You Should Be Watching: Gunhed (1989)

While this type of post has normally been used to harp on the quality of one television show or another, I would instead like to talk about a film that has been out for over 30 years. In doing so, I’m assuming that you’ve either never seen the film or you are like me and had never even heard about it. It was only a few days ago when I happened across some still photos of the movie on a Twitter account. It piqued my interest right away.

Despite the fact that this movie poster is all sorts of badass, the pictures that gave me the “gotta have its” reminded me very much of the dirty, grimey, future worlds of Aliens and The Terminator. If there is a man alive who is better at sci-fi than James Cameron then I would love to meet them. Until then, I have to assume JC is the man and anything that looks like his world has to be witnessed.

That Cameron appeal that Gunhed has in pictures definitely translated to the film. You won’t see the majesty or epic nature that a man like Cameron would do in Gunhed but it feels like drinking the Busch Light version of a delicious home brew Jim Cameron beer. Gunhed was released only three years after Aliens and it’s easy to see that the films share a lot in common in terms of tone, both in futuristic worlds and the colors on screen. I think this version of futuristic Earth is much closer than anything you see in most other cinema. Humans being replaced and eventually targeted by AI and cybernetic systems feels like the future to me, or maybe I was just raised on that notion. No fate but what we make….

All of this talk about Cameron isn’t meant to distract you from the big fuckin’ mecha above, it’s simply to win you over without all that eye-gasmic robot battling. I will be the first to tell you that I’m not a whiz when it comes to Anime so I can’t say if this one is based on any particular one, but it sure feels like a live action version of something and if that is the case I would wager that it rules too!

Gunhed often feels like it’s just waiting to get really, really good. There are stretches where the film doesn’t have much action and those, to me, are the worst parts. When the movie hits, though, you’ll be left wondering how something that looks so cool ever slipped by your precious eyeballs.

Due to public domain law (or something), you can watch the movie for free right here.