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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 264599" data-attributes="member: 23">Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man And The Bionic Woman <img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2FiMjBhZDQtZTA4NS00ZjdkLWFlYTMtZTRkM2I4OGZjYTRjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTg2NjYzOA@@._V1_.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 519px" /> Another film. Another new, young bionic character.Despite Sandra Bullock here being no more than a year younger than Lindsay Wagner was during her bionic debut, Kate is referred to - somewhat dismissively - as a “bionic girl”. So much for progress. All the same, I like the idea of Kate being a random young woman who has come onto the O.S.I.’s radar. This feels more credible than a long-lost relative suffering the exact same injuries as Steve or Jaime. There is a long-lost relative though. This time round it’s Oscar’s long-lost nephew Jim Goldman. I won’t lie: I found him hard going to begin with. Fast talking “funny” characters will do that (the bouffant didn’t help much either). I grew to like him enough that I could have probably tolerated him well enough had he appeared in the final film (which I don’t believe he does). Physically, Jim actually reminded me quite a bit of Jason Lochner (with a touch of Matt Fielding in close-ups during his medical crisis). It seemed appropriate, then, that he was romancing Kate who rather put me in mind of Julie Williams. Jaime’s new role as mentor to struggling young people - established in the previous film - is perfectly fitting. It’s a natural evolution, and where I would expect the character to be at this point. Oscar has quite a bit of screen time - an outcome of Richard Anderson being co-producer - which is always a good thing. He’s more emotional than usual here (again, no doubt mandated by Richard Anderson). This time it’s jaded anger, and it’s interesting to see this side of him. All the same, he seemed very, very angry about something right from the beginning. To see him clenching his fist and raving at a colleague about being out in the field in his first scene was a little jarring and seemed to leave little room to manoeuvre. All the same, there was an arc for the character and he brought with it all the gravitas and screen presence you’d expect. He reminded me a lot of Roy Scheider in this film, which is a very good thing. The new bionics - night vision and whatnot - seemed somehow more practical and less silly than the laser beams from the eyes business with Michael. The upgraded technology meant yet more changes to the visualisation of bionics in action. The bright colours, warping and whooshing all got a bit much towards the end. A fight between the two 1989 model bionics is best enjoyed after a dramamine or two. The score is horrible. I mean really horrible. It has that horribly cheap Casio keyboard feel to it where not a single real instrument can be defined, all of which makes it sound like a chilldren’s cartoon of the era. Incredibly, Bill Conti has put his name to this one. Despite the slightly better premise compared with the previous film, most of this film feels cheap and nasty. As I said, I’m undecided about whether or not I’d watch a Michael Austin series. But I’m quite certain I wouldn’t be interested in Bionic Showdown being spun-off to a series. That said, the story is nicely done, especially when it comes to the odd twist or reveal. And as an outcome of this film, I have the bionic wedding of the year to anticipate. </blockquote>

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