Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994)

Film review #649

Director: Michael Schroeder

SYNOPSIS: In the future, cyborgs are hunted by “Recyclers” who dismantle and sell them for parts. Cash, one such android, visits a doctor to find that, for some reason, she is pregnant. This draws the attention of a Recycler who chases her down, leading her to the hidden Cytown where cyborgs take refuge from the hunters. But with them fast approaching, they must prepare to fight and defend themselves…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Cyborg 3: The Recycler is a 1994 sci-fi film, and the third in the (loosely affiliated) Cyborg series. Set sometime after the events of Cyborg 2, we see the return of the cyborg Cash, who is played by Khrystyne Haje rather than Angelina Jolie this time, as she visits a cyborg doctor after experiencing her energy being drained to discover that somehow she is pregnant, and a new cyborg is growing inside of her. This whole plot element is really tenuous, and explanations about how it has actually happened barely cover the logic of it all. Nevertheless, she is the first cyborg to become ‘pregnant’ and when Recycler Anton Llewellyn learns about her, he begins to hunt her down for her parts. Cash flees, with the help of one of the Cyborg’s creators, to Cytown, where Cyborgs live secretly and free from being hunted. This leads to a recycled story of the town’s inhabitants having to defend themselves from the marauders in the form of the other Recyclers that Llewellyn has banded together. Yes: it’s essentially the plot of Mad Max 2, recycled for your viewing pleasure, nearly fifteen years after the fact, and with none of the characters, action or the effects that make it work. The film focuses on the villain Llewellyn almost as much as Cash, giving about equal screentime to each. The trouble is there’s not really much to Llewellyn’s character, and nothing to develop, or a backstory to explore. The implication of Cyborg’s being able to give birth is said to “change everything,” but they never really explore this in any detail. The film also ends without the baby even being born, which feels like the film had no real idea how to resolve it.

Aside from all the issues with the plot, you get your typical post-apocalyptic schlock, with goofy looking vehicles and gangs of motorbikes, which always manage to survive nuclear war it seems. There’s some okay practical effects scattered about, but nothing too memorable. Overall, Cyborg 3 is slow paced, lacking in substance, and fails to distinguish itself amidst the plethora of similar films in the genre. The fact that this series of films has made it to the third one is baffling.