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Film: Hard Boiled
Release date: 27th September 2004
Certificate: 18
Running time: 122 mins
Director: John Woo
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong
Long before he was playing a bastardised version of Master Roshi in Hollywood's 'retelling' of Dragonball, Chow Yun-fat actually made films that mattered. As perhaps John Woo's best received film (by western critics at least), Hard Boiled tells the story of a maverick cop whose guns and clarinet are his only friends as he sets out to right the wrongs of ‘90s Hong Kong and kill hundreds of people along the way. Think Dirty Harry with more guns – a LOT more.
Hong Kong is a city being torn apart by gun-running gangs, as evidenced by the opening scene where civilians are forced to flee a tea room in terror as bullets and birds start flying in almost equal measure. Enter Tequila (Chow Yun-fat) who quite frankly seems to have had about enough of such nonsense, and proceeds to shoot first and ask questions later in the most unequivocal manner possible. One dead partner and some snappy dialogue with a former flame later, and we realise this man is pretty much Hong Kong's answer to John McClain. This is not a bad thing.
What follows is something that could charitably be called exposition, as we are made aware that much of the chaos within the city is the result of two rival gangs competing for leverage in the illegal arms trade. Tony Leung plays Tony, an undercover cop who has infiltrated the slightly more philanthropic of the gangs and become the heir-apparent; however, his obvious talents are coveted by the nefarious leader of the opposing gang: Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang).
A showdown – in the loosest sense possible, as it boils down to Tequila versus dozens of gangsters – in a warehouse changes the balance of power irreparably, introduces our two protagonists to one another, and sets up Wong as a man with a plan that will spell trouble for all of Hong Kong. However, Tequila's attitude problem and Tony's rapid descent into the criminal underworld place these two men who represent law and order's last line of defence on either side of a war that threatens to erupt at any moment…
Tequila, as a character, is probably a good place to start for any retrospective look at Hard Boiled because so much of what makes this film appealing relies on him. He's an every-man; a down-on-his luck cop who puts the job first, sacrifices personal relationships for his work, and goes outside of the rules when they can't get the job done. This is a stereotype of a stereotype - albeit one of the first – and a character built upon clichés, but that doesn't stop him being unabashedly awesome. Part of this is due to Yun-fat's performance, which lends a perfect amount of smarmy indifference to how Tequila responds to violence. But a large part of what makes him great is down to Woo's decision to just make him do the most plainly ridiculous stuff because it looks great.
And indeed, the artistry of the gun-fighting in this film reaches far beyond its own celluloid boundaries. Modern attempts to recreate the brutal style and the visceral pace of Hard Boiled are numerous; from True Romance and Max Payne to Equilibrium and The Matrix, John Woo's influence has rippled outward from this film, even as far as that most impregnable of bastions - Hollywood action movies. And with good reason – Hard Boiled is a beautiful example of how to maintain grittiness and violence while utilising the kind of excessive acrobatics and bullet-time dives that would become so popular both in film and video games several years after its release.
With its commitment to its own visual glory, Hard Boiled seems to throw the script out of the window occasionally, but this doesn't really matter. Leung and Yun-fat deliver consistently good performances for what they have to work with, and in a film where getting to the next mind-blowing action sequence is the name of the game, words just get in the way. This might be a problem for some who tend to want a bit more depth from their film, but you shouldn't be deceived into thinking that these aren't well-layered characters. They prove from first to last to be likeable, cool and tough as nails.
If you fancy watching a film that is considered by many to be one of the greatest action films of all time then Hard Boiled is for you. It isn't the most subtle of beasts, but then subtlety is overrated anyway. Amazing action sequences interspersed with good acting and a cool story - watch this film. JD
Film: Higanjima - Escape From Vampire Island
Release date: 4th October 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 120 mins
Director: Kim Tae-gyun
Starring: Hideo Ishiguro, Dai Watanabe, Asami Mizukawa, Kôji Yamamoto, Miori Takimoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Martial Arts
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: South Korea/Japan
Adapted from Koji Matsumoto's anime of the same name, Higanjima marks another manga-oriented instalment in the career of director Kim Tae-gyun (Volcanoe High). With less voice-overs from rappers and far more vampires this time around, it's time to escape from Vampire Island.
Akira (Hideo Ishiguro) is ostensibly a normal high school kid complete with all the personal neurosis and romantic hang-ups that entails. However, beneath his smiling exterior is a deep sadness - his older brother Atsushi (Dai Watanabe) disappeared while on holiday with his fiancé two years ago, and this still weighs heavily on his mind.
So when a mysterious woman calling herself Rei (Asami Mizukawa) comes to him suggesting his brother is alive and – more importantly – that she knows where he can be found, Akira has little choice but to follow.
With his friends in tow, and Rei as their guide, Akira sets off for the distant island of Higanjima in the hope of rescuing Atsushi and restoring some semblance of normality to his life. Upon their arrival, however, it becomes clear that neither Rei, Higanjima nor Atsushi are quite what they were appeared.
Will our plucky young heroes make it through the horrors of Higanjima in one piece?
This is not a Japanese answer to Twilight. The domination of teenagers in the list of protagonists is used to establish an innocent and affable group of good guys rather than pave the way for incomprehensible angsting. Kim Tae-gyun clearly likes to use youthful characters to support the energy and dynamism his films have become known for, and for the most part it works.
Higanjima is a fast-paced story filmed in an all-action style, and for the first thirty minutes the story rockets forward with little thought to character development beyond stereotypes, almost to the point of fault. However, Tae-gyun's vision hits a sticky patch shortly after the group arrives on the island, struggling to pull itself clear for long enough that it becomes noticeable. So much so that upon completion, a quick glance at the 122 minute run time makes you wonder whether they couldn't have left a sizeable chunk of it out.
This is a vampire film which opens with a masked man dicing up blood-suckers with a samurai sword and reducing their heads to pulpy messes with a log. Such a bold initial gambit deserves greater adherence from the scenes that follow it, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. The film sags badly in the middle because Tae-gyun made the perhaps misguided decision to focus on the human impact of this predicament rather than just deliver on the ultra-cool violence of the opening encounter. The characters are not well-established or likeable enough for this to be a good idea, with even the hero, Akira, occasionally seeming more likely to run off and cry than do something heroic.
To its credit, Higanjima picks itself up (or rather, is dragged up by the awesome Atsushi) and delivers consistent high quality fight scenes, with impressive gore, good choreography and a unique design for the vampires, which is somewhere between zombies and goblins. Disappointingly, however, it seems for all the world like they ran out of money towards the end of filming, leading to some truly awful CGI effects, which makes the climactic battle distinctly uninspiring.
Ultimately, it is hard to escape the feeling that the mark was missed with this one. Despite enjoyable moments of violence and action that remain true to the genre, it takes the film too long to reach them, and they are gone all too quickly once it does. The youthful dynamic that director Tae-gyun favours has worked against him here.
An ambitious attempt to mix the Brat Pack with Hammer Horror that falls some way short of its potential and, unfortunately, leaves the audience wondering whether they can escape from Vampire Island, too. JD
Film: The Legend Is Born: Ip Man
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 100 mins
Director: Herman Yau
Starring: Sammo Hung, Yu-Hang To, Dennis To, Siu-Wong Fan, Yi Huang
Genre: Action/Biography/Drama/Martial Arts
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong
The Japanese are coming - and they want to steal your kung fu! China's only hope is a legend in the making in this semi-autobiographical account of the originator of Wing Chun, mentor to Bruce Lee, and all-round tough guy, Ip Man.
Set throughout the early 20th century, Ip Man focuses on the life of our eponymous hero as he grows from a promising student into the heir apparent at a school for martial arts. Along the way, he ably demonstrates his considerable skill in numerous conflicts, which end poorly for everyone involved - but him.
The story begins with Ip Man and his adopted Japanese brother Tin Chi being enrolled into the school by their father who immediately takes off and leaves them under the supervision of an old Wing Chun master - a master who promptly dies and makes way for the slightly younger Cheung Wing Shing (Huang Yi).
It rapidly becomes clear that with Japanese incursions into Chinese culture becoming more and more common, the leaders of the association which determines who may be taught Wing Chun must decide whether to accept the approaches of the shady Kitano. With Tin Chi and Ip Man potentially caught on opposite sides of the conflict, both men must come to terms with not only external threats to their order but also the possibility of internal changes that threaten to undermine that which they have been taught since childhood…
Right off the bat, it's important to reiterate that Ip Man is semi-autobiographical. This is important because often enough such films live or die by how well they retell the protagonist's story – oscillating between mind-blowingly amazing and bombastically stupid (see: anything biographical that Mel Gibson has ever done). One of Ip Man's greatest flaws is that it seems too embarrassed to dramatise any of its heroes exploits, but will happily use piece-meal wire fighting in order to establish some kind of dynamic. This leads to the story of an obviously incredible man being told in an incredibly mundane fashion, with moments of incredibly misplaced fantasy simply confusing matters.
From the start, Ip Man delivers an inconsistent message, and this is only compounded by the frequent leaps that are made from scene to scene. Often characters make assertions that either assumes the watcher knows something that has not been explained, or explains something that bears no relevance to the rest of the film. Never is this more evident than when Ip Man (Dennis To) goes to find some medicine for a man who he had fought and hurt, at which point he describes his victim as a 'friend'. Problem being that he had not met the man before and never mentioned him again, so in the end all this (undoubtedly factual) encounter served to do was highlight the ham-fisted segway the film had made into a section where the protagonist learns a new and revolutionary form of Wing Chun; something which remains a key concept for about twenty minutes before also being forgotten.
Indeed, if Ip Man, as a whole, is a forgetful film then the directing, writing, editing, acting and even fight choreography could charitably be described as absent-minded. Most of the cast seem to have left their commitment at home for this picture, and it really shows as scene after scene begins to be dominated by poor directorial choices, worse acting, and fight scenes that make no contextual sense and are – at best – uninspiring. The worst thing about this is twofold: firstly that this is a martial arts film, and it shouldn't take a genius to work out that boring fight scenes might be problematic for a film of that genre; and secondly that being semi-autobiographical means that some of these fights actually happened, and actually made sense at some point, yet somehow director Wilson Yip managed to shift them into the realm of nonsensical make-believe.
Ultimately what proves to be the most disappointing thing about Ip Man is the sense of wasted potential; wasted ideas, wasted talent and – most importantly – the waste of a great story in what can only be described as a bad film. Poor acting, bizarre editorial and directorial choices, a hokey script, and fight scenes that rarely break a figurative sweat make Ip Man, above all else, a waste of an hour-and-a-half. JD
Series: Soul Eater: Part Three
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 306 mins
Director: Takuya Igarashi
Starring: Chiaki Omigawa, Kouki Uchiyama, Akeno Watanabe, Emiri Katou, Houko Kuwashima
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Time to grab your scythe and don your skull broaches: hot on the heels of part two comes the third instalment of the adaptation of Atsushi Okhubo's manga Soul Eater.
Following on from where the second collection left off, part three continues to develop the stories of the young students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy as they search for the 99 kishin eggs (evil souls) and one witches soul required to elevate themselves to the rank of Death Scythe.
They are overseen as always by tall, dark and boney himself, Lord Death, as well as a growing list of increasingly complex teachers, many of whom are in various states of decomposition.
The twelve episodes in this instalment focus on the return of the insidious Arachne – The Mother of Magic Weapons – after 800 years, and the coinciding return of her sister: Medusa. Neither of these occurrences are good news for the team of Maka, Black Star and Death The Kid whose training begins to take a back seat to defence of the academy as their enemies close in around them.
The team's need to collect souls is shelved as they hunt for magic tools and weapons that might aid them against the insurgent Arachnophobia Group, and to that end they are aided by their stalwart partners (friends who can merge with their souls to become physical weapons) in the hunt for these artefacts.
Ultimately the team will have to put aside their differences and learn to trust their friends, partners and each other in order to combat a new foe who threatens to engulf not just the Academy, but the entire world…
Soul Eater is nothing if not ambitious. The world it creates, the rules it codifies and the characters it forges are far-reaching indeed, and, at first, it can feel a little ominous to a first-time viewer. The series has defined its exposition as something to be done through demonstration, and this trend is continued into the third collection of episodes where verbal explanations are few and far between. This can make for an initially frustrating experience as you struggle to figure out just what the hell a 'Meister' is for the first few episodes, but, ultimately, everything slots into place through frequently set examples. Moreover, the thick jargon gives Soul Eater at least a veneer of high fantasy, which is lacking in certain other similarly-themed animes, and this makes it feel like more than a 'watch-and-forget' series.
In fact, what is perhaps the most instantly recognisable aspect of Soul Eater is the design which, while derivative in places, does a passable job for the most part in establishing an original aesthetic. Characters such as Death The Kid (the son of Death) are fantastically thought-out, and with little touches to each of them filling out the edges there really is great scope for dialogue and – surprisingly enough – comedy, which the series manages to do incredibly well. However, from time to time, it feels as though they were not willing to attempt this for every character, and the end result is an unbalanced group of people who sometimes feel as if they've been flung together by designers who were not working in tandem. Moreover, the design occasionally feels too borrowed from other sources, and while the wide-angle shots of urban vistas (complete with an animated sun and moon) really are brilliant, there are moments that feel so derivative as to qualify as filler.
Speaking of filler: while the over-arching narrative is an interesting and involving one, there are occasional episodes where it's hard to escape the feeling that they were written to pad out the numbers, as they contribute little. And while these episodes are in the great minority of what is ultimately an entertaining series, they still cause the total five hour run time to sag in the middle.
The negatives do not detract so greatly from this third instalment of Soul Eater as to make it anything other than hugely fun to watch. Although the mythos is impenetrable, and the design is sometimes unoriginal, the action, dialogue and characterisation would make this a worthy addition to any fan’s collection. JD
Film: [Rec]
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 78 mins
Director: Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza
Starring: Manuela Velasco, Javier Botet, Manuel Bronchud, Martha Carbonell, Vicente Gil
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: E1
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Spain
Want proof that a night out with the a Catalonian fire crew can produce more fireworks than a Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid derby? Well then, it sounds like you could do with a dose of Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza's shaky-cam-filled-zombie-fest [REC].
The film follows feisty television presenter Angela Vidal and her trusty cameraman Pablo as they tag along with a team of fire fighters as part of a late-night TV show: 'While You're Asleep' – something akin to all of those god-awful hand-held police camera programmes.
After firemen Manu and Alex are introduced, the group set off on what seems to be a fairly innocuous call out to assist an elderly woman who has become trapped in her apartment. Upon their arrival at the aggressively cramped building, they are greeted by the other tenants, as well as two police officers who we soon learn were summoned after screams were heard.
Together with officers Joven and Adulto, the rescue party proceeds up the stairs and into an apartment where it rapidly becomes clear that it is not the elderly woman who requires assistance, but themselves. Upon rushing back to the hall, they find the block sealed from the outside and are informed that the building has been declared a BNC (biological, nuclear or chemical) threat.
The still-living authority figures are now faced with a situation where they must contend with growing panic amongst the surviving occupants whilst seeking an escape route from the nightmare upstairs…
[REC] is, above all things, a breath of fresh air. With George Romero's attempts to rekindle his former glory growing progressively tedious, and any other contenders to his zombie throne close to non-existent, [REC] stands out as a bold attempt to take the sub-genre in a different direction. And while many of its ideas are not entirely original (the concept of zombies in an apartment block having been covered in the first half hour of the original Dawn Of The Dead), the way it utilises them often is. Moreover, the shift away from Romero's incessant focus on humanity and towards the terror of the monster itself feels – however surprisingly – like a new approach.
What is perhaps the most tired aspect of [REC] is the use of the hand-held camera as a tool for instilling realism. If you're just a little bit sick of Hollywood's constant attempts to relive the Blair Witch Project with character's-view camera work then you'd be forgiven for initially rolling your eyes at the thought of sitting through what has the potential to be nothing more than a Spanish version of American snore-fests like Cloverfield. However, [REC] commits uncompromisingly to the format as a dramatic device in a way that most other films do not, and, in doing so, maintains a consistent and effective dynamic. In short, [REC] achieves with that method of filming what it was originally created to do: transport the viewer into the body of the character - in this case to heighten the terror.
And make no mistake about it, [REC] is scary - really scary. In fact, the camera work sometimes pales in comparison to the horribly dark and narrow apartment building whose winding staircase slowly and inexorably leads the characters to the structures summit where the beating (or not in this case) heart of the nightmare waits. It really is watch-through-your-fingers stuff as the characters struggle to find any kind of sanctuary in a building which obviously was not designed to withstand an internal siege. Character's are bumped off so mercilessly that you're left with the feeling that anything could happen - at any time - and never is this more evident than at [REC]'s nerve-shredding climax.
There really aren't very many negatives about [REC]. It's low-budget but this fact is brilliantly contorted to work in the films favour. Characters die brutally and rapidly, but you still feel like they've been well established enough to make their demise tragic and horrific. It's perhaps not as gory as fans of Romero would like, and the zombies aren't used as an unstoppable horde but as individual nightmares, which could put off hardcore fans.
What [REC] does is single-handedly add another facet to a sub-genre that was in danger of going stale again, and it does so masterfully. It might not be for purists, or heavy Romero fans, but frankly it's their loss because this is one damn fine zombie flick. JD
Film: District 13: Ultimatum
Release date: 26th October 2009
Certificate: 15
Running time: 82 mins
Director: Patrick Alessandrin
Starring: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Philippe Torreton, Daniel Duval, Elodie Yung
Genre: Action
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
Question: what do you get if you mix Double Dragon, Enemy Of The State, The Warriors, Future-France, and a society where everyone inexplicably knows parkour (the ability to jump and climb objects – such as buildings - in a fluid manner)? Answer: I'm not sure, but Patrick Alessandrin's sequel to District 13 is probably pretty close to the money.
Set in Paris, in a not-to-distant future, where France is on the brink of marshal law, District 13: Ultimatum draws upon the real-life poverty that parts of Paris are known for to create a rich backdrop for the story of two best friends – heroic special forces officer Cpt. Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and street-smart rebel Leito (David Belle) – as they attempt to prevent all-out war between the government and the inhabitants of the dangerous ghetto: District 13.
The film picks up where the original left off: with Leito voluntarily entering the gang-filled ghetto and leaving Tomaso behind to do the ‘hero-cop’ thing. It's made abundantly clear from the start that Leito still doesn't have much love for the heavy-handed lawmen in charge of Paris, while Tomaso is still just a hero through and through.
The pair spend the first half hour doing things to cement their characters (Leito outruns some cops and Tomaso beats a lot of people up), but the film really kicks into gear when shady secret-service types kill a few policemen in cold blood and then dump them in District 13. This escalates the already high tensions to near fever pitch, and, as it so happens, the only men that can stop it are either disaffected (Leito) or arrested because the wonderfully evil Walter Gassman (Daniel Duval) knows that they represent the only obstacle between him and his dastardly goal (that would be Tomaso). In order to stop the utter destruction of District 13, our heroic duo must band together once more, gain the allegiance of several warring gangs and provide proof of the secret agency's wrong-doing to the honest but ultimately ignorant President (Philippe Torreton)…
If this all sounds a bit straight-forward that's because it is - in parts, at least. Certainly you won’t find high-brow political intrigue here: the antagonists are a conveniently nameless and shady organisation, and the good-guys are your standard rebel/clean-cut combo. In fact, all of the characters in this film are essentially just very well worked stereotypes, but this is by no means a criticism. Indeed, it's actually quite refreshing to see that writer Luc Besson clearly has the art of characterisation down to a tee – okay, none of the roles are particularly complex, but they all work exactly as they are supposed to, and in the end that's all an action film really needs to keep the viewer interested in between set-pieces. However, don't let this fool you into thinking the acting is merely passable – some of the performers (most notably Belle and Raffaelli) frequently deliver moments of excellence that really allow the trademark cynical humour of Besson's script (and of French cinema in general) to come through. They won’t make you cry, but they may very well make you laugh – consistently.
Besson's name should ring a bell with more than a few people as the man behind the Transporter films, and fans of that series will see much of the same here – with one small caveat. Certainly the humour and self-awareness that a European presence in the writing can bring is still very evident, but gone are the jingoisms of a Hollywood blockbuster. Case in point: rare is it that Americans are ever criticised in western action films (let alone cast as the bad guys) – by contrast District 13: Ultimatum does very little except ask questions of the French, and of the underlying problems in Paris, which the film so gloriously stylises into foil for a movie, even going so far as to make everyone from the same place, good or bad. So you see, while the 'shady government organisation' is a stereotype that has been used before, it is hard to recall it ever being used in quite such a cynical (and therefore entertaining) fashion. Ultimately, the approach to action here manages to be subtle in its methods yet achieve madness in its results, and stands out as a stroke of genius because of it.
And it would be remiss to speak about subtlety without at least paying lip service to the stunning grace of the fight sequences that are frequently served up. The fights are choreographed in such a way that visceral, hard-hitting martial arts can blend seamlessly with the fantastic athleticism that well-performed parkour showcases - the end result of which is nothing short of fantastic. Tomaso is the fighter, Leito has the agility and together they possess the ability to lead the viewer through a hypnotic display of aesthetic splendour. Not to do a disservice to the other performers (many of whom have their own moments of excellence), but Belle and Raffaelli are the stars in terms of action, and regularly deliver the kind of quality which should have Hollywood action stars blushing.
It's an action film from the first to the last, but with licks of class visible throughout District 13: Ultimatum puts just about every western action film released in the last five years to shame. JD
Series: Ah! My Goddess: Flights Of Fancy - Series 2: Part 2
Release date: 19th July 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 193 mins
Director: Hiroaki Gohda
Starring: Aya Hisakawa, Kikuko Inoue, Masami Kikuchi, Yumi Touma, Gara Takashima
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Adapted from a manga written and and illustrated by Kosuke Fujishima and directed by Hiroaki Gohda (Bubblegum Crisis), Ah! My Goddess is an institution, and Flight Of Fancy brings anime fans a return from the lovable Belldandy and her heavenly home-girls.
One year after the goddess Belldandy emerged from Keiichi Morisato's mirror and promised to stay with him forever, a new threat to their happiness emerges, one that could end the contract between Belldandy and Keiichi.
So, we jump into the action with Keiichi unable to pluck up the courage to kiss Belldandy, despite their contractual relationship being placed in jeopardy at the end of the last series. Belldandy's task is to love Keiichi, but it's a job she's forgotten how to perform through events that unfolded prior to this second series.
She is ably assisted/unwaveringly hindered by her two goddess sisters Urd and Skulld, along with newcomer Peorth, who has arrived at the behest of the gods in order to grant Keiichi his true desires, much to the chagrin of Belldandy. The two come into direct competition over the young student’s affections more than once (bizarrely leading to a situation that Keiichi doesn't revel in), and the mysterious Peorth - standing in more or less direct contrast with the innocent Belldandy - ultimately uses her powers to force a conclusion.
Elsewhere, Urd's former lover Troubadour returns from self-imposed exile (although the apparent nobility of this commitment is questioned almost immediately) with tumultuous consequence, not least for Keiichi, who finds himself caught between a vengeful God and a disinterested Urd. And the series culminates in a confrontation with the malicious demon Marller who possesses hidden knowledge about Urd, which she utilises to her own nefarious advantage...
It would be easy to dismiss Flights Of Fancy as a powder puff anime - all pastel and no punch, to coin a phrase. On the face of it, Belldandy is a bit timid, and the series’ only male protagonist - Keiichi - is so unbearably wet that it seems initially as if one might be in for 192 minutes of soppy pain. Even beyond that, most of the supplementary characters seem - charitably - to have the depth of puddles, and the idea of them contributing to anything seems frankly ludicrous, but, ultimately, all of these prejudices prove themselves to be pleasantly incorrect.
If you look beyond what initially strikes you, it becomes clear that there is a reason that Ah! My Goddess has been running both as an anime and a manga for almost twenty years now. People tend to enjoy it, and it's difficult not to find this latest instalment worthy of the massive amounts of affection the series garners with its fans. For, as you work through the episodes, what initially begins as a mild dislike for everyone in the series turns first to apathy, then to slight affection, before ending up as an almost embarrassing warm, fuzzy feeling. The characters are genuinely likeable. Certainly, they don't start with any great depth, and don't really get any deeper as the episodes unfold, but the acting, writing and design combine to mould individuals whose problems and successes you end up taking something close to a vested interest in. The three part sucker-punch of happiness that is J-Pop, plus overly chirpy characters and cutesy design (complete with essentially nothing but pale pastel colours) is frequently a recipe for disaster, but somehow it just works here, to the point where it's hard not to recommend Flights Of Fancy if only for its uncanny aptitude for initiating catharsis.
Ultimately, it's not just good as a tool for helping you to forget your life - it works because the characters are well designed and easy to enjoy, the storylines are involving but simple, and the overall 'feel' is one of unbridled happiness and innocence that never once feels forced or contrived. Belldandy and Keiichi's seemingly hopeless romance is as compelling as something so light-hearted can be.
With the same happy carelessness and cheerful outlook that has turned the series (and initial manga) into classics; this second instalment delivers just the right amount of sweetness without ever being overly saccharine. It's shiny, it's sugary and it's not for the cynical. JD
Film: Kippur
Release date: 22nd February 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Amos Gitai
Starring: Tomer Russo, Liron Levo, Uri Klauzner
Genre: War
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Israel/France
Kippur goes the unlikely route of producing a war film without any of the fighting - Amos Gitai creating a movie that focuses on the humanitarian aspect, and the inner and outer hell faced by the soldiers.
Set during the Yom Kippur War of the 1970s, when Egypt and Syria attacked the Sinai and Golan Heights regions of Israel, Kippur is director Amos Gitai's retelling of a war he experienced firsthand. Assisting in this retelling are Liron Levo and Tomer Ruso, as the two main characters: Sgt. Weinraub and Lt. Ruso - two reservists who have lost their unit and end up assisting a helicopter rescue team. The story centres around the exploits (or lack thereof) of these men as they guide their team (also consisting of a doctor played by Uri Klauzner) from the relative safety of Yoran Hattab's helicopter to scenes of destruction on the frontlines of war.
Along with dialogue, plot and exposition are things Gitai considered surplus to what he wanted to achieve with Kippur. The film's quality is in its stark atmosphere, in the parts where Gitai clearly attempted to establish a similar dynamic to Vietnam movies like Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. There is a genius in having your protagonists do almost nothing in a film while still managing to make this nothingness seem scary, against the backdrop of a war. Therefore, even though the enemy remain unseen throughout the entire movie (and only two shots are visibly fired on screen over the whole running time), the fact that there is a war on is inescapable. You won’t get a cavalry charge, but you will get the impending sense of danger…
What really strikes you about Kippur is the effort that went into surrounding the main characters with an insular web of equal parts desperation, disorganisation and futility. The whole situation in which they find themselves seems totally untenable, unwinnable and frankly pointless, despite the fact that who is actually winning the war is never mentioned. This is not the sort of film where the heroes come home to a fanfare of trumpets and a sea of fluttering flags. Hell, this isn't even the sort of film where they come home to their families and are forgotten about by the rest of the world. The one character who has anything to return to is Sgt. Weinraub, who enjoys a beautiful, unique, if rather pointless love scene that takes up the first nine minutes – thought, it establishes at least a human link.
There are scenes in Kippur that are hard to watch: four men heaving an injured soldier around a field so muddy that they can barely move, breaking the stretcher, dropping him numerous times, panting, heaving, struggling…this is hard to deal with. It is at times like this when the scale of Gitai's achievement with Kippur, and the message imbued within it become clear: you don't need to be killing people to see war in all of its bleakness. However, underneath it all, there is an incredibly black sense of humour – poking fun at the futility of war. It is, to my mind, the most powerful (and simultaneously the most horrible) scene in the entire film, as it on one hand shows what war is actually like before Hollywood fills it with explosions, and on the other shows that Gitai's 'real war' as being pretty terrible even without them.
However, a film with scenes that are hard to watch runs the risk of also being a film that drags, and Kippur occasionally falls foul of this. The acting is solid, but with so little attention paid to dialogue, or any real characterisation, the responsibility for driving the film onwards when nothing is really happening (note: this occurs a lot) falls to the film's unique dynamic. This works most of the time, but relying on a sense of minimalism and banal terror to progress your movie is always a risky business, and Kippur does not always manage to remain stimulating. That said, the vibe that it establishes – part Easy Rider, part 'Nam movie – is consistent, foreboding and scarily effective, so much so that it would be unfair not to stress the film's success in this regard once more.
Kippur is nothing if not an ambitious movie. Fortunately for fans of war films this is just the beginning of what Amos Gitai's hugely watchable work offers, but be warned, if you're after Bruckheimer-esque explosions then look elsewhere: Kippur is a movie that focuses on what war does to the heart and the head, not the body. JD
Film: Casshern
Release date: 10th April 2006
Certificate: 15
Running time: 142 mins
Director: Kazuaki Kiriya
Starring: Yusuke Iseya, Kumiko Aso, Toshiaki Karasawa, Akira Terao, Kanako Higuchi
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Drama
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
One could reasonably assume that with such a talented cast on show, and a frankly stunning amount of effort put into imbuing the film with an original aesthetic, there seemed little scope for Kazuaki Kiriya's directorial debut (and a production debut for the Casshern Film Partners) to do anything but garner mass critical acclaim. So what went wrong?
Set in a 1984-esque future, where the world is divided into various super-states that are constantly at war with one another, Casshern focuses on the lives of a father and son. The father, Kotaro (Akira Terao) – as one of the leading scientists in the Eastern Federation – is obsessed with cracking the code to neo-cell (read: synthetic human) technology, ostensibly to help his country, but in reality it’s because his wife is terminally ill and can only be saved through such a breakthrough. Meanwhile the son, Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya), is away fighting for the Eastern Federation in a conflict with Europa that has lasted fifty years.
The film takes its first turn when Tetsuya is killed in action and Kotaro, overcome with grief, submerges him in the neo-cell gene-mix in the vain hope of resurrecting him. What in actual fact happens is the rebirth of 'Legendary Hero' Casshern through Tetsuya's body, and the subsequent creation of a race of rogue androids through the neo-cell mixture, calling themselves Bio-Roids and led by the fearsome Burai (Toshiaki Karasawa). So far, so cool then.
Supplementing the main storyline is the bratty-but-smart son of the Eastern Federation's Head of State, and heir to his throne, Kaoru (Mitsuhiro Oikawa), a man whose aim is to usurp his father and establish 'The Fed' as the leading global power through any means. You've seen this type of chap before: he's borderline Machiavellian and classical in his composition as a character.
Notwithstanding, on the other side of the fence we have the innocent Luna (Kumiko Aso): Tetsuya's girlfriend and a character around which much of the protagonist's story revolves, even if she rarely has an impact herself.
The story follows this group of characters as they attempt to hunt down, negotiate with, avoid or utilise Burai and his Bio-Roids but, as the story develops, it becomes clear that these beings - wrought as they were by human hands - do not wish to involve themselves in human affairs, unless by 'involve' you mean 'obliterate entirely'…
Casshern is undoubtedly pretty. Not in the sense that Avatar is visually stunning, more in the sense that it has such a bold and striking aesthetic that it is impossible to mistake the film for anything else. The seamless blend of almost anime-like backdrops and marching robot armies with live-action fight sequences is stunning, and the way these are complimented by impressive special effects and character and set design that is frequently jaw-dropping only adds to that experience.
However looking great does not a movie make, and there are problems beneath Casshern's shiny surface - the main bone of contention being that the film’s ambition in presenting an over-arcing aesthetic and a vibrant world for the plot to take place within is also its greatest drawback. Too often it performs leaps of faith from scene to scene as it attempts to cram two or three films worth of substance into a 142 minute running time. There is just so much going on that it often leaves the viewer behind in an attempt to fit everything in, and this frequently leads to apathy, unable to get to grips with what’s happening.
The acting is solid (at times very good - Karasawa and Oikawa's performances are both brilliant), but there's little scope for anyone to perform because of how frequently Casshern attempts to encapsulate literally everything that is going on within the world. There is political intrigue and upheaval, a love story, a tale of a husband’s love for his wife - and that same man's deteriorating relationship with his son. It is, quite frankly, too much for one film.
As something to just sit back and watch it really is entertaining: the design is good enough to cover for unexplained elements of the plot and the action sequences are pretty much constantly stunning, but there feels like there's so little substance behind what's happening that it's difficult to fully recommend Casshern, despite the areas in which it excels – notably in the action and sci-fi – because it lacks drama. Drama is certainly attempted, but none of the characters get enough screen time to ever gain any real empathy from the viewer, and so ultimately Casshern fails in this category.
Should appeal to people of most ages, who want to see a visually pleasing film, but too frequently Casshern substitutes looks for substance and in doing so can become incredibly frustrating to watch. JD
