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Written by Finger_Of_DOOM
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Casshern **1/2 out of ***** Genres 2004 Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya Written by Kazuaki Kiriya screenplay Dai Sato Shotaro Suga Tatsuo Yoshida characters Cast Yusuke Iseya .... Casshern/Tetsuya Azuma Kumiko Aso .... Luna Kozuki Akira Terao .... Kotaro Azuma-hakase Kanako Higuchi .... Midori Azuma Fumiyo Kohinata .... Kozuki-hakase Hiroyuki Miyasako .... Akubon Jun Kaname .... Barashin Hidetoshi Nishijima .... Lieutenant Colonel Kamijo For first-time director Kazuaki Kiriya Casshern is a rather ambitious and technically complicated film. Even for a seasoned filmmaker the amount of special effects, stunt work, and intricately choreographed action sequences can be difficult to orchestrate. While Kiriya seems to have a handle on those aspects, it's a little sad that the story itself that had to suffer because of this. Casshern takes place within an alternate history. In recent times warfare has spread throughout Eurasia, and has devastated the continent, but has finally come to an end leaving many casualties. Geneticist Dr. Azuma's (Akira Terao) son Tetsuya Azuma (Yusuke Iseya) was one of those casualties. Driven by the love for his fallen son, he attempts to gain government sponsorship for his controversial neo-cell treatment which he claims will regenerate humankind. However, the doctor's treatment is turned down. But this minor roadblock is not enough to stop him from reaching his goals and he continues his work by accepting an offer from an evil military faction. During one of the experiments an accident in the lab creates a race of mutants with abnormal strength that suddenly wage war on humankind with the aim of eventual annihilation, but one warrior stands in the way of that. Dr. Azuma's deceased son Tetsuya has been reincarnated as the warrior Casshern. It has been said before that the Americans are masters at action cinema, the Europeans are craftsmen at character development and the Japanese are excellent at creating atmosphere. In the case of Casshern I'd say that is undeniably true as writer/director Kazuaki Kiriya imports you into his fantasy world of giant robots and crazy costumed fighters with characters that look and feel the part set amongst highly stylised imagery. It really does make you feel that this alternate history at one time existed (within the context of the film that is, if you truly believe in this world you may want to seek professional help). The expertly choreographed action speaks volumes. It's both intense and cartoon-like at times, which makes it rather amusing to watch especially when the character Casshern is moving at incredible speeds. However at first glance at the film's synopsis you'd think you just read the plot of the latest X-Box or Playstation game, and you'd be half right. Although Casshern is most definitely a film it was made like most recent video games, shot almost entirely on blue or green screen stages and all the backgrounds are computer generated. Its simple and sometimes convenient plot unfortunately stops the film from making the leap from good film to excellent film. Furthermore, I also felt that Casshern seems to have a slight case of mistaken identity. It doesn't really know what it wants to be. The underlying tones of world annihilation, that humankind will be the end of itself run rampant throughout, but this deep philosophical tone feels out of pace amidst a straight forward sci-fi action epic and brings the film's more exciting moments down a notch. The performances are a combination of the over-the-top and subtle, almost as if the performer was hit with a tranquilliser dart. Congratulations Japan, you now have a Goerge Lucas to call your own in director Kazuaki Kiriya. For the most part I enjoyed Casshern mainly due to the exciting nature of the action and effects, I wasn't convinced that moulding a simple plot with deep-seeded philosophical undertones was a particularly good move: this occasionally saw the ugly head of pretentiousness rear itself. Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) |
