Despite the retitlings that have been given to the films, what we have here is actually the second and third Cyborg Cop films. To complicate matters a little more, they're presented here in the wrong order - Terminal Impact is actually Cyborg Cop III and Cyborg Soldier is actually Cyborg Cop II. Seeing as there's no continuity between the films and they're really sequels in name only, it doesn't matter, but for those who want to know what they're watching, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Terminal Impact:

This third film in the series is a sequel in name only as it doesn't feature any of the characters from the first two movies, though there are a few cyborgs kicking around in here causing problems for the good guys.

This time around, we've got two heroes to cheer for in the form of Saint (Frank Zagarino) and Max (Bryan Genesse), two Federal Agents operating out of Iowa (what is it with Iowa?) who come to the aid of a sexy female reporter named Evelyn who has the unfortunate luck of being the only surviving witness of a cyborg attack that left a whole lot of innocent people dead. These malicious killing machines are the brainchildren of a sinister and ever so greedy businessman named Sheen, the evil genius behind Deltatech, who has been experimenting on unwitting college students and turning them into his personal robotic minions.

Not only did Evelyn witness the horrifying attack, she also managed to swipe an important computer chip that has the ability to stop Sheen's cyborgs cold within twenty four hours. This means that he's launching an all out assault to get back that chip no matter the cost, even if it means killing off our heroine. That's where Max and Saint come in – they've got to keep her alive until the cyborgs can be stopped or all will be lost.

While there are a few decent action set pieces in here, highlighted by the final shoot out that takes place in an auto wrecking yard, Terminal Impact is little more than a by the numbers low budget action film. While Zagarino and Genesse are fine in the lead they aren't given a whole lot to do outside of delivering some very routine dialogue and performing some rather predictable combat and shoot out scenes.

Directed by Yossi Wein, who served as the cinematographer on the first two Cyborg Cop films, the movie is paced well enough but it lacks any real charm or suspense. Nothing goes so over the top as to surprise you nor does anything really deviate from the formula. It's fine as a time killer but it doesn't have much replay value.

Cyborg Soldier:

Jack Ryan (kickboxing champion David Bradley reprising his role from the original Cyborg Cop) is a tough cop who doesn't always do things by the book. He and his partner launch an assault on a drug factory but the man behind the sinister operation, Jesse Starkraven (Morgan Hunter), kills Ryan's partner during the raid. Eventually Starkraven is caught and while being transported to a maximum security prison, a covert government organization snatches him and bring him back to their secret laboratory where they turn him into a cyborg soldier (along with a few other guys). This super secret organization is the ATG – Anti Terrorist Group – and it seems that they've been turning no-goodniks like Starkraven into cyborg soldiers for the express purpose of using them to fight evil around the world. The scientist who created them even has a handy wristband that allows him to control their every move – too bad for him that while he's loaded and making out with a floozy one night Starkraven comes to life and snatches the wristband!

After killing the scientist and his lady friend, Starkraven and his army of cyborg soldiers, who he know has complete control over, they head to Iowa (or at least somewhere that might be South Africa posing as Iowa!) where a cyborg reproduction facility exists in secret (on the outside it looks like a harmless nuclear power plant!). They kill everyone there and take it over in hopes of creating more and more cyborg soldiers to eventually take over the world, but they didn't bank on having to deal with Jack Ryan and his fanny pack of doom!

Directed by none other than Sam Firstenberg, the man behind American Ninja and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, this Nu-Image production is completely over the top and about as ridiculous as action movies can get. And you know what? It's a whole lot of fun. Bradley, seeming to channel the spirit of Lorenzo Lamas from Renegade what with his biker outfit and Harley Riding, is the king of cool (though he seriously does keep his .45 in a fanny pack, not a holster – a curious decision for an action hero to make!) and you just know he's going to save the day. He's easy to cheer for when the villain is as despicable as Starkraven is in this film and Morgan Hunter has no qualms whatsoever about chewing through all the cardboard scenery he's surrounded by.

Sure, the movie rips off Robocop and The Terminator but even if it isn't going to win any points for originality it's an insanely fast paced and unintentionally hilarious film full of the kind of bad dialogue and ridiculous action set pieces that b-movie fans know and love. If you enjoyed the Cannon Films action movie output of the eighties (of which Firstenberg helmed his fair share!) then this one will be right up your alley. There's plenty of action, a whole lot of bloodshed, oodles of explosions and even some completely gratuitous nudity.

Video:

Both of the films on this disc receive a 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and for the most part they look pretty decent overall. There is a fine coat of grain over the image and some mild print damage does appear in the form of the odd speck here and there but the general quality of the image is nice. Colors look natural, if a tad flat, and are well defined, black levels are pretty strong and don't pixelate or break up at all, and there aren't any problems with mpeg compression that were noticeable during playback. While there is some edge enhancement and aliasing (look for it along buildings and car grills specifically) it isn't overbearing and overall the movie looks quite good.