some imagination and real energy, this just has a real life kickboxing champ running away from a robot. The movie isn't so awful as it is just empty and repetitive. The story is written in clichés and the characters are set up to be cut down by the various gunfire. Don Wilson, as usual, is terrible in the lead role. *1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

A mixture of 'Robocop' and 'The Terminator' and 'R. O. T. O. R' and several other films so not very original. It does have some good explosions and a car chase or two but the fight scenes are tame except for the last one between Don 'Drag On' Wilson and Richard Norton. Mr. Norton as usual is the best thing in this as he often was in low budget direct to video films. He's not on the screen that much which is a shame. Mr. Wilson can't act but can certainly shake a leg. The supporting characters are uniformly dull. And the last moment of the film is just ridiculous. Not one of PM Entertainment's better films but surprisingly it had a sequel.