One Time Watch
Summary
Cyber Vengeance has a few decent action scenes but Matthias Hues is underused and the story for some reason didn’t grab me. There aren’t enough special features to justify the price tag either, so I’d advise to skip this one unless you really love the film.
Plot: In the year 2005, the prison system has been completely privatized and cyber prisons have become the new means for housing the guilty. The bodies of inmates are kept in suspended animation while their minds are kept in a virtual reality prison. Business tycoon, R.D. Crowley (Robert Davi) has found a way to capitalize on these virtual prisons, by allowing rich men to pay in order to engage in a form of virtual reality hunting that has real-life consequences for the inmates. Will (J. Gregory Smith), a guard at one of these prisons, soon finds himself coerced into one these virtual cat and mouse games. Armed with his knowledge of history along with his expert skills in virtual reality combat, Will must work with the inmates in order to save their lives and escape from the prison before it’s too late.
Review: Cyber Vengeance was a blind buy from Vinegar Syndrome, and I literally picked it up because it had Matthias Hues on the cover; sadly Hues has about 5 minutes of screentime in the entire movie and despite some fun moments this isn’t a great movie.
This was back in the 90’s when virtual reality was going to be the next big thing, but then it disappeared for several years only making a comeback recently. Robert Davi is the (sort of) villain who creates life like games where people can go under a headset and hunt others for sport, but they can do it in any period in history.
Our hero Will Singleton (J. Gregory Smith) is an expert gamer and works for Crowley (Davi) who sees great potential in him. Crowley runs a virtual prison, and, in that world, his rich buddies can hunt the inmates for sport. Will ends up on the run in the game with a few allies and they end up in various time periods being hunted by Crowley’s cronies.
This film is only 95 minutes and yet it felt a lot longer; for some reason the story just never grabbed me despite there being some decent action scenes. We get knife fights, shoot outs and explosions and yet I just didn’t care about anyone.
Once again Vinegar Syndrome have done the best they can, but I can’t help feeling there are other, far better movies that deserve a nice Blu-ray instead.
The special features are hardly Earth shattering with just one behind the scenes featurette called “Making Cyber Vengeance” (22min) – featuring interviews with the cast and crew. There is also a slipcover and a poster, but it’s not really worth the $40 I stupidly paid for it.
Overall, Cyber Vengeance has some decent action scenes and has some entertaining moments, but it didn’t really hold my interest and was a long 95 minutes. The Special Features are not really worth the hefty price tag either.
