The Vindicator (1986) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
They thought they took his life...now he wants theirs. Invincible. Unstoppable. Indestructible. He's out on the street and out of control!
An employee of a secret company operation becomes the victim of the company's special weapons project. He is transformed into a robotic killing machine that, because of his programming must destroy anything that comes near him.
Cast
Popular reviews
WOW! Exactly like ROBOCOP!
Only really, really shitty.
Dr. Carl Lehman is murdered by his co-workers for not being a team player, and ends up a charcoal briquette inside an indestructible armored shell that gives him zero impulse control when it comes to murder. In retrospect, this is arguably the shortest sighted science project ever put to film. Now Carl must escape and roam around, killing the occasional baddie while being tracked by professional human hunter Pam Grier.
This is enjoyable enough, with an awkward RoboDoc suit and some light pacing issues in the first half. But after Pam Grier shows up, things get back on track.
The choice to have our encapsulated hero beep-beep-beep incessantly when irritated was probably not the best one.
Day 7. I am a robot.
A scientist gets killed at his work, to find that he is to be used in their next project.
Shhhhh it's top secret what they are up to and because it's so secret they will call it Project Frankenstein. Mmm
Loads of 80's yuppiness from the bad guys. Hunter played by Pam Grier was conniving & lethal, she's a well needed addition to the plot.
As for sad sad cyberman, poor love looked permanently shocked at his predicament. The Frankenstein suit is something else, well done Stan Winston Studios.
Jean-Claude Lord‘s great low-budget robo-man movie that’s in the same vein as Robocop, but released the year prior. Some great explosions, a cool score, Stan Winston on effects and Pam Grier as a badass bounty hunter. This movie definitely holds its own and deserves more love.
My VCR ate the Key Video VHS I had, but luckily there’s a descent rip on YouTube. Hopefully it’ll get a proper upgrade one day. Would be a perfect release for CIP.
An honest man working for a dishonest mega corp finds himself accidentally blown up on purpose and gets Robocop'd into an auto-murder Mars suit and must find the answers to why he is what he's become while also protecting his grieving pregnant wife from henchmen, tech bros, Pam Grier, and his best friend's (not)good intentions.
One of the more charming films of the low budget 80's human-murder-machine subgenre, and certainly one that's a fun easy watch, this movie's got a lot to like; an asshole CEO, a cool killer suit design, good practical effects and explosions, Pam Grier snapping necks and acting badass, sewer shootouts, trucks exploding as they go off a cliff, a shit talking biker gang getting wrecked,…
Canadian sci fi cheese to please! The Vindicataaaaa. A ridiculous film drenched in 80s goodness that delivers loads of entertainment. Sure its basically a Robocop wanabe but its endearing in its own ways.
A guy working on a secret weapons project is killed in a laboratory mishap. So what do his colleagues do? Well they take whats left of him add some circuits and a spacesuit and blam! Instant killing machine. Unfortunately things get out of hand and ol Vindy goes on a vindicating rampage. How will he be stopped??
Throw in some 80s synths, cheesy dialogue and action sequences and you have a fun romp through silly town.
Shit, I was not expecting Pam Grier to show up as an evil bounty hunting Kendo master in this low budget Robocop/The Fly horror knockoff (that actually predates Robocop). It was fine, a bit tedious despite the occasional explosions and boobs, and then BAM ... Pam! She knocked it up a full star.
A sad killing robot meets Pam Grier (who is always a great screen presence) and a synth full of eighties glory on a journey through a crazy plot, over the top bad guys and a story that feels like its an X rated adaptation of a children's book.
There is not much in terms of shock or gore but plenty of, what feels like randomly placed at times, action and confusion. I am pretty sure the talent involved just got told to run, shout and make do with improvising what you would do in the situation with a depressed robot that could kill you in a second. A bit like GHOST meets TERMINATOR but made by literally throwing both things together without any logic. I will just wait patiently for my GHOST/TERMINATOR hybrid the world needs in the meantime.
When the cyborg guy with...I guess some sort of built-in sensory triggered kill urge that can no longer be controlled remotely because no one put in the remote thingy before he escaped...anyway, when he is asked by some random little kid in a junkyard if he is from outer space, he says: 'Um, yes.' Then, when asked if he knows E.T. he says: 'Um, sure.'
I knew I would love this movie.
This is a 1986 Canadian sci-fi flick that is firmly in B-movie territory. Carl Lehman is a scientist who gets blown up by his shady boss at ARC, only to be reborn as a rage-fueled cyborg in a discount spacesuit. His quest for vengeance and reconnection with his wife is chased by Pam Grier’s badass bounty hunter, Hunter. It’s a messy mix of heart and cheese, with Stan Winston’s effects as the highlight.
It’s basically RoboCop’s rough draft, minus the budget, satire, or polish. Released a year before Verhoeven’s 1987 classic, The Vindicator shares its DNA: dead hero, corporate evil, cyborg identity crisis. But where RoboCop soars, this stumbles with a flimsy script and a suit that screams cosplay clearance. Pam Grier and a synth-heavy vibe save it from disaster, making it a fun, flawed time capsule for 80s sci-fi fans.
Knew it would be fun the minute the secret project was revealed as project Frankenstein
I still don't understand why you connected the rage response activator to the computer. If he senses any kind of threat, he could turn into an uncontrollable killer!
The Vindicator is an enjoyable low budget Robocop ripoff with a man-machine designed by Stan Winston. They don't give the faux-bo-cop a cool name though so everyone keeps calling him by his former name, Carl. There was something charming and hysterical about all the characters referring to the machine as Carl with a straight face. It's a cheap and silly movie but I had fun with it. My only real complaint is that they don't give nearly enough screentime to Pam Grier. She's easily the best part of the movie as a villain named Hunter who gets lines like "That was no nutcase in a spacesuit!" and "Looks like you're down a couple of quarts".