Ajin: Demi-Human (2017)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Kei Nagai (Takeru Satoh) finds out that he is an Ajin, an immortal, after coming back alive from a fatal traffic accident. The Japanese government imprisons him and uses him for medical experiments, cutting off a limb every day and observing how it grows back. Fellow ajin Sato (Gou Ayano) rescues Nagai but Nagai refuses to join the homicidal Sato. Sato threatens to release nerve gas over Tokyo if the government doesn't give Tokyo to ajins. Nagai joins the government to thwart Sato's evil plan.

***

The good news is that Ajin's pacing is fast and they do explore the idea of ajins and their immortality. The bad news is that there is little character development and the exploration of immortality is taken to its logical ridiculousness. 

(This is a review of the 2017 movie. I have not seen the TV series and will not draw any comparisons with it.)

Production I.G, who animated most of Mamoru Oshii's movies, is involved somehow. I assume in animating the black ghosts. It's decent work but unfortunately the swirling particles seem ripped off from X Men.

The plot is inventive but somehow failed to grab my interest. The whole subplot with Nagai's sister doesn't go anywhere or reveal anything and can be cut from the movie with no impact on the story. The same goes for the black fighting ghosts that the ajins can summon, and the undercover ajin who works as a government bodyguard. Take them out and the story still works.

The characters are flat. In conventional storywriting terms, Nagai has no character arc. He doesn't learn anything or is changed at the end. He doesn't even have any flaw or personal issue to overcome. Call it Hollywood formula if you want to, it works.   

Hard science fiction fans are going to have issues with the ajin. Not only do they regenerate limbs without seeming to need to sacrifice any existing muscle to do so, they can actually regenerate an entire body starting from a single limb. So where does all that new body tissue come from? 

They can also blow their brain out with a bullet, and then regenerate their brain without losing any memories. The only way to account for all this is to have some kind of supernatural explanation, which the movie doesn't even hint at. Death Note was believable because it was supernatural in nature. Ajin is just ridiculous. It's actually comparable to Tokyo Ghoul - weak but with different flaws.

Sky Hunter (2017)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Chinese pilots from the elite Sky Hunter air base must rescue Chinese military and civilians who are taken hostage by terrorists in the (fictional) central European republic of Mahbu.

***

So is Sky Hunter more Top Gun or Iron Eagle? Well, it's both but that's not the problem. The problem is that there is no character development or character arc, and the military tactics are nonsensical.

It looks like the filmmakers wanted to have an action movie glorifying the Chinese air force but didn't want the complexity of filming a full scale war. So they chose a terrorist takeover of an air base. The problem is that jet fighters don't have much to do with rescuing hostages in such a situation, it's more about special forces infantry.

So the plot gets twisted to highlight the air force instead of the soldiers. For example, in order to have an "exciting" showdown between the terrorist leader and Wu Di, the terrorist leader is made to be an ace pilot. Come on guys, what the hell? The terrorists also take control of an ICBM silo (yes, little Mahbu has ICBMs) so that Wu Di can bomb the hell out of it. 

Sure, Top Gun was a recruitment poster for the US Navy but Tony Scott still put the story before anything else. And Top Gun really was about the fighter pilot school. Sky Hunter has some training scenes but these are not core to the story and act more as filler.

Character arc? There are none. There's some half hearted attempt at a love triangle between fighter pilot Wu Di (Chen Li) and rescue helicopter pilot Zhao Yali (the gorgeous Fan Bing Bing), and either fighter pilots Gao Yuan (Leon Lee) or Ba Tu (Guo Mingyu). I was confused.

Now for a list of the movie's military sins (warning - I'm a military nut/armchair general):

• American 4 engined propeller plane thinks it can outfly Chinese jet fighters? 
• Rescue helicopter pilot has to exit the helicopter to rescue people? There should be dedicated crew for that.
• Why initially send 2 jet fighters without any special forces or rescue helicopter?
• Then for the second attempt, okay, you have special forces and a rescue helicopter. But why send only 2 fighters and 1 helicopter?
• Jet fighters need air-to-air refueling but helicopter doesn't? Jet fighters way outrange any helicopter.
• Sky Hunter base happens to be within helicopter range of the air base under attack?
• Wu Di uses his jet fighter to strafe a terrorist machine gunner. How does he know the machine gunner is not a friendly? Aircraft, especially fast moving jet fighters, are notoriously blind to what is going on on the ground and need to be directed by friendlies on the ground or a slow moving Forward Air Controller aircraft.
• A jet fighter is hunting the rescue helicopter at night. Why not land the helicopter to hide?
• It is ridiculous to have two jet fighters flying head on at each other and firing their cannon. Their closing speed is so high that they will be within cannon range for less than a second.
• If you have a crippled aircraft coming in to land, you don't block the runway with fire engines.

P.S. Soundtrack is produced by Hans Zimmer whatever that means, but was written by someone else. The final result does not impress.