Garm Wars: The Last Druid (2014) User Reviews

For niche audiences only

[ThatAnimeSnob · 5/10 · 27 April 2016]

I watched the Garm Wars, a movie nobody knows of, even when it's written and directed by Mamoru Oshii. Despite having English actors, it feels as if it's an anime movie that follows all the trademarks of Oshii. That dog he loves so much is there, and the characters simply exist to talk about existentialism.

It's pretty heavy on CGI and it feels like it's cut scenes from a PS3 video game. If you expect to see only super duper polished CGI, then you are not going to like it. If you manage to see past that, as far as setting and atmosphere goes, it is superb.

It's also a patchwork of a dozen cool sci-fi anime of the past. At times it's like Ghost in the Shell, at others it's like Sky Crawlers, or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The nostalgic side of me was jumping from joy. The problem is the usual way Oshii writes plots and characters. Everything is dull and mechanical. You don't feel the characters are alive and thus whatever they say about the meaning of life feels dead.

The movie is also so concept based that the actual plot becomes an afterthought. Characters do stuff for the sake of progressing the story and not because it makes sense or feels natural. In fact half of it is exposition and couch philosophy, while the ending is open for a sequel. So, it's Cool concepts, thought provoking material, great atmosphere, but not entertaining or that appealing. Recommended only if you like something like Texnolyze.

I LOVE movies with a different plot - so yes - this one is very different...

[mnguy-52677 · 6/10 · 12 July 2016]

In line with The Fifth Element and Forbidden Planet - another movie whose plot will bend your mind with something unusual...

Difficult to comment without writing a spoiler, I can say I would love to discuss this movie with someone - it has a lot going on in it... and it does begin and end making you wish there was a lot more 'known'. This movie could have been stretched a lot longer with more added - yet, by the end, I enjoyed the story and the feelings it left me with. More could ruin the 'what's next' feelings - and besides, wanting more leaves me with a really strong desire for both prequels and sequels? This film could be the start of a very successful series... The visual and sound impact of this movie was amazing - some totally different, stunning and fantastic visuals and sounds... I enjoyed it - and hope you do too.

Garm Wars: The Last...Ending...Druid Up

[starbase202 · 6/10 · 17 February 2016]

I stumbled upon this movie during bad weather stuck inside home and I enjoyed the acting and the great FX. It seems like the Japanese are able to lend a much more pronounced artistic effect with their FX styles. However, I was very disappointed with the three endings. The first ending which used a childlike 'China doll' to represent evil forces seems like a cop-out to me. The second ending with mechanical snakes was just weird. In both cases - it was like the film maker had run out of ideas OR budget with which to end the film. Maybe I missed something of meaning hidden in that imagery. And the 'third' later ending showing another follow-up war was confusing. Was it a hint at a sequel? To my way of thinking, I felt that the movie's actors and viewers deserved a better ending.

No Beginning and Horrible Ending (Spoilers)

[yoyoyoyo33 · 2/10 · 17 October 2015]

There is absolutely no initial character building. You are dropped into the middle of a "war" with no reference as to what started it, who the characters are, who is good or bad, etc.

Super long drawn out wasted areas of film showing virtually nothing with music. Could have used the time to develop the characters or given some back-story.

The factions that are fighting are barely mentioned and their skills utilized enough to show any true differentiation.

The lead characters are trite and predictable. The plot is extremely weak with the last minute twist that is also predictable.

Is the planet they keep looking up at Earth or are they on Earth?

Ending is horrendous, because it is a non-ending. I assume they are hoping to make a sequel, but... Why?!?!

Before I recommend this film I must also recommend mild drug use

[alex_van_beek · 4/10 · 22 October 2015]

OK so this film is insane. For two reasons:

1- for being utter nonsensical fantasy gibberish 2- for investing as much time, effort and money into developing such a bonkers story into such an amazingly vivid spectacle of CGI beauty.

Nothing about this film made much of any sense to me. I've just finished watching it and literally have NO idea what a Garm is. Absolutely none. I understood nothing about this film other than some mad old bloke and some woman with a gun were on the run, accompanied by some other bloke with an unreasonably large gun.

Now, I said this film was visually beautiful, and it is. There are some breathtaking scenes in it. Unfortunately, to balance that out and reinforce the rating of a majestic four that I have given it, they have countered these high action scenes with two really, REALLY long scenes of the aforementioned people just sitting on their buttocks discussing the also aforementioned nonsensical drivel.

So the only way I would recommend this film to you is if you were really high, and even then I would suggest fast forwarding through the beach scene and any other time they seem to be too focused on the act of talking. The only strength of this film lies in its aesthetic beauty and I will admit the dog was the only element of bafflement that I found entertaining.

..and if you aren't high, then do yourself a favour and pick any other film in the world.

WTF did I just watch?

[jzmtl · 4/10 · 17 October 2015]

The 2 star review is right, there's no beginning, there's no end, there's barely a story. It's more like a showpiece for the CGI studio than a movie. I finished watching it and really had no idea what just happened.

To be fair the effects, model creation, and scores are fantastic, unfortunately too much time is devoted to them instead of actual character/story development.

Apparently the story universe is created by the director/writer just for this movie, I have to say it has good potential, but this movie did not take advantage of it. Hopefully we will see a sequel to better develop it.

Hey, if you are bored on a Saturday night, why not, certainly not the worst movie out there.

Visually beautiful

[nocpan · 7/10 · 29 February 2016]

I am a big fan of Mamoru's work. He has a specific style in which many aspects of the story are not explained. Here we have Final Fantasy like computer graphics with live actors and one Basset hound running around. Very unique vehicles, ships and armor design. Quite good action/battle scenes. But plot is hard to understand and should have more detail, it is hard to follow since you are dropped in the middle of entire culture clash with just scraps of information to go on.

I enjoyed it since it was like watching newer Final Fantasy movies, some scenes reminded me of Avalon (also Mamoru's work). And give it 7 out of 10 especially because of amazing graphics and fights scenes. Dialog could use improvement.

Pointless movie

[shuneikaede · 3/10 · 29 October 2016]

Well just another boring movie with nonsense dialogues. Let put you in the middle of something? some war? somewhere? and then bore you out with some dudes sitting there blabbering a bunch of names you have no idea what they are over and over... wait.. let add another wise dude carrying his nonsense talk out with MORE NAMES, switching between the two talking scenes and make it more complicated until you give up understanding and just beg it to go away already.

Visual is beautiful with lot of memorial CGI scenes. But if you have no idea what this movies story about beforehand than it's sucks. You will be left with a lot of unanswered questions between a sea of race-names of people looks exactly the same you kinda give up to remember, the movie frees you some memory by leave it with the pointless ending. (Or did it have an ending but the philosophy-movie buried it's so deep nobody can dig it out?)

Maybe overly ambitious, but still a spectacular expression of the artform

[charles000 · 7/10 · 14 June 2016]

This production is not for everyone, and I admit to not being particularly interested in the integrated video game / CGI type of fantasy sci-fi production myself, but this was interesting enough to warrant a watch, and I'm not regretting having done so.

Admittedly, the plot is rather clumsily constructed, which detracts somewhat from what this could have been.

Having said that though, the actual artistry committed to this creation is something to behold.

Having been confined to a relatively limited budget, this was an impressively ambitious effort, perhaps overly so, but it is visually a spectacular expression of the artform.

For me at least, Mélanie St-Pierre's character as Khara made the film. Without her, not sure how well this effort would have fared.

To be fair, this production starts out very strong, with Khara and her cadre of clonettes on board their warcraft, the inital scenes with the mysteroius Driud entity and it's wily cohort, prying their way into the AI core, the invasion battle scenes . . . but OK, no spoilers here.

But then, as the story begins to stretch out as a meandering journey through various travails, it just seems to lose steam along the way, with various action scenes tossed in as props to keep the excitement level artificially inflated.

By the ending scene (the film is divided into a series of acts), it just seems that the writing was getting tired, and just had to throw in the proverbial "to be continued" invading hordes of the whatevers as a sort of departing plot prop (no spoiler here, there are numerous other details not included in this description).

It's somewhat unfortunate, as there were several potential story threads and philosophical ponderings which could have been much more richly enabled and elaborated upon, but were left somewhat vacant.

Garm Wars is an interesting template which could be further developed, but definitely could benefit from more finely honed story crafting to match the remarkably rich visual motifs into which this template has been enmeshed.

I want to give its creators credit for a fascinating effort, and wouldn't be against seeing another, more well developed (and funded) effort in this direction.

I'm torn between a 6 and 7 rating . . . but am giving a benefit of a doubt, let's go with a 7.

Sorry but NO!

[Nemanja1984 · 3/10 · 25 December 2015]

This movie is stale. Before I watched it I had a moderate expectations. Trailer looked OK, director made couple of good animes in the past, so I thought - this movie will be fun. Man, was I wrong. I watched half of the movie and then I decided to make this review so I would save you hour and a half of your life. Story is obviously recycled from milions of similar mangas and animes that were created up until now. The sound is borrowed from Final Fantasy VII game, especially in dialogs. They use this filter that looks like you're watching movie with green RayBan's. Movie depends on dialogs to move on the story and not on action (slow story developing) and combat scenes are... not good. Animations in the movie are mediocre and ... I will say no more. Enjoy if you can!

Great Soundtrack/Movie needs repeated viewing to grasp

[VickyC · 8/10 · 7 May 2017]

I saw this movie the first time by accident while surfing through channels and thought it was a horrible, disjointed mess. However I was intrigued by the music. Great soundtrack, like nothing I had ever heard before. Was searching for information on the music and started reading about the movie plot and the symbolism involved so I decided to re-watch the film with that perspective. The movie was very good but felt I missed a few things. On my third viewing I purchased it because I liked it so much. Kevin Durand was excellent! The chemistry between his character, Skellig, and Khara was really good as well. I would love to purchase the soundtrack but unfortunately it is unavailable at this time. Give this film a chance....it is truly unique. I wish they would make a sequel.

Cyberpunk sci fi...

[s3276169 · 7/10 · 13 October 2015]

Garm Wars is a cyberpunk sci fi with a distinctly Japanese flavour. This is perhaps not surprising given the director is Japanese.

This story mixes a lot of cyberpunk elements, high tech, social disruption in the form of a war of attrition as well as spiritual elements, with the presence of a menacing, seemingly omnipotent, alien other.

Perhaps, whats most conspicuous in this fantasy outing, is the special effects. A lot of work has gone into the technological mechanisms and machinery that dominate this world. The effects are of a high standard and very intricate but at times they tend to make this film feel overly busy. So much so, that its easy for the senses to feel a little overloaded at times.

The acting is of a good standard and includes a solid cast, with some well known faces, such as Lance Hendrickson and Kevin Durand. There's plenty of action too, especially early on to keep things interesting.

All in all a worthwhile watch that looks to have set itself up for a sequel. Seven out of ten from me.

Not even worth your time

[SILENTdude247 · 3/10 · 21 January 2016]

An extremely low budget film, oh wait, it's not even worthy of being called a film. Extremely bad CGI. Very difficult to follow along with the "story." Very impartial story development and absolutely no character development whatsoever. The moment you start watching, well, you have no idea what it is that you're watching. The movie starts as if it's already halfway through the "film." Do yourselves a favor and go watch some SpongeBob or...something else other than this. This is definitely not worth anyone's time. For anyone who does consider watching it or has already watched it, congratulations, you've wasted 1 and a half hours of your life that you won't get back.

Ps, wrote this review during the film. That's how boring it is.

Too slow

[tin-B · 3/10 · 29 April 2019]

Takes too much patience. Definitely one which doesn't translate well from book to movie, if it was a book, I dunno. Should be. Makes a lousy movie. Would make a lousy book, too, if not written well enough. Story is good idea, it just isn't told or acted well enough to matter.

First film is enough

[selomania-08335 · 4/10 · 30 October 2019]

Animation can not solve everything , story can be better but crachters, names, action was not good.

Wait, huh?

[slipstream3d · 3/10 · 30 May 2019]

Well, it was alright except for the part where it just ended right before the most exciting bit was about to happen, and all the "dramatic" staring at things.

A great fantasy movie that doesn't come together at all

[astwilightonme · 6/10 · 13 January 2019]

There are some amazing designs here (costumes, props, many CG machines), reminiscent of Japanese "classics" such as Zeiram and some of the dark, convoluted, dystopian and cyberpunk flavors that were popular in the 80s and haven't really seen enough appreciation internationally then or since, despite cult followings. Unfortunately the heavy filtering maims the characters and the visuals in equal measure. The acting is very uneven, with at least one decent actor and one terrible. The plot has no beginning or an actual ending despite having a strong premise. Most of the camera shots are wasted marred by filtering, attempting to replicate anime visuals, or creating symbolic moments that don't really add enough, given the plot is already so fragmentary. A potentially great work that got ruined in more than one category. Turns out you can't put together so many "greats" of various industries (Mamoru Oshii, Toshio Suzuki,the Urobutcher), and expect a great work. Visionary creatives work better alone rather than in a group with each other.

Oshii, Kawai, Henriksen and Durand - what could possibly go wrong?

[siderite · 6/10 · 25 December 2015]

It hurts so much that I didn't like this film. It was disappointing from start to finish, but from distinct reasons.

First of all there was the visual effect applied everywhere, something like a glow with an extra color saturation. It made everything feel cheap and fake. Then there was the script, which started getting more and more holes, with the characters doing what they needed to do to further the script, regardless of continuity. And then, after all this, the ending is revealed to be no ending at all, just an abrupt cliffhanger that hopes to lead to a continuation. Add to it the pseudo-religious parables and you get a cheap looking film that makes less sense than The Matrix.

I so wanted to see Oshii making it out there in the live action area. I so wanted Durand to finally show his potential as a main character in a powerful film. Yet, besides the nice world design and the always fascinating music of Kenji Kawai, this film was a failure.

Unexpectedly fun and epic film

[pokepud · 8/10 · 27 October 2015]

The movie is a great watch for those who like anime such as ghost in the shell or last exile. The cinematics are amazing, and quite frankly some of the best 3d cgi i've seen period. They mix in real people and cgi in such a way that you can't tell them apart. In fact the humans seem like cgi sometimes.

The story takes a bit of patience to get into, but once you get into it, it will unravel really fast gripping you in. You'll pretty much be enjoying it up until it ends. It definitely needs a sequel as it left room for one.

The music soundtrack is quite emotional and epic, which is one of the most memorable parts about this movie. If you like sci-fi, anime, or just want an entertaining flick check it out.

Needs initial clarity

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 25 March 2018]

The film starts off with a battle and we don't know anything about what is going on. 6 minutes into the film we get an explanation for what appears to be an RPG fantasy game. There was once 8 tribes living on Annon (sp?) created by the god Denown (sp?). When the God left, the tribes who all spoke a different language went to war. (They all speak English now, truly it is a universal language.) There are 3 tribes left. The Briga are the most powerful. They are assisted by the Kumbak who control the information technology. Together they fight the Columba who control the air.

Wydd (Lance Henriksen becasue David Carradine is dead) is a Kumbak who is traveling with the last Druid, a tree talker, who can tie into the ancient knowledge of the gods or something. The tribes fight as clones. When they die, their memory gets downloaded and they are cloned. Our female Columba was a Kiakra 22/23 Khara (Mélanie St-Pierre). Oh yes there is a Basset Hound known as a Gula. If a Gula likes you, you are blessed and it is a sin to kill someone who is blessed by a Gula.

The film uses a 3D CGI background. I imagine all the stiff acting took place in front of a blue screen. The film ends where an equally confusing sequel would commence.

The film asks basic questions about God, life and death. It utilizes philosophy and language from Genesis, but not exclusively. The people collectively who live on the planet are called Garm, hence the title.

This is for the younger generation.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. War violence. Minor blood.

beautiful looking hard to follow storyline

[asinyne · 7/10 · 9 December 2019]

Despite a lot of narration it was tough for me to stay with the story. That didn't tho cause the film was so incredible to look at. I wanted to see more of the lead actress but I was mildly disappointed there...she is very sexy. someone said it would be good to be a little stoned while watching this...I kind of agree, that thought crossed my mind also. It really is a visual spectacle and stays that way through most of the film. Its about two alien races warring for dominance somewhere out in space. There is a ton of kool looking space combat...really nice. I enjoyed it although there were times when I had no idea what was going on...

Creative and Original but Confusing

[tarquin-65274 · 10/10 · 28 October 2015]

** Shows what can be done with some imagination and creative thought at quite a low budget **

The most amazing CGI movie I have even seen, nice locations, great soundtrack and even the acting wasn't bad. If only they had made it more intelligible...

Don't watch this if you like linear plots and fast paced action, some of the scenes are there just for their visual beauty, long pauses between the dialog for no real reason. The voices can be muffled at times and hard to make out what the characters are saying.

But full marks to an amazing vision brought to life. I'm going to watch it again (mainly to try and figure out what actually happened, but also to appreciate the artwork :)

You Start To Get It After Your Third Time Seeing It

[mariobarton · 8/10 · 23 April 2017]

Plot: 7/10 The beginning of the movie shoves you right into the action and you get a crash course in who the players are in the movie. So you're not really sure who the good or bad guy is. I think this was deliberate. The end is unsatisfying which is the perfect set up for a sequel.

Cast: 8/10 The movie is well cast, Kevin Durand and Melanie St. Pierre are exactly who you want to see in these roles. Lance Henriksen anchors the group well and Holly the dog is an unexpected treat.

Visuals: 9/10 Well it's beautiful to look at. The uniforms, the hair, the machines, the back drop, the ships and oh yeah the guns. The action scenes are very satisfying and it's a total fantasy land for your inner nerd. This movie reveals itself over time, so you have to watch it a few times before things start to make more sense.

Be open-minded

[madmonkproductions · 8/10 · 12 June 2016]

This is a fascinating movie, but it is not your typical American, popcorn-munching fare. For comic buffs, it reminds me of the short series World Without End. For anime buffs, it reminds me of the movie Skycrawlers. For those who don't know about either of those productions, the plot is pretty straightforward - as long as you pay attention, but I won't spoil it for you. Save your comments about why some things are done or why other questions are not addressed until after the movie. There's a lesson to be learned, and it's up to the viewer to draw his/her own conclusion about the meaning of the movie, the futility of war, the relationship between man and woman, and so on.

So, sit back, close your mouth, and open your mind. Enjoy the movie for what it is, and spend hours talking about the possible meanings and interpretations with your friends.

Beautiful

[peterfmodel · 8/10 · 26 August 2018]

I have to say from the start that this movie seems unfinished, which is its biggest issue. Apart from that its visually beautiful and has a unique mood to it, which is a pleasure to experience. From the start the grphics are captivating, this is then replaced with the journey where the mood and feeling kicks in. By the end you are left puzzeled to what has occured, or is occuring. The movie is filled with clues and its possible to assemble a lot of backgrund, but its not easy. Anyone who does not wish to take the effort may find the end unsatifactory. If you watch it to the end, its likley you will be able to rewatch it over and over again, if for no other reason than to enjoy the relaxing mood and feeling of the journey.