A sci-fi, romantic comedy that is sweet and engaging...
What if James Cameron's "Terminator" were a love story? Sounds ludicrous but that's exactly what Jae-Young Kwak's "Cyborg She" is - a love story between a high-tech cyborg from the future (Hayase Haruka) and her inventor boyfriend Kitamura Jiro (Koide Kesuke). In the year 2070, a kindly, frail and physically handicapped Jiro had built a female cyborg (in a homage to "Terminator" the cyborg is a "Cyberdyne Model 103") as a personal aide to assist him in his daily life. Equipped with a time travel device, Jiro sends the cyborg into the past in an attempt to prevent the incident that crippled him (in 2007 a mentally unstable office worker shots him in a restaurant shootout). The cyborg meets up with the younger Jiro and successfully saves him from being shot by the gunman.As Jiro and the Cyborg slowly start to form a relationship, the cyborg becomes a bit of a celebrity as she uses her high tech powers to perform a number of heroic deeds (she saves a girl from being hit by a car; she stops a hostage taker from killing one of his victims; saves people from a fire) as well as gets into a bit of innocent mischief (she takes clothes without paying; does the "robot" in a disco).
Jiro and the Cyborg's happy life however comes to an abrupt end as a massive earthquake hits Tokyo, effectively destroying the capital. While the Cyborg does her best to save Jiro, she unfortunately suffers serious damage during the quake and now Jiro must try and save her.
"Cyborg She" is directed by Korean director Kwak Jae-Young who many may recognize from his popular 2001 hit "My Sassy Girl". Kwak's inventive humor and storytelling is again much in evidence here and he delivers quite a satisfying and entertaining movie. While some of the comedy may border on the silly, I found myself laughing at some of the visual gags. The film borrows liberally from other sci-fi films notably "Terminator" and "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" but crafts an interesting time-jumping, century-spanning love story that is quite effective and endearing.
The VFX/SFX work was surprisingly very good and top notch especially with the climactic destruction of Tokyo as well as some of the Cyborg's robotic effects.
Some of the story's loopy continuity and "Back To The Future" styled time- travel concepts are a bit hard to follow at times but Kwak does make it work in the end and does pull some inventive story twists.
Hayase Haruka (Memories of Matsuko) is alluring and cute in her role as the future Cyborg. She makes for a likable if but somewhat stiff heroine. Koide Kesuke's (Pacchigi!, Koizora, Kisaragi) is also likable as Jiro (in a "Otaku"/anime geek sort of way). Their love story begins in typical awkward fashion but soon develops into a sweet romance thanks to their nice and controlled performances.
Kiritani Kenta (Crows Zeo, 69 Sixty Nine) does a lot of scene stealing as Jiro's goofy college friend. His scene where he gets the Cyborg drunk is fun to watch. The always funny Takanaka Naoto (Swing Girls, Water Boys) also makes a hilarious cameo as one of Jiro's wacky and high-strung college professors.
"Cyborg She" is an enjoyable sci-fi fantasy that will have audiences hooked from the start and invested in the romance between the attractive leads. While some may find the story a bit melodramatic and the humor a tad forced, I liked the film a lot.
Note: There was some initial confusion regarding whether "Cyborg She" was in some way a remake or re-interpretation of Chan-wook Park's 2006 "I'm A Cyborg But That's OK". While both films do share more than a few similarities and themes, they are two completely different films and are not connected in any way. Although I am still of the opinion that Kwak was influenced by Park's film, no official connection exists as far as I've been able to gather.
score 7/10
jmaruyama 22 June 2008
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1897786/35804
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