The DVD Dump

G-SAVIOUR (2000)

Teleplay by Mark Amato (Tripping the Rift)

When it comes to giant robots inspired by samurai garb, the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has been the oldest leader in this anime genre. In the tradition of other science fiction franchises, Gundam has spanned multiple sequels, comic books, toys, model kits, video games, and more than likely a line of food products that probably didn’t sell very well. To celebrate the franchises’ 20^th anniversary, a western-made live-action movie was made called G-Saviour. And just like most movies milking a franchise, G-Saviour does little to recognize the Gundam canon which is its biggest strength and flaw.

G-Saviour is set in the future about 150 years after the original Gundam series, thus eliminating the laundry list for adapting certain elements. Having disassociated itself from any of Gundam’s previous cartoons, the story is free to completely reinvent itself and give a big middle finger to the fans. The galaxy in this universe is ruled by The Congress of Settlement Nations (yes, it spells CONSENT). The plot involves the discovery of an enzyme that could wipe out world hunger (or galactic hunger, whatever). The main character is Mark Curren, an ex-giant robot pilot committed to underwater research, but, just like an ex-cop, he just gets pulled back in. When the evil General Garneaux of CONSENT (because all generals are fat old villains) tries to wipe out the enzyme for his own gain, Mark teams up with a resistance force to stop the government from being evil. The acting is on the level of Power Rangers with everybody either under-acting or overacting all their lines. The only actor who is even decently convincing is Brennan Elliott as the main character mainly because he gets the best lines and spends most of the movie reacting while in a cockpit.

But none of that really matters. The only reason anybody would EVER want to watch this movie is for the giant robot battles. The problem is that while CGI robots are peppered in throughout the movie, a real giant robot battle doesn’t occur until the climax which comprises only a ¼ of the movie. For a low-budget movie, this would seem like a blessing in disguise, but it’s actually disappointing that it is so short considering the computer graphics are actually…pretty good. Of course, after an hour of cheesy characters barfing poorly written lines, ANYTHING looks great. I’d accept cut-out animation at that point. Maybe that’s part of G-Saviour’s master plan; torture the audience with a poor script than win them back at the last minute with decent CGI. It’s kind of like when you get horribly injured and getting stuck with an IV drip doesn’t seem as bad.

Honestly, though, the giant robot space battle climax is the one saving grace of the movie and almost makes up for the script. Unlike other low-budget movies with CGI, G-Saviour saves itself from making the rookie mistake of using too much compositing against live-action footage. For the most part, the computer graphics are separate from the live-action footage which is actually effective. The giant robots do look pretty good, but not good enough to seamlessly integrate with live-action. Separating the footage actually shows a bit of competence in the direction. It’s just too bad that directing/editing ability couldn’t have been applied to the acting.

DVD Dump Counter:

-4 CGI scenes

-1 giant robot space battle

-1 ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’ death scene

-1 invasion of an outer space colony

-1 person shot (but not killed)

RATING: B-Movie

In terms of a low-budget giant robot movie, G-Saviour has some pretty good graphics with a script more cheesy than nauseating. However, considering this was meant as 20^th anniversary movie for such a successful franchise, I’d be real pissed at this movie if I were a Gundam fan. Fortunately, those fans can disown this movie considering the word Gundam is never heard or mentioned in this movie.

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