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SENATOR BABYHEAD

Posts: 364
Registered: 9/7/2003
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8/25/2004 at 22:42

Way back, someone linkswarmed the movie Casshern. I just saw it so I thought I should enlighten the masses.

Casshern is a live action anime remake of an anime from the '70s of the same name. Basically, a live action anime means that they have human actors in a partially real/mostly anime world. Although it sounds weird, this style is really interesting. Kinda the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, that wasnt really the case for this film.
The anime side of the film was great. Beautifully drawn and rendered, the anime portion was mostly used for backgrounds. Of course, since this is an anime film, giant robots were needed. They too were very nicely rendered; similar to the robots in The Matrix.

As many highlights as there were in this film, there were about as many things that just pissed me off. Maybe its the cultural differences between east and west. But, when you have to sit through 45 minutes of drama/love story just to see 3 minutes of superhuman, robot smashing action, I would say that plot needs some work.
I mean, I like animes with drama. I like movies with drama. But the anime Casshern from the '70s wasnt just a drama/love story. It had a ton of robot ass kicking and mutant stomping.

So anyway, to surmise a 2 hour and 15 minute film:
Japan now controls half of Europe and all of Asia. The Europeans (who are played by Japanese actors rather than European actors) try and fight back. Lots of people die.
Then comes this love story thing and how the main character, Tetsuya, rebelled against his dad. The kid joins the army and dies. His dad creates this type of cell, called a NeoCell, which can heal people. He brings the kid back from the dead, which gives teh kid superhuman power and speed.
Next, there is this "terrible accident" in which the government experiments on their dead soldiers with the NeoCell. Of course, the soldiers turn out as mutants, rebel, pledge to kill all humans, and find a castle filled with an army of robots just waiting to be commanded by the forces of evil.

Now, in a normal film, this combination of mutants and robots would add up to be some sort of cool fight scene. The kind with martial arts, slow motion, and big explosions. There is about 3 minutes of this. Granted, those 3 minutes were very cool, but they really dont make up for the rest of the film.

Finally, the film changes to a drama. The leaders of this futuristic Japan fight amongst themselves, someone gets their head cut off, and a coup threatens those who arent willing to change.
Eventually, the guy Tetsuya calls himself Casshern (which is supposed to be some sort of god) and kills the rest of the mutants. Then, he kills his dad and flies away to some other planet.

I think the moral of the story was something like: "You cant always help the people you care about. And, sometimes when you do, they get hurt." But, Im not great at finding the hidden meaning behind stuff.

Overall, I would say the film gets like a 6.5. I liked the old Casshern, but this remake wasnt that great.
So, when it comes to the US in a year or two, rent the dvd or download a rip of it rather than see it at the movies.

On a side note, the music during the film was great.

[Edited on 25/8/2004 by LuckyLuciano]