Set against a wasteland straight out of MAD MAX, CYBORG 3: THE RECYCLER takes place in a world where humans are villains and the future of the earth rests with androids. The film suffers from a variety of problems, none of which completely sink it, but there are also no innovative elements
that could have helped it rise above being just another genre piece.
In a high-tech future, cyborgs are hunted for their parts. One of these hunters, a "recycler" named Lewellyn (Richard Lynch), dreams of finding Cytown, a place inhabited solely by cyborgs. Meanwhile, a woman cyborg called Cash (Khrystyne Haje), visits a human doctor who informs her that she is the
first cyborg to be pregnant. Seeing her leave, Lewellyn and his assistant Jocko (Andrew Bryniarski) pressure the doctor for information on Cash. Learning that she is pregnant, they kill the doctor and set out after her.
Cash goes for refuge to Evans (Zach Galligan), a human expert in cyborg programming. Learning of her condition, he agrees to help her get away from Lewellyn. The two make it to Cytown where the other cyborgs agree to help them. Seeing the chase as a way to get to Cytown, Lewellyn organizes an army
of recyclers to attack. Cash goes into labor and Evans delivers a canister in which the fetus will grow. Lewellyn sends Jocko to disarm the cyborgs force field and he steals the canister. Cash goes after him and is caught, but quickly gets away with the baby. Evans gets the cyborgs ready for
battle; they have little trouble beating the recyclers. Lewellyn survives, however, and recaptures the canister. Cash grabs a gun and kills him, after which we learn that she has transferred the fetus to another canister.
The plot of this second, unrelated sequel to the original CYBORG is predictable, once one gets past the pregnant cyborg element (no good explanation is given for that anomaly). As for that, the film is very preachy, with lines like "She's not just a machine, she's the future." We even get a brief
anti-abortion message.
The cast is appealing. Galligan, best known for his turns in the GREMLINS films, has some charisma. The other standout is William Katt as a quirky cyborg named Decaf. Malcolm McDowell appears briefly as Lewellyn's employer, but is given little to do but appear menacing. In the final analysis, the
film has a lot of energy, but little originality.(Violence, profanity, nudity.) leave a comment