The Zeiram Duology

The movies are great fun, sure, but this release is beyond problematic.Lemme say up front, I had not seen these movies before I bought this duology.I knew of the director's other work, and that was enough to get me on board. Zeiram was a great treat and I was very pleased with it. I even remarked to myself at how nice the picture quality was, despite it being on DVD. I should've knocked on wood.I popped Zeiram 2 in, and holy crap. Check out the attached picture. That's what the movie looked like on my TV. It's a widescreen (16:9) picture, in a full screen (4:3) frame, on an (16:9) HDTV. It's in a box, in a box. I'm not altogether unfamiliar with this occurrence, but what really pisses me off is that it's not even centered vertically! Meaning, if you went through the trouble of opening your TV's settings, and manually zooming in, you'd still have a big black bar across the bottom of your screen. This is the only DVD I've EVER ran into this on. It's pretty unwatchable in my opinion, given that even if you chose to ignore the black bar, all the zooming in makes the picture look rough. Unfortunately, given the relative obscurity of these movies in the United States, we're unlikely to get a re-release of Zeiram 2 anytime in the foreseeable future. As is, the only way to see the director's other movie, Cyber Ninja, is to buy a bootleg-looking set of 15 other ninja movies. It's buried somewhere in there. Full frame, of course.So, if you can snag this set for like $20- go for it. Zeiram alone is worth the price, and you even get some neat special features on the disc for the first movie. As a set, you'll also get Zeiram 2, such as it is. You can load the DVD into a laptop and mess around with it in say, VLC media player- and you'll get some luck there, but otherwise... ehh. Still, worth it for the first movie.

Don't know how to describe this. Its about bounty hunters, one human one intelligent computer; partners who take turns at directing their assignments. The woman is more reckless and violent but gets the job done, sometime at some expense to the job. Zeriam is an intelligent android who is part biologically intelligent and energy assimilating. The creature was in prison but it's unclear as to why or how since he breaks out with ease. Hence the bounty. This an example whose got the goods (and the looks) who dishes it out and take a beating equally. Now the comic relief is a pair of electrical utility trouble shooters who stumble into the operation and get in the way but end up helping a very little bit.There are definite echoes of Power Rangers and such, some of the rubbery hench-things are absurd. Sometimes the huntress makes postures and actions very reminiscent of Power Rangers. Still, I watch both episodes often, which is unusual for me. It is action tension and fun.

Zeiram is the designation of the biological weapon that Investigator Iria (Yuko Moriyama) must capture or destroy before it causes mayhem on the planet Earth. She does this by creating a "Zone", a duplicate of a town shunted into an alternate dimension. Zeiram is very hard to kill (like a Terminator) as the body is simply an artificial host for the actual entity. The second film has the entity as the control function of a mechanical construct and Iria must once again try to destroy it. Very good visual effects and the stories themselves are of good caliber. Zeiram (1991) and Zeiram 2 (1994) are good examples of Japanese science fiction and watchable for all ages.

The first move is better. Japanese with subtitles. The second is dubbed in English. Both movies are chronologically after the animated series, but aired first. Definitely B movies and low-budget special effects. Some bits I could here Mike Nelson, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot in my head.

Having warched the Iria animated films, I was looking forward to these two movies with live actors. Unfortunately, for me anyway, these were not entertaing at all. Iria was entirely different from the animated films. Here, she was elevated to some kind of super woman who stood up to Zeiram like he was just another bug to step on. Zeiram did not help much as, except, for the beginning of film two, he wasn't much of a real threat to the universe. In fact, I kept thinking that Norris or Seagal or Van Damme would make short work of this overrated bad guy wannabe. But the worst, even worse that Zeiram and Iria, were those two bumbling idiots that stumbled along surviving I don't know how and in both films coming through when the chips were down. How they lived to see the credits roll is a testament to what an inept super villain Zeiram really was.

The Duology is really Cool, because it is a Sequel to Zieram and as good if not better. This also has some bonus features that are excellent for you Zeiram Fans. I'm A Fan too, and the Sound through the Bose's Newest Sound Bar 135 is incredible. I did have a Lifestyle 48 but BOSE allowed me to Upgrade to this newest system which is WIRELESS... I'm glad I did and after setting it up, received my Zeiram Duology.... man, so Enjoyable. I love the lead heroine!!!

For fans of live-action Japanese sci-fi, this set is well worth checking out. Zeiram is a classic, full of wonderful images, great humor, and even some nice character work. While the sequel is not quite as shiny, even it has some fun moments and continues the story of the four main characters (space bounty hunter Iria, AI Bob, and the two human electricians). Think of it as a cross between Terminator, Alien, and every really silly kung fu action film you've ever seen. Two Thumbs Up!

Way too long