moroboshi-3 Reviews

The Dagger of Kamui (1985)

Not for everyone, but an amazing film all the same.

[12 October 2001]

Interesting how all of the negative reviews for Kamui no Ken seem to have risen to the top. So I figured I might as well add my opinion just to keep this all in perspective. Yes, this movie is about 15-30 minutes too long. Yes, there are about 3 too many plot twists. And yes, the majority of the mainstream "We love Ninja Scroll" anime crowd will likely it. But Kamui no Ken has stuck with me over the years, and is easily one of my favorite anime titles.

Rin Taro is a brilliant director, but his films take getting used to. He often uses a very slow pace, and allows periods of silence and dead space to make his powerful images have even more impact. Kamui no Ken is the long, winding oddessy of a young boy who goes from a foundling to a true ninja warrior. Many, many things happen along the way, and the movie chronicles ALL of them. This epic scope will either make the film fascinating, or boring. It all depends on you. Personally, I loved it. The characters are uniformly amazing, and as I have said before, the film is awash with brilliant imagery. It feels much closer to the style of classic Japanese historical drama than the splattering action of Ninja Scroll or the Kenshin OVA's (both of which I also loved).

Problem... it drags. and it runs on for quite a long time. One plot twist in particular (MINOR SPOILER, NO SPECIFICS) involves the apparent death of an evil character. This will seem terribly implausible, even ludicrous, to American audiences (Although from the traditional Japanese storytelling perspective, this is much less far fetched). Individually, I can't think of many scenes to cut (one showdown in the wild west was perhaps unneccessary), but even these scenes are very cool in their own way. If this movie weren't so long and epic, it wouldn't be as interesting as it is.

Basically, it depends on you. If you REALLY love the ancient japanese tradition, and enjoy the more serious, dramatic aspect to samurai/ninja tales, you will enjoy Kamui no Ken. But casual anime fans may be disappointed.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

A very good film, although quite overrated

[24 June 2001]

Ang Lee is without question a talented director. He directed one of my favorite films, Eat Drink Man Woman, and went on to shift from heartwarming romantic comedy to... a martial arts film? This will tip you off that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is not your usual kung-fu slap fest. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on what you are looking for. If you are judging Crouching Tiger in comparison to the cinema as a whole, it's great. But if you're comparing it to other martial arts films on their own terms, I've seen better.

Some of the fight scenes are amazing, most notably the duel between the two female leads wherein they use pretty much every weapon known to man. But some of them are a little on the silly side, with more of a floaty, matrixy feel to them than I would have liked. One of the most disappointing scenes is where the younger female takes on a variety of silly combatants in a restaurant. This scene, ignoring it's similarity to countless others in martial arts farces past, is just too stupid to be funny, and is completely out of place in a movie of this variety.

As you have no doubt heard, Crouching Tiger is pitched as the movie to entertain both sides of the audience ("Mom will like the romance and drama, while Dad and the kids will cheer for the fastpaced fight scenes!") If you ask me, those looking for Chinese atmosphere and sweeping romantic drama will enjoy this far more than martial arts fanatics, and that is not putting down martial arts fanatics. The best thing about CTHD is the sweepingly beautiful cinematography, and the peerless direction by Ang Lee. In fact, the scene that stands out most, looking back on the film, is not a fight scene, but a graceful scene of Chow Yun-Fat practising with the green destiny in an empty courtyard.

In short, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is either a good martial arts flick or a great film. It's just that some are labelling it among other things "The most beautiful movie ever made" and "The best martial arts movie EVER", both of which are untrue. It's a shame that this mindless hyperbole has had to stain my memory of the film.

The Scout (1994)

Could have been something, but unfortunately wasn't

[21 May 2001]

Considering that this film had the screenwriting and acting talent of Albert Brooks, one of the funnier writers in the industry, and the acting of Brendan Fraser (don't laugh, I actually think he's a pretty good actor), it was very disappointing to see it fizzle the way it did. It starts off great, with Brooks being banished to Mexico, and the Fraser character is amusing for a little while. Unfortunately, we get bogged down in the emotional trauma of Fraser's eccentric ballplayer, when we should be enjoying the silly antics we all came to see. Let's face it, the Fraser character should have been a wacky, yet lovable idiot, but instead is a whining, depressed, troubled person. This really doesn't work, since the story would easily have lent itself to a comedy, and Brooks still seems to think he's acting in one. I don't really know where this went wrong, I have a feeling that there were some conflicting ideas on the writing end, but this movie is best left on the shelf. If you want a great Albert Brooks film, see Defending Your Life.

Defending Your Life (1991)

An amazing and unique commentary on life and death

[21 May 2001]

Defending Your Life is one of those movies that has stuck with me over the years for some reason. The most likely one is that this film presents one of the most plausible and thought-provoking views of the afterlife that I have ever heard from a movie, or anywhere else for that matter. The protagonist (Brooks) dies and wakes up in Judgement City, where it's just like earth, only 70 degrees and clear all the time, and you can eat all of the most delicious food in existence that you want and not gain a pound.

The catch is that you are essentially placed on trial. Several random days from your like are examined, and the judges decide whether you will "move on", or be sent back to earth to try again. The most interesting thing to me is that you aren't judged according to how well you followed the commandments, but on whether you let your fear keep you from making the right choices in your life. You see, fear is what keeps those of us on Earth (comically referred to as "little brains") from realizing our full potential.

As great as this theory is, it's the character played by Albert Brooks that makes this film worth watching. We can sense his bewilderment, as well as his shame at not living his life as well as he could have. In fact, it is so easy to empathize with his character that I felt sorry for him, seeing myself in his place one day. But Don't get me wrong, Defending Your Life is also a very funny movie. Judgement City is a sort of parallel reality to our own, in ways that are very pleasant to see. And the ending is perfect. You owe it to yourself to see this movie.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Ghibli Shmibli, Nausicaa sucks.

[17 April 2001]

I've never understood the anime community's opinion of Miyazaki's films. Okay, so he's made some pleasant movies (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), A rip-roaring action romp (Castle of Cagliostro), and one flawed but overall excellent film (Princess Mononoke). Since when did this entitle him to the rank of "God of anime?" Any review of a Miyazaki film done by someone with even a modest amount of anime experience will say something along the lines of: "Five Stars!", "Perfect!", "It's Miyazaki, what do you expect?" The reason that I think Miyazaki gets this kind of praise is that his films, by and large, take no chances. The character designs in his films are completely homogenized, and almost everyone in them looks exactly the same. I challenge anyone to tell me the cosmetic difference between "Mononoke's" San, "Cagliostro's" Clarice, Kiki, Nausicaa, or the angel from "On Your Mark". The themes in his movies are very "nice" ones. They tend to run along the lines of "Friendly woodland creatures are good". Who can argue with that?

But it's this same homogenization and easy morality that tends to get under my skin. While I enjoy most of his films, I always wish that they were directed by someone with a little more style and individuality. The purpose of the above rant is to draw attention to the fact that "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" encapsulates everything that I dislike about Miyazaki into a neat little package. Some people like to point out that Nausicaa covers similar territory to Princess Mononoke, and was called the inspiration for the latter film. This is the understatement of human history. I am extremely glad that I saw Mononoke before Nausicaa, since they are practically the same film. The only difference is that Mononoke is a good film, and Nausicaa is not.

The film's problems are summed up in Nausicaa herself. There's nothing wrong with her. She's a perfect young girl, she's the princess of her people, she loves nature, and abhors violence of any kind. Thus everybody loves her. Whenever confronted with a crisis, she reacts in the most naive and idealistic way possible. The film, just like Princess Mononoke, is in essence a battle of man against nature. Princess Mononoke was a thought provoking examination of complex issues, showing both sides of the issue, and realizing that there was no simple answer to the problems we face. Unfortunately, Nausicaa decides to beat us over the head repeatedly with a very simple message: "Nature is the only important thing. Mankind are scum for trying to destroy it, even when nature is destroying the land that man lives on, because friendly woodland creatures are good". I won't spoil the ending, such as it is. Suffice to say that the only thing worse than the ending I was led to expect was the one that actually happened. I guess we're all supposed to be happy that the bad people are dead (or curiously edited out of the film), and that everything is all shiny and golden, just like the wise old blind woman predicted. Oh, and the creepy looking worm creatures have a heart of gold. Aww. Isn't that precious.

Forgive my cold-hearted cynicism, but this is a complex world we live in, and sometimes the fluffy forest creatures don't know all the answers.

Street Fighter (1994)

A painful blister on the thumb of videogaming.

[8 December 2000]

And now, I provide a checklist of the things to keep in mind when creating a movie based on the classic videogame Street Fighter: 1)Any Street Fighter fan will tell you that Guile is NOT the main character, Ryu and Ken are. Their story of the two gifted Shodoken fighters (one absorbed in the pursuit of the ultimate fighting skill, one self-absorbed and fun-loving) is far more developed than Guile's shallow backstory (basically an excuse to put an American in a Japanese game). Why do you think all of the new characters in the sequels are Shodoken fighters, not marines? 2)Street Fighter is a fighting game. Apparently the creators of this film interpreted it as a military shoot 'em up, since we see far too few intense fight sequences and far too many dumb action movie conventions. 3)Chun Li is a perky detective, not a mature news reporter. I'm not saying that Ming Na Wen isn't attractive (far from it, she is beautiful), it's just that she isn't Chun Li. 4)Charlie is a dead marine, he is not alive, and he'll never be turned into Blanka. 5)Dhalsim is a Yoga master, not a brilliant scientist. 6)Guile is an American marine, not a Belgian kickboxer. 7)...

Why bother? I could go on for years and still not fully describe what is wrong with this film at a conceptual level. Still, the Super Mario Bros. movie had absolutely nothing to do with the game and still proved to be an interesting vision (If a much maligned box office failure). I have no idea why the SMB movie is more hated than this one. Street Fighter throws all of the good points of the game out the window and replaces them with horrid direction and acting. Yes Raul Julia is a great actor, but he is a horrid choice for M. Bison. Bison is not an intellectual "Viva La Revolucion" style dictator. I always pictured him more along the lines of the Street Fighter anime's "MWAHAHAHAHA" type of all-purpose evil villian. But even if you think fanboys like me are full of it, I can assure you that there is no pleasure at all to be gained from Street Fighter: The Movie. Avoid this film like the plague. It isn't even a guilty pleasure, it'll just make you feel dirty.