Guyver: Dark Hero (1994)

Plot:
It has been a year since Sean Barker acquired the Guyver armor and he used it to destroy Chronos and the Zoanoids. But the armor continues to call to Sean, forcing him to fight (and kill). The movie opens up with The Guyver attempting to stop a drug ring from collecting their drugs from a storage warehouse. The Guyver is too powerful for the unskilled drug dealers and they are easily defeated. But one thing that has been concerning Sean more and more lately is that the armor seems to have a mind of it's own and a violent one at that. In more and more of his vigilante crime fighting trips as "The Guyver" the suit seems to be forcing Sean to either seriously injure or kill his opponents. Back at his apartment after the fight at the warehouse it is revealed that Sean is also haunted by abstract nightmares that are coming from the armor. Usually after he wakes up he tries to write down or draw what he saw, this has been happening for months. In watching a tabloid TV news show Sean sees a story about a supposed werewolf sighting near an archeological dig and the drawings by the witness match the ones he's been drawing from his dreams for a while.

Sean goes to talk to Mizky about what he saw but she does not believe him when he says that Chronos wasn't destroyed a year ago. Sean wants her to come with him to look into the "werewolf" report and the cave drawings. But Mizky thinks that Sean is crazy and is making up stories to keep them together. The couple has a fight, Mizky breaks off the relationship and Sean leaves on his own to explore the potential lead into the alien armors past. After several days of hitchhiking Sean eventually comes to where the dig is located but can't figure out how to get to the location. He asks at a local general store and meets Cori Edwards, a researcher at the dig. She tells Sean that if he needs to know what's going on she will help him but he must play along with the cover story she gives him.

Sean and Cori arrive at the dig and Sean is introduced as a local researcher who should have arrived before but got delayed on another project. Sean is quickly introduced around to everyone, including Professor Atkins who doesn't trust him, and is put to work. After a day of digging up nothing Sean asks what the dig is all about but is told to not ask those types of questions in public.

Later that night another "bear attack" is heard deep in the woods. Sean goes off to "take care of the bear" but it is actually a lone Zoanoid attacking a local hunter for fun. The Guyver and the unknown Zoanoid fight and in the struggle a piece of skin from the Zoanoid is cut off by Sean. Cori and Professor Atkins arrive to help but by then the "bear" has run off, only finding Sean (in human form), a very scared local hunter and the corpse of a reporter from the tabloid TV show. Atkins in searching the area comes across and takes the skin sample from the injured Zoanoid. Later Atkins pulls Sean aside to see what he knows and let's his hand slip that he's actually an undercover cop investigating the research dig and various unexplained murders in the area.

Eventually it is revealed to Sean that the dig is actually searching for alien artifacts and they hope to find something soon or else Cori and her father Marcus Edwards will still be laughing stocks among their peers and need to search someplace else to be redeemed. While digging in another area Sean starts to feel odd and can hear an alien voice talking to him. Later that night as everyone is sleeping a large crack in the cave site comes open.

The next morning everyone is called to investigate an ever growing crack and eventually the team unearths the side of what is thought to be an alien spaceship. As the team starts to wonder what to do next and how to get in Sean again starts to "talk" to the ship, which in turn responds by opening a door (for Sean) to itself.

Marcus is the first one to enter ship and after ensuring that it is safe Cori and Sean and Crane and one of his group enter the ship to explore. Eventually Sean sneaks off to explore the ship on his own while Cori continues on to explore by herself. She enters a room that contains a very familiar alien device that she is delighted to find and hopes to explore. Upon returning to the group with the damaged and yet inactivated guyver unit Crane takes the artifact from her. She argues but her father rather tells her to let it go like he knows what is really is too, they will find other discoveries. Later Crane's associate, who followed Sean, tells him about how Sean was talking to the ship's control medal like he knew what it was.

Later on as Sean is alone in the cave looking at the ship trying to figure out what to do next Crane enters to try and turn him to the Chronos side. Even revealing that he was forced against his will to be processed into a Zoanoid and with Sean's help they can both take back their lives, Crane becoming human again and Sean having the alien armor removed. Sean rejects Crane's offer as he knows it to be false and is knocked out by one of Crane's men for refusing. Crane then talks again to Commander Gouo about how to proceed next, Crane is ordered to kill all non-Chronos personal and to bring back Sean to Chronos. Cori is lead off to the woods by two of Crane's Zoanoids while Sean is tied up and drugged in an unmarked tent. Just as Sean is sedated Atkins comes storming in, knocks out the female Zoanoid and frees Sean.

Sean then goes off to find Cori while Atkins begins to call his government backup to subdue the Zoanoids. Sean eventually locates Cori and a battle between The Guyver, the first Zoanoid he fought before and a second insectoid type begins. Sean is able to easily defeat the two Zoanoids and almost kills a third one but it is revealed that third unit actually is Marcus Edwards in his own Zoanoid Battleform. Marcus escapes as Sean and Cori discuss what happened before, they kiss and leave to assist Atkins and his men subdue Crane and company.

Sean and Cori arrive in time to see "Commander" Atkins and his men arrest Crane and his Zoanoids cohorts. Sean decides that he has to try again to talk to the alien ship and has Cori start to set up dynamite charges to destroy the ship before Chronos can claim it. As Sean is trying to communicate with the ship and Cori is setting charge Crane and his men easily overpower Atkins's human soldiers. After getting a warning from Commander Gouo to make the mission is a success or else Crane decides that he may need a little more power to defeat Sean and opens up the case containing the damaged guyver unit.

Inside the ship Sean continues to try to talk to the ship's large control medal but it doesn't respond until he realizes that he needs to equip the Guyver armor to communicate. When he does the ship proceeds to download all it's stored memories of it's visitation to the planet, the Creator's experiments including the creation of humanity, the Zoanoids and the Guyver 0 incident.

Crane and his team enter the cave to secure the ship and realize what Cori is doing. They capture her as Sean comes racing out of the ship to defend her from Crane's group. Just then an injured Marcus in his Zoanoid form enters asking to have Crane keep up their deal, Chronos gets the "weapons" and the Edwards family gets the glory. Crane says the deal is off, Marcus and Crane fight as The Guyver attacks the other Zoanoids. After a short battle the stronger Crane kills Marcus as Atkins returns from being chased by a Zoanoid to show the group that the guyver unit case is empty. Only Crane is left alive from the Chronos group as Sean and Atkins were able to finish off the other Zoanoid warriors.

Crane then reveals that he has adapted the unit to create a Guyver Zoanoid! Sean and Guyver-Crane fight but unfortunately Sean is no match for the further enhanced strength of a power type Zoanoid in guyver armor. Sean is injured in the battle and all seems lost until with a lucky shot Cori fires a bullet into Crane's damaged control medal causing his suit to malfunction. Sean takes the opportunity to pull out Crane's control medal and Crane's armor begins to devour him. Sean then charges and blasts Crane's dissolving body with a megasmasher blast, killing the enemy. At this point the two control medal begin to "speak", apparently Sean was able to delete Crane's DNA from the control medal's memory and to turn off the device.

Now that the battle is over Sean commands the Relic ship to take off, he, Cori and Atkins run from the cave as the alien ship blows out the top of the mountain and flies off to it's home. Sean and Cori get ready to leave after burying her father but Atkins tries to stop them asking for Sean's help in the coming battles with Chronos. Sean tells him that he told him everything he knows and says that he'll see Atkins around and drives off with Cori hugging him.

Characters:
David Hayter - Sean Barker
Kathy Christopherson - Cori Edwards
Christopher Michael - Atkins
Stuart Weiss - Marcus Edwards
Billi Lee - Mizky Segawa

Bruno Giannotta - Crane
Jim O'Donoghoe - Commander Gouo

Trivia/Notes:
The movie Sean is watching after waking up from his dream at the beginning of the film is called "Kung Fu Rascals (1992)"

Glenn Kenny of Entertainment Weekly said when reviewing the film "... often plays like an R-rated Mighty Morphin Power Rangers installment".

As the new actor to portray Sean Barker they chose David Hayter. David is best known for his voicework in the Metal Gear Solid video games as "Solid Snake" and "Old Snake".

Release Date: 1994

Running Time: 127 min