If there is one thing you can count on with a post-apocalyptic film, it is Christian imagery.  Today’s movie, Cyborg(1989), is no exception.  In case anyone is keeping score at home, other faith traditions have their own conception of what the end of the world will be like.  Then again, our cinematic example takes practically nothing from the Christian version, the book of Revelation, not that it matters.  Certain things are ingrained into Western culture, and the end times have a flavor that I am guessing would appear strange if they were presented in a different fashion.  The only arguable Scriptural reference in today’s film is that the era following the collapse of civilization was triggered by a plague.  It is difficult to guess its impact because throughout its short runtime, there is only one person shown suffering from a malady that I guess is supposed to be the disease in question.  Though it can be interpreted in different ways, pestilence is often associated with one of the legendary Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  What interests me more specifically are the various Catholic symbols that make cameos throughout, including a St. Thérèse of Lisieux prayer card.  There are also rosaries and, as the pièce de resistance, a crucifixion scene.  Throw all these elements into the giant, but short, mess that is Cyborgand you get something expected and unexpected at the same time.

As one might expect, there is a Cyborg, this one of the female variety, running through the streets of what I think is supposed to be the ruined streets of New York City.  Her name is Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), and inside her computer brain she carries the cure for the plague.  You might think this important, but what semblance there is of civilization sent her out with one guard, Marshall Strat (Alex Daniels), to make it to the Big Apple and back to their sanctuary in Atlanta.  They are attacked by the infamous pirate, Fender Tremolo (Vincent Kyln), and a band of his ruffians.  Marshall tells her to go ahead while he buys her time, but he proves no match for the dystopian buccaneers.  There is a brief moment of hope for her when she encounters Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme).  He is a “slinger,” and I am not sure what that means outside of the fact that he is a good guy with knives and muscles.  Pearl quickly decides he is trustworthy, but he is overwhelmed shortly thereafter by the pirates and Pearl is captured.  Once he comes to, he is spotted by Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), a concerned . . . er . . . citizen(?) who initially assaults Gibson but is quickly knocked out. He watches over her until she recovers.  Once she does, he tells her of what she had overheard from the pirates about Pearl and the information the eponymous machine carries, and its importance for the whole world.  Despite evidently having no combat skills, Nady plans on going after Pearl, and expects Gibson to help.  He has been tracking Fender, but has his own reasons for doing so.  As is sprinkled in throughout the proceedings, some years previously Gibson had led a young mother with the tantalizingly Biblical name Mary (Terrie Batson) out of the city with her two children.  They had found a place to settle for a while, and she had convinced him to stay.  Because the little ones had taken a liking to him, he agrees, and a romance develops between him and Mary.  Things are going well until Fender and his armed men arrive, peaking in on the new couple post-coitus.  Gibson, Mary, and her son are dangled over a well, bound and suspended in air by barbed wire.  The person made to keep them from dropping is Mary’s daughter, Haley (Kristina Sebastian), but the sharp metal and the weight are too much for her.  Gibson manages to emerge alive, though Haley is gone, and he vows his vengeance.  I know I said he is a good guy, and revenge is not the most Christian of pursuits, but it is an action flick, so it goes with the territory.  At any rate, in a geographical impossibility, Gibson and Nady catch up on foot with Fender’s gang outside of Charleston, South Carolina, the latter group having headed south by boat.  The ensuing first encounter between Fender and Gibson does not go well.  Gibson attempts to take them all on by himself, but he finds that even his skills are no match for their numbers.  It turns into a running chase through the surrounding tidal flats, with Gibson and Nady getting separated.  After a brief butt-kicking, Fender crucifies Gibson on the yard arm of a derelict ship and our hero is left to die.  The memory of his fallen adopted family spurs his anger to break the upright timber by kicking it, and Nady arrives not long thereafter to cut him loose.  From there, it is on to Atlanta, which they get to once again before the bad guys despite leaving after them.  There is the inevitable showdown between Fender and Gibson.  Unfortunately, Nady is shot in the fray and killed.  Nonetheless, Gibson triumphs and is able to bring Pearl back to the powers that be.  The final scene is of Gibson, along with a grown-up Haley (Haley Peterson), who had fallen in with Fender but is now reunited with her adopted father, walking away.

I would have said more about the adult Haley in Cyborg, but the older version has virtually no lines.  You see her throughout, and she clearly recognizes Gibson.  I guess she is a science fiction version of Patty Hearst because I do not know why anyone would join the people that murdered their family.  It is also a head scratcher as to how Fender is unaware of the connection between Gibson and Haley until the end.  Then again, it is just one of the many oddities in the film.  Still, it is tamer than I expected.  It deserves its R rating, with plenty of bloody violence and foul language.  What warmed this Catholic’s heart was seeing the restraint practiced by Gibson when Nady practically throws her body at her traveling companion as they await Fender’s arrival.  Instead of giving into her wiles, he re-covers her nakedness.  It is a slight departure from your typical action fare in terms of behavior, and it is mercifully the only such scene.  A modern observer might look at this sequence as unrealistic since he does not give into lust, and such an attitude is telling.  Our American culture expects a man to take a woman in such a situation, particularly when she is giving her consent.  I would like to say that I would follow his example, but I am not sure.  I hope and pray that I would just as much that I am not tested in that way.  The problem lies in the conundrum of instant gratification.  When offered such an opportunity, it is difficult to see the ultimate reward that is more reachable if we stay committed to chastity.  It would also be silly to say that Gibson is rewarded for his actions.  The man is crucified, after all.  At the same time, Jesus assented to such punishment so that we could taste the prize that comes from following Him.  The movie may not concern itself specifically with such matters, but it does have some moments to be emulated along your spiritual path.

It seems odd to talk about anything spiritual when it comes to Cyborg, religious articles aside.  Even though I was able to squeeze something of a Christian discussion out of it, I still do not recommend it.  It has a lot in it that is best left unseen, and the rest does not make much sense.