Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

amesmonde A scientist working on a top secret experiment is killed in an explosion but the corporation that funds his experiments transforms him into a robot.A resurrection science fiction film that despite being a B-low budget affair has a grander 80's film quality feel thanks to some gritty, raw and rough round the edges special effects. Richard Cox and Pam Grier are watchable and some performances are above average. However, they are counter balanced by what should have been better supporting actors. Edith Rey and David Preston's dialogue is sometimes flawed, yet their story fairs better exploring some moral dilemmas.Although it predates Robocop (1987) I remember the main draw to watch it was because of The Terminator (1984). That said, the Vindicator shares more with Frankenstein and the Wraith (1986).Jean-Claude Lord's Vindicator was of its day. It has some nice visual moments. The certain charm it held in my mind since 1986 was mostly warm nostalgia - as on revisiting The Vindicator it's not as fast paced as I remembered it.While fun at the time, in retrospect it's for comparable curiosity only.

JP Fournier The movie starts with a monkey in a cage, who's been hooked up to some sort of robotic transmitter that people can command the monkey to perform certain acts. Then one of the scientists says, "Now take a look at what happens when we touch him with a robot." To which a small remote controlled robot enters the cage and touches the monkey, followed by inappropriate reaction from the monkey. Whenever a film starts with testing a monkey and we hear, "Ok Now take a look at what happens with when touch him with a robot." I'm going to be in for the long run.Vindicator might not feel like an original story, crossing Robocop with the Hulk (film doesn't even try to hide that it has borrowed a concept from the hulk by making), with a scientist who's been rebuilt into a powerful after a freak accident, which was purposely cause by his coworkers to push forward an experiment.Yes, this is low budget, and yes this is silly, and yes, this is very eighties, however the film runs smoothly, never feeling dull. It's villains are despicable and you'll root for the hero to give them their dues. Some of the directors choices are also good, for instance a church sequence that has a great shot of our hero jumping from a balcony into shattering wood floors.This is a true 80's low budget gem. Hard to find but worth the hunt.

tenthousandtattoos When I first got the Portugese version of this film (it's never been released on DVD in my country but saw it on VHS when i was like, 11) only to discover in Spanish/Portugese speaking countries this film is known as "RoboMan", I laughed, thinking what a silly name. "The Vindicator" is far cooler. But after viewing this trash-cheese-fest again at the ripe old age of almost 30, i realised the Portugese were spot on. RoboMan is a much better title, if only the film itself didn't TAKE itself so seriously it might have been great. It has quite a good script, that I'm sure was effective when it was released, but sadly it just seems a bit dated and sad now, despite some really inventive ideas. As it is, it tries a little TOO hard to be a serious sci-fi horror, and falls a bit short.David McIlwraith stars as Carl, a scientist, who is nearly killed in an "accidental" explosion because the bad-guy scientists don't like him. It doesn't matter why. Once he's mutilated they stick his brain (and his eyes and a bit of nose) into an indestructible space-suit and plug him in, oh and he has a nifty little device that means he goes ballistic and kills people if they touch him. Why you'd need that on Mars (apparently its a Mars-explorer prototype or something) I have no idea. It'd be like, "hey, we found some life on mars! Sh*t dude, Roboman just squished it!" Anyway, in true dodgy 80's movie-style, no sooner has he escaped from the labs when he runs into a couple of no-good-street-punks, and dispatches them swiftly, and it's here that the film really settles into the horror movie thing...it has all the pacing, limited characterisation, atrocious acting and simplistic music score of a "bad" horror movie.He seeks to track down and destroy the scientists who imprisoned him the robo suit, and is hunted by...wait for it...Pam Grier, in a woefully cheesy role as the bounty hunter (or something) named...uh...Hunter, seems so oddly out of place in this film, and has the best line in the film (paraphrasing here, it's not THAT memorable): "Your buddy's dead with a manhole cover up his *ss coz YOU weren't straight with me!" Yep folks, THAT really is the best line in the film.Terri Austin - she is not much of an actress, but she is quite nice to look at and has a nice voice. Unfortunately she's assaulted by the character of Maury Chaykin in a disturbing and unnecessary attempted-rape scene.Vindicator suit - this actually isn't a ripoff of terminator (it couldn't be anyway, since both "creatures" were designed by the same guy!), the exo-skeleton thing is on the outside here. It is quite cool, in a horror-movie kind of way, like when he removes the face plate: "You can't love THIS!" And it looks good (it was made by Stan Winston studios) and you can see a lot of thought went into the design.Setting - foggy Canadian mornings are a highlight in this film. Reminds me of cold days spent indoors by the fire. Likewise the houses in the film are cool, I particularly like the bad guy's living room, and RoboMan's house.I'm glad i went out of my way to find this movie again, it's nice to have it on the shelf for a winter day when I feel like watching it again, but as far as recommending it? I don't know. I'd say it's more for people like me who saw it ages ago on VHS and have a soft spot for it, or if you are a fan of cheesy 80's Canadian cinema. Otherwise, stick with Terminator and RoboCop. They are easily available everywhere for good reason - they are fantastic movies. This one is pretty average.

Woodyanders Scientist Carl Lehman (well played by David McIlwraith) gets blown up something terrible in a deliberate chemical explosion. He has his brain transplanted in the body of a nearly indestructible metal cyborg suit by his evil colleagues who are led by wicked obsessive fellow scientist Alex Whyte (a perfectly hateful portrayal by Richard Cox). Lehman embarks on an all-out killing spree. It's up to nasty mercenary Hunter (a wonderfully loathsome turn by the divine Pam Grier) to put a stop to him. Director Jean-Claude Lord, who previously helmed the under-appreciated slasher psycho thriller "Visiting Hours," stages the plentiful action scenes with considerable verve and maintains a zippy pace throughout, thus ensuring that this flick sizes up as an enjoyably trashy sci-fi/horror action outing. Paunchy character thesp Maury Chaykin easily cops top acting honors as disgusting fat creep Burt, who in the movie's single most tasteless sequence has a brutal fistfight with Lehman's pregnant wife Lauren (a winning performance by the lovely Teri Austin). Stan Winston's nifty make-up f/x and Paul Zaza's thrilling score further add to the overall sleazy fun.