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.
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
2017-10-25
2016-08-25
Godzilla Resurgence / Shin Gojira (2016)
Plot summary (story synopsis): A large sea monster suddenly attacks Tokyo. The Japanese government's bureaucracy swings into action to deal with the unprecedented threat.
***
I had high hopes for this movie. We've seen what the Americans do with Godzilla. Now let's see the Japanese, the guys who created Godzilla, do it right. Will they go all philosophical and meta? Or all cheesy fun? The answer is, neither.
Godzilla Resurgence is one helluva mess. Most of the movie is about bureaucratic wrangling inside the Japanese government. We are treated to endless meetings and dozens of government officials. Yup, it's all about the bureaucrats. Not the military, not some plucky civilian. No cute kids or dogs either. Bureaucrats. And the pacing and sensibility feels distinctly 1970s.
SPOILERS WARNING
I usually try to avoid going too much into plot details, preferring to look at movies from a higher level of abstraction. But there's nothing much to analyze here except for the plot.
Of course, there's a mad scientist subplot, but it doesn't really develop into anything much. Except origami molecular biology and a plan to coagulate Godzilla's blood with thousands of gallons of chemicals.
There's also another subplot with a half-Japanese American lady diplomat (who can barely speak English) which made no sense to me so I won't try to explain it.
It is only after about an hour that the action really starts, with the Japanese military blasting away with helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery. All to no effect, of course. I mean, a tank's armor-piercing round can penetrate over a meter of steel so of course it can't harm anything organic, right?
After the brief battle, it's back to the bureaucrats. The American military also gets into the act and bombs Godzilla using B2 stealth bombers. But surprise! Godzilla has built-in phased-array radar that can detect stealth aircraft and shoots down a B2 with its laser. Oh, and he shoots down the Prime Minister's helicopter too, killing him.
Godzilla then goes into hibernation right in the middle of Tokyo, for a couple of days. He's a sitting duck. Hit him again. But nope, everyone is so freaked out that all they can think of now is nukes.
The UN Security Council passes a resolution to nuke Godzilla with a US-led coalition of countries. But the gutsy Japanese manage to outsmart the stupid, evil Americans. They use cement pump trucks to pump the blood coagulant into Godzilla's mouth, causing him to turn into stone.
Don't judge me but my favorite Godzilla is still the Roland Emmerich version.
***
I had high hopes for this movie. We've seen what the Americans do with Godzilla. Now let's see the Japanese, the guys who created Godzilla, do it right. Will they go all philosophical and meta? Or all cheesy fun? The answer is, neither.
Godzilla Resurgence is one helluva mess. Most of the movie is about bureaucratic wrangling inside the Japanese government. We are treated to endless meetings and dozens of government officials. Yup, it's all about the bureaucrats. Not the military, not some plucky civilian. No cute kids or dogs either. Bureaucrats. And the pacing and sensibility feels distinctly 1970s.
SPOILERS WARNING
I usually try to avoid going too much into plot details, preferring to look at movies from a higher level of abstraction. But there's nothing much to analyze here except for the plot.
Of course, there's a mad scientist subplot, but it doesn't really develop into anything much. Except origami molecular biology and a plan to coagulate Godzilla's blood with thousands of gallons of chemicals.
There's also another subplot with a half-Japanese American lady diplomat (who can barely speak English) which made no sense to me so I won't try to explain it.
It is only after about an hour that the action really starts, with the Japanese military blasting away with helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery. All to no effect, of course. I mean, a tank's armor-piercing round can penetrate over a meter of steel so of course it can't harm anything organic, right?
After the brief battle, it's back to the bureaucrats. The American military also gets into the act and bombs Godzilla using B2 stealth bombers. But surprise! Godzilla has built-in phased-array radar that can detect stealth aircraft and shoots down a B2 with its laser. Oh, and he shoots down the Prime Minister's helicopter too, killing him.
Godzilla then goes into hibernation right in the middle of Tokyo, for a couple of days. He's a sitting duck. Hit him again. But nope, everyone is so freaked out that all they can think of now is nukes.
The UN Security Council passes a resolution to nuke Godzilla with a US-led coalition of countries. But the gutsy Japanese manage to outsmart the stupid, evil Americans. They use cement pump trucks to pump the blood coagulant into Godzilla's mouth, causing him to turn into stone.
Don't judge me but my favorite Godzilla is still the Roland Emmerich version.
2014-10-15
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Kenshin ("sword heart") Himura (Takeru Satô) is washed up on shore after his failed attempt to save his girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). His old swordfighting sensei Seijuro Hiko finds him on the beach and carries him home.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
2014-07-27
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)
Harlock plans to set off 100 bombs at different parts of the galaxy to reverse time and fix the problems caused by the Gaia Sanction. Yama, brother of Isola (an important member of Gaia Sanction), infiltrates Harlock's crew and tries to stop him.
***
Space Pirate is a visually impressive but grandiosely nonsensical science fiction anime movie. It's okay to have a technically ridiculous premise, as long as you make the audience want to believe in the story - through good storytelling or engaging characters.
However, Space Pirate doesn't give you any reason to overlook its badly-imagined space opera world. It lacks the world-building integrity and rich character development of TV anime series such as Escaflowne or Neon Genesis Evangelion. Heck, even the Final Fantasies are better.
For one thing, Harlock himself doesn't get much screen time, appearing more as a shadowy enigma - a supporting character - than as the main protagonist. That role falls to Yama, who comes across as a cardboard character too.
Isola is the designated bad guy (complete with cliched physical disability - he can't walk). Unfortunately, he is literally a cartoon bad guy. And his soap opera relationship with Yama is painfully melodramatic.
Harlock's crew are also cardboard cliches. There's a super-confident hot blond in a tight-fitting suit (who looks like Heather Locklear) and a crude, salty cigar-chomping sergeant (not really a sergeant, and I might have imagined the cigar, but you get the idea).
The visuals are good. The overall design is some kind of steampunk tech that we've seen before but still looks interesting. Lighting is dramatic high contrast, a bit like the lighting in Underworld. I'm not a clothes guy but the baroque costumes look good. Each major character has his own signature design, with realistically rendered fabric textures.
The characters do move a bit like robots but you quickly get used to this and barely notice after a while. Facial expressions could be better but are good enough.
Unfortunately the space battles are unimaginative Star Trek-style visual-range laser fights between lumbering space battleships. Heck, the Gaia Sanction troops look like Stormtroopers.
Space Pirate is advertised with a breathless endorsement from James Cameron. I can't imagine what he must have been smoking.
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