I first heard of this movie after looking up the term "mandroid" in google and having it come up. That goes back to the 80s and when I first saw the exceptional film, Eliminators, which continues to be one of my all time favorites (and hence, fostered my affection for Denise Crosby... one of my all time favorite actresses!!) and the only other movie I know of that has a "mandroid" in it. Two very different mandroids, but I like em' both.
So, here we go. This movie, the first in a two movie series, tells the origin story of a couple super hero esk characters and a villain. The whole movie has a made-for-TV superhero vibe, although these are not your typical Marvel style heroes. Instead, they're much closer to regular every day folks. Their powers are not through the roof tough, but they have powers nonetheless.
We meet a couple scientists, Zimmer and Drago. They've worked together for years, but Drago goes evil. Eventually he gets turned into a goblin faced Dr. Doom and becomes as visually terrifying as he is evil. It's such a generic bad guy origin story that I couldn't help but love it. The two of them built mandroid together, a robot body that can be controlled by a VR headset that looks startlingly like those goggles people put their phones into nowadays, for a phone VR experience. This movie came out in '93, so that wasn't really around yet. It's a little funny looking back.
We also have Zimmer's daughter, Zanna, who's kinda tough and kinda just around helping out her father. She's more badass than you think she's gonna be, shooting bad guys when they try to murder her dad. She has other moments as well and while she doesn't get any super powers, I'd still count her as part of the super team.
Dr. Wade, played by Brian Cousins (who could almost go on my looks-like-Christopher-Reeves list), ends up being the person controlling Mandroid for much of the movie and I think that's the main reason he ends up being around. He's also a love interest for Zanna.
Finally, there's Ben Knight. He's the most superheroish of the whole group. In fact, having him around makes it a superhero movie for me. Without him, it might just be a movie about a VR controlled robot. But, no. Knight gets knocked in a freezer and exposed to some strange science, then gets turned invisible. It's a tragic and wonderful opportunity for him. The whole next movie is centered around him.
Okay, there's a struggle over who's going to get Mandroid and that is the central plot. Everybody versus Drago. In the end, there's not a lot of resolution, kind of like a 90s comic book story. The movie is set up for a sequel and it's always fun to see an origin story. It's obviously sort of low budget, but I don't think that detracts from it. It drags in parts, but I keep watching. The acting isn't great, but it's cheesy enough as to be appealing in a certain kind of way. The whole movie feels like a slice out of a much longer timeline. There's other stories to tell here, such as Zimmer and Drago's lives before Mandroid. And, after the sequel, that feeling continues. I do wonder if the creators had plans for a lot more, but maybe lost interest or more likely... these movies didn't generate enough money or viewership. It's still some nice fodder if you're going to run a superhero ttrpg.
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