Cyber Tracker

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...

First things first, I hate low budget Sci-Fi. When I think of low budget Sci-Fi, I think of Albert Pyun. Which is not a not a pleasant thought. In fact, in general I don't like much Sci-Fi at all with the likes of Terminator being one of the few exceptions. I was in a shop which sold second hand VHS and DVD when I stumbled upon this with the price tag of £2.99. Noticing it was a PM Entertainment production who've been responsible for some very good DTV action material and that it starred Don "The Dragon" Wilson who I've had a soft spot for after seeing Ring Of Fire 3: Lion Strike, I decided that to throw down £3 that could just as easily disappear on a couple of beers was probably worth it. And for what it was, in my mind it was certainly worth those three English pounds!

I'm not quite sure when the setting of this movie is. The world it is based in, is not in the slightest bit futuristic bar all the computers. All of the vehicles are those of 80's/early 90's, so I'm guessing that it's set not long after it's present day and that computers have suddenly taken a huge leap in technology. In fairness though, computers in the 90's did advance hugely, with the sudden take off of the internet around 1995 and by now having grown into something which almost everyone I know has in their home. They just did not evolve *quite* as much in a short period of time as this movie may suggest. But anyway, even though the non futuristic world is probably due to the budget of the production, it certainly looks a lot less corny to look at nowadays than the world Timecop portrays as 2004, where you just tell a computer in your car where to go and it takes you home! Or the world that Escape From New York portrays as 1997, where Manhattan is one large high security prison!

Granted, this is much more of an action flick than a Sci-Fi flick and all the better for it. Special effects are kept to a minimum and those that are there are certainly acceptable. It's hard to call it a Terminator rip off as it brings new things of it's own, even if they are rather basic, rather than machine vs machine. This time, we have a human targeted by the villains with machines called "Cyber-Trackers". Unfortunately for them though, our Cyber-Tracker is no T-1000, as it appears to be a rather basic machine without much of a brain which does nothing but fire directly at it's target therefore can be easily outsmarted and burnt out.

The movie is full of your typically exaggerated PM Entertainment fiery action which is always a hell of a lot of fun. Some exciting car chases, shoot outs, and entertaining fight scenes are what keeps the movie going.

As with most Don "The Dragon" Wilson flicks, the acting is mediocre at best, with him being probably the best actor here and if you're the type who's concerned about that kind of stuff, then this could be a huge drawback. But some excellent action scenes, good pacing and a rather entertaining finale, rise it above mediocrity.

At the end of the day, it's not something that's going to change the weather or leave a huge impression on you after watching but it's fine entertainment, and is certainly light years above the Albert Pyun school of DTV Sci-Fi junk. Go in not expecting much, and you may just come out enjoying it like I did.

Rating: 06/10

Plot Synopsis: Los Angeles in the future. Crime is kept under control by Core Trackers, android assassins dispatched by the United States Computerized Judicial System to execute the guilty. Secret Service agent Eric Phillips prevents an attack on his boss, Senator Robert Dilly (the man who set up the USCJS), by the Union for Human Rights, a group of anti-machine activists. Dilly attempts to initiate Phillips into his private circle but the SS agent goes on the run after witnessing Dilly murder a UHR agent in cold blood. Dilly sends Core Trackers after him. Phillips joins the UHR group & helps them uncover a conspiracy involving Dilly.

"Cyber Tracker" is the first of a number of sci-fi / action hybrids directed by Richard Pepin, co-founder of PM Entertainment, a powerhouse of action films during the 1990s. Other Pepin films include "Hologram Man", "T-Force", "The Silencers" & "Dark Breed". Pepin films typically start with a major action sequence which lasts about 10 minutes before allowing the plot to kick in. The script for this film has a few plot holes – it is never clear what the conspiracy the heroes are trying to stop actually is. As for the acting, Don "The Dragon" Wilson may be tough but cannot act for beans, with little charisma. His co-stars are a lot better. The film's best bet are the action scenes, which throw up some impressive artillery fire, a huge bodycount & not one but three moments where a vehicle flies through the air, flips & hits the ground, exploding. The visual effects border on the cheap side & the musical score is low-key & shrill.

This is the first Don "The Dragon" Wilson movie I have ever seen, and nothing propels me to try out another one - sure, he is good at martial arts, but as an actor he has an uncharismatic screen presence. There's plenty of action in this film, with a new explosion every two minutes, and the effects are decent (considering the low budget), but the final Wilson vs. Richard Norton (a villain in some Jackie Chan movies also) showdown is the only notable fight scene. 0 out of 4 stars if you look at this as a "normal" film, 2 out of 4 if you look at it as a "B-movie".

This is one more film in a long series started by Terminator, about overmuscled androids fighting righteous humans. It is certainly hard to achieve something close to what the big budget Hollywood machine can do in effects, directing, and buying good actors. However, CyberTracker is not that bad - it has some logic, avoids awful acting, or too cheap effects. I have seen much worse in this genre. 5 out of 10 on my personal scale.