Live Action Manga Blues: Fist Of The North Star (1995) Movie Review

At last, a review that has long been avoided is upon me, and I can only hope to figure out the parlance appropriate in order to best describe my reactions to this lesser-known footnote in the annals of anime-to-live action. But more and more, it feels as if there is no proper way to illustrate that which finds itself capable of maintaining a specific form. Now to keep things completely frank, Tony Randel's Fist Of The North Star is not the kind of movie one reviews, but rather endures. With this in mind, let me recall what all the hazy fever dreamlike tidbits possible without passing out due to rigor-mortis. Let it be known, Hara & Buronson's burly martial arts master did little to nothing to blow my mind. If it does anything at all, is remind us of just how much has indeed changed in this particularly troubled subgenre of film. Sure, we get Dragonball Evolution, but in order for that ball of misery to come our way, Fist had to be made.

Taking a cue from the initial story that begins the original Hokuto No Ken saga proper, earth is now a brutal wasteland after a nuclear holocaust where the frightened and mighty seem capable of lording over the scrappy remains of humanity, many of whom are either living like nomads, searching for what little food & water remains, or are partially settled into encampments such as Paradise Valley. It is here, that the simple drive for survival is clusterhumped by the oncoming forces of Shin, leader of the city known as Southern Cross. With his so-called "Cross Men" marauding and terrorizing the hapless locals, it is in the wayward hands (or dare I say- fists) of young master of the Hokuto Shinken (a deadly assassination art, carried from only one master to another, capable of making body parts not only work against their hosts, but heads to detonate with frightening efficiency.), Kenshiro, to head back into harms way to not only face up to an old rival and former dojo brother responsible for their master's death, but to also be reunited with his lost love, Julia, who still holds hope for something resembling a future for humankind.

With such a rich, wild mixture of post-apocalyptic fantasy & classic martial arts plotting, it seems like in better hands, what we could have here is something close to an nasty-minded, over-the-top action romp, but what we get, is much closer to everything that was pained and often dismissive about comic adaptations in the post-Burton Batman era. With Randel & crew, it's not only clear that this was a production that was beset by funding issues, but is also dogged by a climate that just sees no real understanding, let alone appreciation for such an adaptation to exist. It is something that was prevalent in all major cinematic adaptations of even comics, not to mention animated material, often punctuated with an attitude that only preteens, or neglected children would be interested in such works. As a result, a good majority of these films brought with them a certain element of childishness, and often a sense of being backhandedly dismissive(This was also the dawn of the video game adaptation, a subgenre that in many ways has persisted with this long after comics have reached a level of respectability in Hollywood). Such an attitude persisted in this era, that even the brightest lights of this era bore the sign of studios nervous that their investment would garner anything but the then-considered minority of geekdom.

Right at the offset, it's pretty clear that things aren't working well, as the establishment of the world, something that should be painfully easy to do, is foggy at best. The script by Peter Atkins, Wynne McLaughlin & Randel does what it can to compress the basics of the Shin storyline, but can do little to convince the ears that such verbose, yet almost unnecessarily eloquent dialogue simply doesn't work in Kenshiro's world. And further making matters painful, is the clear lack of confidence in the material outside of the occasional fan-button hit. This is also a film that remains egregious in that age-old offense of casting clearly Japanese characters, and having anglo actors continue to play them despite retaining their original names. So when we look at characters like Master Ryuken, and the aforementioned, Kenshiro..It's more than a little giggle-inducing. And when one considers the with-the-times strange casting of names like Mandylor, Malcolm McDowell, Dante Basco, Big Van Vader, and Downtown Julie Brown (!!), one need no further elaboration. One might not even mind genre favorites like Tracey Walter, and Clint Howard, but the damage is pretty much done once Chris Penn's "original" take on Jagi appears on the scene, unclear of the hell kind of movie he is in.

But let us attempt some fairness by establishing that it isn't as important to checklist what is present, and with is not, as it is to judge the film on its own pluses. This wildly diverse cast can alone make many curious enough. And there is also quite the Hellraiser II vibe, with all the soundstage and lightning work (after all, Randel & Atkins' big claim to fame at this point was working on Clive Barker's cult favorite). One can see the occasional attempt to lend HNK a classy feel, but it's constantly undermined by everything else being said, or punched. And to add greater insult, for a film based on a manga that is legendary for its gore and splatter quotient, this film is bizarrely restrained, making it all the more ineffective as an adaptation. Again, not checklisting here, but a major part of what makes the source material so indelible, is the hyperbolic violence. So without even a hint of what made the original versions, there is little going on here to garner any enthusiasm save for the bizarre ensemble on hand.

 At 90 minutes, the film just drags, struggling to find some manner of pace to boot. It opts for below old Saturday Morning cartoon levels of storytelling, and seems primed to just lie there.

For an action film, it does a fair amount to deliver, but it lives and dies dependent upon the heroes and villains, both of which just spend their time throughout the whole affair in a muddle, and are often completely inert. (at least until an awkwardly placed flashback fills us in nearly an hour into the running time!) Mandylor's Shin often comes off as bored & listless, while kickboxing favorite, Gary Daniels is a completely baffling Kenshiro, a character who is clearly missing a first act, and carries no weight throughout to make any manner of martial arts impress. And in a clear compromise, the film never revels in the explosively bloody action HNK is famous for, it just trudges by as Christopher L. Stone's Hellbound-eque score blares choir overkill throughout. Possibly more a matter of not being able to crack the main characters & their world, and just going with it. As a result, everything else in the piece feels top heavy to lopsided storywise. In fact, inaction seems to be the order of the day with this rendition. With a plot so simple, and such a meandering performance all around, it turns out that it isn't merely the main casting that hurts the central conflict, but it's everything else surrounding it. An adaptation openly distrustful of its audience, and ultimately too boring for camp value, this Fist is caked in marshmallow, the kind that upon getting mildly jawed, can only stick to your face long after.And getting that stuff stuck into such manes of hair..

Live Action Manga Blues Meets Anime Diet!

Suddenly a live action manga/anime project too wild and wooly for the Kaijyu to handle was unleashed upon audiences this last weekend, and only the halls of Anime Diet could contain it!

Join me, as I attempt to break down and parse the good from the bad of NTV's 90-minute Ranma 1/2 dorama special, starring Yui Aragaki! Kung-Fu! Water! Gender Confusion! Hard Gay Clones! Bar Hostess Middle Sisters! Panda!

Read Here.

In Defense Of Scott Pilgrim's Detractors

After a most recent rewatch of what has over the last year and a half become one of my favorite mainstream films of the last several years, it finally came to my attention that there are other reasons why even those who finally got around to catching Edgar Wright's adaptation, and disliked it, or just felt outright ready to dismiss it. Stylistics & Michael Cera overexposure aside, there are some elements embedded in the film's approach that can easily be seen as ripe for ridicule, or dismissal. And while some of it may lay flat in the lap of the original source material created by Bryan Lee O'Malley, there is a bit of reality play that at times comes at the expense of what some audiences expect out of their central characters. Especially when the film almost defiantly asks the audience to laugh along with an anti-protagonist who's greatest triumph come when it barely steps onto the front porch. Mix this with a virtually cold, unsympathetic (to many) object of affections, and it is hard to identify with many of these characters on an amiability level...But many might still know many of them.

As mentioned in my review back upon it's release in August 2011, one of my minor gripes about the film was how this rendition of events gave the character of Ramona Flowers not only a more tattered, damaged demeanor, but little in the way of character agency, particularly near the finale when she reveals her reasons for returning to her last "evil" ex in the form of Gideon Graves. The addition of a computer chip implanted at the base of her neck, rendering her incapable of escaping the douchey record producer continues to come off as a sleight toward what was once a more bright, assertive, and understandable character. BUT - When taken in the context of the film, which is nearly completely taking place within Scott's ADDled mind/skewed imagination, it serves to support his view of Ramona, which goes all the way around to inform what some viewers are and are not willing to follow in a film of this size. Where the original comics spent more time wavering in and out of Pilgrim's head, revealing the reality of a world moving on without him, the film is much more comfortable within the silly, exaggerated confines of an aloof imagination.

It is this helplessly myopic worldview that at times comes at odds with the expectations of many. And even I, as a viewer couldn't help but notice it. But what always balances it out with me is in how Wright and co-writer, Michael Bacall granted the Knives Chau character enough of an arc to see through her erstwhile ex-boyfriend's irresponsible actions, going from a child to a self-respecting young lady. She becomes everything Ramona and Scott can't seem to get right. The near-stealthy manner in which the "middle-character" becomes the real protagonist is something of a kick in the pants to many to the point that some often don't even see it. It is missing these elements, and perhaps even disliking who are supposed to be the central characters that can fuel much of the divide between fans and detractors of the film. But what I do love about the film aside from it's eye-popping presentation, energy and musical editing, is the fact that it DOES make it clear that this is very much a parody of every mumblecore film ever made where the characters are blinded by whatever short-sighted selfishness the film demands of them. It dares those of us surrounded by subcultures to seek out the real behind the attitude, and is a reminder of what could be lost when we buy so much into the collective images of any pop-culture era.

Uchu Senkan Yamato (2010) Movie Review

It is the year 2199,

After five years of seemingly endless attacks by an alien force known only as the Gamilas, nearly the entire surface of the Earth is rendered uninhabitable, forcing the remaining human population to retreat beneath the surface. After a major offensive by the Earth Defense Force, the Gamilas response is swift and fierce. And in the ensuing retreat, Captain Juzo Okita and his crew are saved from destruction due to the noble sacrifice of Captain Mamoru Kodai and his ship, the Yukikaze. Meanwhile, the younger Kodai, Susumu lives a life away from the military he once knew quite well, now salvaging decontaminated matter for sale back to the military. However, upon stepping out onto the desert-like surface, he is nearly hit by a falling object, which strangely contains blueprints and details regarding potential means for not only helping what remains of humanity survive, but to restore Earth to its former living glory. The catch is that this enigmatic device only exists on one planet, the planet which claims to be the source of the metorite, Iscandar, a world far beyond the Milky Way galaxy, and a journey fraught with almost insurmountable danger. And yet with this miniscule nugget of hope in hand, the EDF enlists Okita to seek volunteers for a mission that could very well decide the fate of not only the crew of the alien-technology restored space battleship, Yamato, but of the earth entire. But the Yamato is but one, and time is running out.

And so it is, one year after the initial release of one of the most anticipated live-action events of my moviegoing life, I have finally been able to catch Takashi Yamazaki's grand rendition of one of Japanese pop culture's most enduring creations.

Originally airing from 1974-1975, the brainchild of barnburning visionary, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, along with soon-to-be  anime legend, Leiji Matsumoto, Space Battleship Yamato was and remains one of the most, if not the single most important anime creation of all time. Blending a fresh mix of high romance, space opera, and historical rumination, Yamato helped usher in a wholly new form of fandom for an animated series initially geared toward younger, preteen audiences. Having initially been deemed a failure, demand by an unexpected demographic (older, college-aged fans) eventually roared new life into the series, leading to not only a feature film, and a new series, but eventually international success, as the it eventually found itself dubbed and released under the name Star Blazers. Which is how I initially experienced it as a wide-eyed grub, glued to the screen as an animated show took me places I never imagined possible by a cartoon.

And even as the series came edited, and with names & certain circumstances changed, it was clear to me that something special had been discovered, and that no matter what, one day the feeling I experienced simply by way of appointment viewing would return on my path one day. Yamato came at a time when science fiction & fantasy had suddenly shifted due to Star Wars a few years prior. However, the series' unique brand of unexpected grandeur and seriousness had affected me in ways that the Treks and Wars could not. It galvanized me into watching it, ever more curious as to how the story would unfold. Even as I was too young to fathom the series' deeper musings about Japan's feelings post WWII, it was the compelling characters and situations that kept me coming back for more. I won't lie, Susumu Kodai (Derek Wildstar) was something of an early fictional heroic foil for me as a child, and Shima (Mark Venture) was always at closer in spirit to me. And it didn't hurt that the show's most brutal hook, a continuous countdown of days remaining for our heroes to reach Iscandar and save Earth always hanged over the end of each episode like a shroud of doom. Far from subtle, it seriously played havoc with my young brain for weeks on end. And it wasn't until much later that I finally saw the series in its entirety, along with the films, each of which broke my heart time and again with bizarre ease. It is a series that embraces full emotion, and plays it to the hilt with a grand sweep most anime simply hasn't been capable of replicating.

So when speaking of this large-scale production, it may help to preface this by openly stating that up until this point, I have never been the biggest fan of Yamazaki. Upon discovering the news that he was to helm the live action duties for such a beloved series, concern was the first feeling that swept over me. Having seen several of his films, including Juvenile (2000), and Returner (2002), his brand of derivative mish-mashing can be reminiscent of a more sedate Roland Emmerich complimented by heavy digital effects work, and one-dimensional characterizations. Even his award-winning Always films tap into a more populist mindset that at times runs counter to the kind of nuanced storytelling required to handle such a grand tale. So it may surprise some to discover that at least 60% of the time, Yamazaki finds it in himself to not only do a decent job of bringing Yamato to life, but to help establish something I have always wanted to see done with live action anime; create a work that is different enough, and yet wholly reverent to the source material.

Naturally, having to tell such a sprawling tale within a 2 and a half hour running time makes for some compression issues that at times can be more than a little jarring. Oddly, what came to mind regarding story efficiency was Speed Racer(2008), where nearly the opposite took place. That film suffered from an almost unnecessary first hour, whereas with Yamato, the film virtually catapults into the central mission well within the first thirty minutes, which leaves little to no time for the viewer to get a good idea of not only who these characters are, but grant a foundation for how each individual arc will unfold throughout the film. This is easily the most auspicious issue I may have with the film as a whole, as relationships merely move, and aren't informed well enough, and far too much happens far too early to have any impact to anyone who isn't already familiar with the story. It's a clumsy start that the finale in many ways never recovers from, and yet there are so many other elements that somehow buoy the remainder. And a lot of this may be due to a sense intimacy granted in later moments where a pretty good cast rises well beyond some of Yamazaki's patently obvious direction. It is also very clear that nearly all involved know full well the world they are bringing to life, and it shows despite the at-times all-too-ripped from recent science fiction vibe emanating from much of the action. If one is able to overlook the Battlestar Galactica and JJ Abrams Star Trek, one may be able to be truly wrapped up in matters.

Some of the "new" that works:

Among the more obvious changes, are a few of the casting decisions, along with some interesting role alterations. Updating the often dismissible Yuki Mori(Meisa Kuroki) into a Black Tiger ace pilot was a particularly welcome change, although it would have been more exciting to have explored her character a little more. What winds up onscreen offers only a vague idea of who she is, and what she could bring to the mythos, especially in regards to her relationship to Kodai, which is a major lynchpin of the series. Something there was definitely needed in order to offer lasting oomph for the finale. Also, I actually rather enjoy the idea of Sado-sensei being played by Reiko Takashima. If there's any problems with her and Maiko Scorick as Communications Officer, Aihara, it's that they merely are there out of necessity. And Shima as dad to Jiro (previously his little brother) adds additional tragic punch to his backstory, which helps his role move a little faster. And then there's Analyzer...Well. The less said about Analyzer, the better.


In the "bold" department, is the representation of the Gamilas, which I will not go into too much detail here. But it is an interesting, more "alien" choice to go with, if not a wholly satisfying one since one of the original mythology's more compelling elements was that of an almost familar enemy which further blurred certain moral & emotional lines in regards to warfare. Dessler is here, just not in any way some might expect. It is another decision that in many ways isolates the Yamato crew, and keeps the threat from being anything more than an almost faceless nuisance until the final reel.

And as mentioned, despite Yamazaki's often awkward staging & blocking, there are a few notable performances that helped ground this rendition with unexpected aplomb. Most importantly, Tsutomu Yamazaki's Okita, who's frail and yet duty-hardened frame carries a burden too great to share with the crew. It's a delicate, unexpectedly effective weight he brings to the film when it often threatens to reduce itself to borderline camp when it comes time for the FX action to take center stage. And in an almost serendipitous case of casting, Takuya Kimura's Kodai is an almost dead-perfect portrayal of a young man rapidly seeing his destiny crystallize before him after years of remaining the brash, short-tempered kid with a chip on his shoulder. Seeing as how the Kodai character is pretty much the classic "hero's journey" archetype, Kimura adds just enough gravitas to make the character work. Also welcome to the proceedings is Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (Ip Man) who's take on Space Commandos' leader, Saito is fun and earnest enough. As is Toshiro Yanagiba's terrific take on Sanada, the ultra-serious Chief Science officer.

Back to the bold without spoiling the film. As a single outing event piece, Yamato goes out of its way to pay tribute to numerous famous images and moments, at times to the point that it seems like Yamazaki, and writer Shimako Sato were out to cover their bases in case the film was a financial failure. And as a result, I'm afraid that there is little left to be said once the credits roll. And while much of the finale is milked for emotional impact, again, it feels as if producers were ready to cut their losses, much to the detriment of the film. Which isn't to say that the final product comes without it's own effective moments, but it does leave a void in the "what could have been" department. There is such a bar to be reached when considering the legacy and emotional potential of a grand scale (preferrably three-hour) Uchu Senkan Yamato movie, that perhaps, at least as of now, it's a dream idea near improbable to reach. But fans can still dream, can't they? A fun and welcome tribute is perhaps the best one can ask for.

Things Happening- IN SPAAACE!

The landscape has changed, but a generation has yet to be fully forgotten. The last few years have seen a decent number of revivals, some much more long-awaited than others. Can one ever truly rekindle old passionate flames borne far in the recesses of deep space? What happens when a lifelong lover of early anime space opera takes the invite, and dives into not one, but three big budget exercises in nostalgia in the hopes of "Remembering Love"? Tune into The Wandering Kaijyu & Anime Diet!