Casshern
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Movie Reviews of Casshern
Movie Review: Casshern Movie Review
Summary: 3 Stars
While adapting an epic story of humanity and morality in the hostility of war, Kazuaki Kiriya's Casshern presents the social and political turmoil of a post-apocalyptic world, as well as the ravaging of visual clarity. What works in the freedom of anime and graphic novels is heavily restricted in the world of live action, and too clearly a conflict of imagery and action steps to the forefront of this creatively flawed endeavor.
A 50-year war has left the planet a devastated and dying world and the Eastern Federation has risen to power in an attempt to restore order, though covert political machinations rapidly work to overthrow its foundation. Employed by a corrupt military organization, Dr. Kotaro Azuma (Akira Terao) tirelessly works in genetics with the ulterior motive to find a cure for his dying wife, and in the process discovers the revolutionary Neo-Cells and the ability to synthesize living organs. After a freak accident in Azuma's lab causes the creation of sentient life and the reincarnation of his dead son Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya), a new battle begins as the outcast lifeforms (dubbed Neo-Sapiens) wage war on mankind and all hope of survival rests on the shoulders of Tetsuya (renamed Casshern), a post-apocalyptic superhero encased in indestructible armor.
Abandoning conventional narrative and relying solely on the fateful definition of "Casshern" in the film's opening text, those who forget the cryptic message will likely be lost to the superhero's paranormal creation. Replete with mystical reincarnation, afterlife ghosts, mutant zombies, and robot armies, everything presented in Kiriya's film is so fantastical that attempting to understand gives way to simple acceptance that anything can happen in this futuristic world. Unexplained phenomena becomes commonplace and the visuals accept responsibility for storytelling, which might have been a worthy replacement had the imagery adhered to more recognizable guidelines.
For a film submersed in special effects and computer-generated visuals, the overall look of Casshern is surprisingly jarring and inconsistently ranges from awe-inspiring to distracting. The environments rapidly and drastically change in appearance from bright greens and blues to reds and even black and white. Several interior shots are presented in such arresting red and green that it appears to require a pair of 3D glasses to properly view. Often the still images provide more admirable qualities than the moving ones and the gritty, grainy film treatments intermittently work to create a mood and mask underachieving special effects. The action sequences (which parallel the progression of video game boss fights) are feverishly complex and contain an infinite supply of quick cuts, spastic editing, and x-ray image splicing. Rarely does the camera slow down enough for the eye to comprehend, let alone appreciate, any aesthetic arrangement or design, and while the frenetic fights borrow cues from The Matrix, it also makes the sci-fi actioner look like perfectly-paced reality.
Sticking closely to the realm of comic book superheroes, the origins of Casshern are quite creative, if not a little cliché, and involve biological reincarnation with the added bonus of an enhanced body and invincible armor. With such an inspired superhero conception, allowing the villains to partake in this fortunate creation would theoretically provide the perfectly matched antagonist. But without the accepted divine intervention supporting the protagonist, the Neo-Sapiens inception feels muddied and unrealistic (which is saying something, considering the delicate thread that holds realism together throughout the story). And if the bizarre adversary development wasn't unbelievable enough, the aimless trek through snow-covered mountains that land the anti-humans upon Europa's not-quite-dormant robot army will certainly hammer the last nail into the coffin of reality.
When science fiction fails in cohesive presentation, it's not necessarily the ideas that are to blame, but rather the method (or shortcomings) of the storytelling. Fans of this hybrid genre will undoubtedly find many aspects of Casshern to appreciate, and while there is definitely a style to behold (Kiriya's background in music videos both hinders and supports this assertation), connoisseurs of the medium will find copious faults with both visuals and story, though much of the latter may be blamed on the truncation of the US release.
- Joel Massie
Movie Review: Beautiful and Not What I Expected
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first saw the trailers for "Casshern" I couldn't wait to see it; it looked like the next "Matrix", maybe better!
Well, "Casshern" is not the next "Matrix", but it is a good film nevertheless.
During the first half or so, "Casshern" reminds me of a sort of anime "Sky Captain", except that film seems to rely more on ingenious conventional film effects as opposed to CGI. (Was I really seeing stop-motion?)
Toward the end of the film, however, I began to think more of "The Fountain", another film that achieved a spectacular visual style without CGI. What's more, there are some common themes shared between the two films, specifically the corrupting influence of seeking immortality.
So, while most people were expecting a visually-spectacular action flick, "Casshern" tries, mostly successfully, to be a serious film. It delivers many unoriginal observations regarding the depredations of war, and the paradoxes of human nature, but does so with such earnestness that you don't mind if it's just a touch sophomoric. In fact, I appreciated the fact that it lacked the irony that most films nowadays are obliged to have.
Some have commented that the film was hard to follow, perhaps because it is Japanese. I personally felt that it was clear enough, even though there was some imagery I did not understand. (Perhaps there are conventions in this genre' that I am unfamiliar with. For instance, the appearance of flashing geometric symbols was lost on me, as was the giant "lightning bolt." In the end, though, it was irrelevant.)
The acting was a little weird. You get a combination of decent film acting interspersed with goofy comic book mugging. Again, I think this comes with the genre.
So, in the end, you get a beautiful film which is a little corny but earnest. The cinematography is fantastic and worth the price of admission.
Movie Review: Stunning effects, but little else.
Summary: 3 Stars
Casshern (Kazuaki Kiriya, 2004)
Ever since it came out, I'd been hearing a great deal about Casshern, supposedly the movie that was going to revolutionize Japanese science fiction, with groundbreaking effects and... all that stuff. Yeah, we've heard it before, and it never quite seems to work out that way. For some reason, while the Japanese seem capable of outstripping us in every other genre of film, for such a technologically advanced society, they're oddly incapable of making great science fiction.
Casshern (Blindness' Yusuke Iseya) was once just a normal guy named Tetsuya Azuma. No more. However; now he's an indestructible superhero, created by his father (Lost Paradise's Akira Terao) in order to stop the Shinzo Ningen ("neo-humans"), who were also created by Casshern's father from a mutation in the same process that created Casshern.
The movie is based on a 1973 anime, and that was based on a manga serialized in Terebi. While there have certainly been great films based on manga over the years, the very structure of manga, which is almost always serialized, tends to lead to an episodic feel, and in many cases a repetitive one. Such is the case here; fight scene, emote, fight scene, emote, fight scene, emote... you get the idea. Now, with all that's been said about the effects< I should mention that they are, in fact, top-notch. Problem is, unlike most of the things that distinguish Japanese films from Americans, we're pretty used to top-notch special effects, even in terrible movies (ever see Spielberg's War of the Worlds?). It's not enough to differentiate this from the pack. It's not bad, but in the end, it's nothing special, either. ***
Movie Review: I cant Imagine this movie being any longer...
Summary: 3 Stars
Saw this movie at a store on sale for $4.00... So I was thinking "why not?", great price and its suppose to be as good as the matrix? Hell Yea!! Well the first half hour of the movie I was very interested by the plot. Afterwards, it just started going downhill for me, the visuals were nice, but more like a cartoon. Which makes sense since they were trying to get that anime feel, but the delivery was missing something. Since the whole movie is in front of a blue screen, it was a little let down for me. The whole feel of the movie wasn't meshing well, I can't pinpoint what it was exactly. I wasn't connected or really concerned for any of the characters either. So at the end when they were showing the neo's backstories, which should've been a tearjerking moment- I was more just waitng for the movie to end. The final end reminded me of "The Fountain", the souls were traveling through the universe, only to become lighting back on earth. Well, I added a star because the overall message of the movie was genuine. One last thought, I felt this movie was long enough, too drawn out on certain parts, and not enough coverage on others... but now I see there is another version that is even longer--- wow I wouldnt be able to make it on that one.. I get the point fully with this version.Movie Review: Great beginning, but a major letdown in the second half
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie was downright fantastic for the first 45 minutes. It was beautiful, engrossing, and challenging to the viewer. Unfortunately, it took a massive turn after that, and it really lost its way from there. Like the first poster said, the running time is definitely over two hours, but in this case I think it hurts a lot more than it helps. The plot wears painfully thin after a while, and it distances the viewer more and more from the storyline. It's more or less a big-budget music video after the one-hour mark, offering a delight for the basic senses and not much else.
Despite my disappointment, it's very difficult to overlook how stellar the beginning is, so that makes this film far from worthless. The amazing score is also worth mentioning - it's some of the most moving music I've ever listened to. Sadly, the movie it was written for cannot truly capture it for the full two-plus hours.