Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995) Movie Review

Nemesis 2: Nebula is a 1995 sci-fi action film written and directed by Albert Pyun. It's the second installment in the Nemesis film series and introduces the character of Alex Sinclair to the franchise, who will take the leading role from Alex Rain. She is played by bodybuilder and actress Sue Price, who would go on to reprise her role in the three following movies. In fact, this film and Nemesis 3 were shot back-to-back.

In a future overruned by mechanical overlords, the robots are about to kill a rebel woman who is with the human resistance, she sends a genetically-enhanced baby back to the 20th century. The child, named Alex Sinclair, ends up in an African village and grows up to become the best warrior around, impressing the chief of the tribe and defeating her fellow warriors in combat. A monstrous robotic entity known as Nebula hunts the now adult and fully formed Alex throughout the desert landscape. 

What I really love about this movie is probably how it becomes a very personal odyssey and achieves a very surreal and dream-like tone by having a fractured narrative that allows the film to either slow down on the ritualistic and contemplative moments of discovery and journey for the protagonist while also functioning as a very slick and well-crafted action movie on a very low budget. The typical drawbacks of a small production are present, like the fact that the film feels very empty due to the lack of locations and extras, making things seem very desolate. At first I thought it was a post-apocalyptic movie because of it but that's really only in the first scenes, the rest takes place in our era. However, this works in the film's favor as it accentuates the dream-like quality, abstracting time and place from normal and average real life, entering into a different realm it can play around in. 

The action is fast and with all of its perfectly cut and assembled sequences there's very little room for fat while making things still very legible. The places Pyun shoots in are very well handled and look very rich visually, specially with those old-school practical effects that reached a high point in the nineties even in poor productions. The stunts are also very professional and quite well executed, every fight has weight and every shootout has a very strong sense of place and rhythm. The visual effects such as slow motion and image manipulation to achieve the unreal visuals and movement are decently implemented and make the film more peculiar. It is expected for Pyun to be good at action, but I also liked how he worked with the actors, especially Sue Price, who gives us a very nice performance even if obviously most of her work has to rely on her physicality and body language, something she still accomplishes with more than just efficiency.

The sci-fi plot is rather thin and somewhat simplistic, but that also works in its favor since it helps to keep things streamlined and allows the film to move at a brisk pace without wasting much time on anything that isn't part of its thematic exploration or just the joy of constructing inventive action or using some great lighting and neat textures due to its splendid cinematography. This really does feel like someone with a B-movie budget trying to make the most out of it and making it work.

While these low budget science fiction B-movies are kind of an acquired taste, I gotta say that I do recommend this one to anyone who enjoys their nineties direct to video flicks and for those who enjoy beefy action heroines and wanna see more of them in media, which we should.