Revenant's Reviews

Huzzah.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon here for personnel review threads but for a good reason. I am in awe of some people's reviewing skills which have inspired me to try my own. It is an act of idolisation of those works.

Considering I've only done one review before, a small one on Ed Wood I will probably not be up to scratch as others here.
I'm also incredibly slow so won't be a prolific reviewer, probably once a month or so.


My ranking is experimental at the moment.

Ranking used so far:

-- Film has thought-provoking moments.

-- Not impressed, not reviled.




Here's my first attempt at a full review......









Appleseed, is a film based off of a popular comic series written by Masamune Shirow, who was also the creator of Ghost In The Shell. An Anime of morality, terrorism and human nature in a near future Utopian city.

The story follows in the wake of world war three, which decimated human civilization and scattered the remnant survivors of the universal war. The haphazard remains of various governments in retrospect of the war's cause and effect constructed a lifeline city, that encompassed a perfect existence, Olympus.

This Utopian city is administered and mostly populated by Bio-droids. They come from the combined efforts of science, engineering and health in the creation of artificially created Human/Robot hybrids. They are considered perfect beings, apt denizens of an equally untainted civilization.

The history behind WW3 is never truly discussed, we are only left with the results of those arising from its ashes. Instead the focus is on the society that has sprung from it and how humanity copes within its confines.

This Utopian society, which is heavily monitored by the administration is on the outset an idealistic existence but beneath this facade of perfect living lies an undercurrent of unrest and dissent from its inhabitants. Quite a few of whom had lived outside the borders of Olympus until being 'rescued' and interned into the city. The transition as shown in the first scene is not always a straight-forward jump from one extreme to another.

For some this wondrous life is nothing more but a 'gilded cage' where people's freedoms are sacrificed in return for this totalliarium and Care-free existence. These people have lived among st the ruins of war and have grown accustomed to having a certain level of freedom of choice. In Olympus their choices are then usurped to such a degree that to them they are not living at all.

Dwelling in this supposed impeccable city are multi-faceted and multi-layered characters whose motivations and characteristics are not always quite clear-cut at first. Dunan and Buliarous, two s.w.a.t cops who were rescued from outside the city, represent the good side. Tracking down the terrorists who intend to de-throne the Bio-droids of their power. A super-computer called Gaea that runs a majority of the city.

The other characters are not as easily defined. Karon, also a member of s.w.a.t is one of those doubting motivators. We are given a reason to feel sorry for him right at the beginning when he becomes witness to his wife purposely tumbling to her death, unable to cope with her caged existence within this Matrix-esque perfect city. We are lead to like him and to route for Karon in some way because of this tragedy he was witness to and the subsequent nightmares he has had to endure, but as the plot develops, Karon's role further in the story tests this empathy and sympathy.

Appleseed is more then just a pleasant tale with terrorism thrown in. It delves into human nature and how by are nature we are not necessarily content with a simple and pre-planned existence. It prescribes that even though the sought for perfectionism of life is something most everyone wishes to attain, it is not what we want in the end. Once the necessity to struggle is no longer there, there is no longer purpose. We thrive on purpose. Humanity is undeniably thrusting beyond its boundaries and Appleseed tries to show us, this aspect of ourselves.

There are a number of flaws to this stable Anime. The characters though well-rounded enough are not that completely detailed, that we could fully understand their reasoning for what they do. There is also no definite bad guy here, which for those who like their bad-guy, bad, may well find disappointing.

Appleseed was also originally a Manga from which, like Akira is a far more weighty affair then its Anime counterpart. So it must be considered that the plot has been considerably convoluted down from its source. It is impossible to cover the whole spectrum of plot detail in one two hour film. I have yet to read the Manga but from experiences with Akira I know that alot would have to be sacrificed to produce the film. Manga and Anime are too completely different experiences.

However don't let that put you off seeing Appleseed, the film is perfectly acceptable as it is but for those intrigued by the area's not covered or left incomplete do check them out anyway. Although experienced Anime fans may find Appleseed far too tame and mediocre.

The animation also looks a bit dated by today's standards. Considering this film came out about the same time as Akira whom still retains some admiration for its animated look. Despite this, the scenery is nice and simple, portraying the false outward unblemished city as simply that. A pleasant camouflage backdrop of the underlying terrorism and anarchy sect. Yet this can also be construed as laziness by the animators. The animation does not catch the eye as, say, the other Shirow Anime conversion, Ghost In The Shell.

Appleseed would be a reasonable introduction to any inductee to the Anime genre. Unlike other representations of its ilk, it is not overly gratuitous nor violent but the theme of terrorism especially in the current climate may not be suitable for those highly sensitive to that subject.

It must be remembered that Anime is an adult Japanese cartoon medium. Just like any adult movie but using animation in replacement of on-screen actors. Appleseed is a tame Anime by standards though, no busty half naked women here.

I found this a fascinating and deceptively complex film. The plot has so many underlie-rs that it makes for more then a menial movie experience then first appears. However I am not a fastidious fan, having seen it once, I have to be in the mood again to watch Appleseed, I count it as a standard but deceptive film that has it's moments of appeal but it is not one that instills awe in me.

Please do give Appleseed a go though, for some it may be an interesting but ultimately un-riveting encounter but it does open up for debate on the morality issues involved and as a film accomplishes the pre-requisites of a beginning , middle and end. It is not the best Anime has to offer and possibly not the ideal film to pay full price for either, but for anyone interested in the genre then this would be a good film to rent instead.

Appleseed in the end leaves quite a bit of the plot in obscurity and more questions then answers, but as a staple Anime it is entertaining enough and doesn't get too complicated on the surface that it would leave its viewers greatly miffed.

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Good review. And I think your evaluation is spot on too.
BTW, have you seen the trailer for the new Appleseed ?

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Let us go, Through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells

From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S.Eliot

Damn, how did I miss this?


I've never even heard of this one, Rev, so I can't comment on the film, but I really liked the review. I hope that maybe you can pump more than one out a month, but if not...one's better than none. I'm glad you jumped on the band wagon.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

I don't know man, you seem up to scratch to me

Excellent review, and I will check out this film. I love anime and haven't been getting enough as of late (although I recently watched Perfect Blue again, which is one of my favorites). I need to finish up Armitage OVA and then I'll scope out Appleseed....

_S

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Thou art now 'stuck'.

Nice job

Yeah, it's cool when members spread their knowledge about genres that are not mentioned that much on the thread. I wish that anime was more available to me.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

I was nervous putting up the thread in the first place so thank you to all the positive responses.
I will try to include more then once a month but I am notoriously slow on these sort of things.
I am however working hard on my next one which should be up before the month.
I will leave it as a surprise. Suffice to say though it is not another Anime, and is not a highly mainstream film either.

I'm lucky in regards to my Anime experience. My brother gets them all the time and I used to watch them on video and the sci-fi channel. Mostly the movies. Haven't had much chance these days.

Thanks for the link blue, certainly looks different to the original and hopefully an improvement on detail.

Have you ever seen Wizards? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about it.

I caught a major portion of it once upon a time. It's one of those movies that lingers on. I've been trying to catch it again for years and years now, it has that much of a grip on me.

I find the use of those hitler images very provocative and the characters, in particular Peace, really got to me.

Unfortunately I have only vague-ering memories of it now, I cannot really say to much about it, so a review is out of the question for the moment.

I did love what I remember of it though.

Directed by Edward R Pressman and based upon the comic book and comic series of James O'Barr, The Crow is a dark noir fantasy film that scours the dark fortress of vengeance and retribution and the power of love. A multi-toned film that gains greater infamy due to the untimely demise of its star Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, during it's shooting. An accidental death that coincidently, or perhaps conspicuously, mirrors his father's own.

It is a near-future New York and the night is Devil's Night the inner city's pet name for the night before Halloween. Eric Draven, handsome rock star, and his girlfriend are due to be married the following day of this auspicious night, that is until fate conspires in its deadly form to take away their lives.

Turning up to forcefully expedite the couple in a dispute of locations are a bunch of goons who happen to work for the perverse Top Dollar, leader of the crime syndicate that was responsible for the origins of Devil's Night. Things go dramatically wrong and Draven is shot in the head before being thrown to his death from the top apartment window, whilst his wife to be, Shelley, is brutally raped and later dies from her injuries. It is not oft to have the hero expire at the start of a film, a nice but dark variation of cliché-d openings which means that we are already set-out in a situation clouded in mystery and negativity.

The Crow strips right down to the bone on the outset with this brutality. We are also introduced in those opening scenes to two secondary characters who represent the normality and innocence of life, a contrast of symbolism. Life and death, guilt and innocence, justice and crime. These characters are our links and Draven's, to the world of the living and not that of the Crow's world of death. They also retain a semblance of humanity for Draven to cling to in his afterlife, an anchor to tepid his spiritual arising.

Albrecht is a cop who sees with pessimistic honesty and stems in the normality and Sarah is a young girl who is the flower of this dying garden gradually succumbing to the horrors of adulthood and the reality. The death of her friends a firm reminder of the frailty of human existence and in retrospect a reminder to us the viewers in foreshadowing that what we are about to see is not a nice family movie but a defiment of the darker potential within all of us.
A not so pleasant beginning to say the least but one that endows a sense of perspective, when we are also introduced in those first scene's to the bright and sordid sparks of this destitute city of suitably dark corners and night time horizon. Thus begins The Crow.



Exactly a year later and nothing has apparently changed. The syndicate of criminals who plundered Eric and Shelley's home with the intent of removing them are still going strong. Still in charge of the city and still setting ablaze stores and buildings in an attempt of power and control over their small dominion. Shelley and Eric are still dead and Sarah and Albrecht have forged a friendship since that tragic night but are still stuck in the limbo of their lives in this corner of disintegrating civility. Nothing has really changed and nothing is resolved.

From the ashes of yet another night of criminal activity arises a dark angel from the grave of Draven. Pre-ordained by the arrival of a crow that sits upon his gravestone and knocks upon his slumbering death to awaken him. A proverbial birth that incites a comparison of Brandon and his character. After he surfaces Draven clambers through old memories that haunt him in virility and from those images of his final moments and his love, the demon-ised face-painted Crow is born full-fledged.

Here on in the film follows Draven in his miserable excise of vengeance, showing how the crow has instilled Draven with superhuman abilities, and his use of them in seeking his murderers that slaughtered him and took the life of his love, Shelley. Draven departs from his mortal roots in search of his living tormentors. Vengeance is his motive and goal, one from which he releases the many shackles that tether him to the man he was in order to do what must be done. He is the Angel of death who arose from death in order to reap justice in its most primal nature. He is drawn to his enemies until that drawing leads him to the man behind it all, Top Dollar.

.

'If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.'

There is angst and violence in abundance, and I am not ashamed to admit I like those subjects in some of my films. Angst and Violence alone are not enough to commend a film though and I am not shallow enough to like a film for those and those alone. A film must have meaning behind those actions and The Crow shows in abundance that, and that those actions are not as easily defined as black and white.

The film is like winding through the dark realms of human nature and fate. A precipice of a drug and crime culture where its players are but a number and prone to human devilry and fate. Even though the story is steeped in dark imagery and dark motivations it prescribes a positive meaning, that love conquers all, even from beyond the grave. It is the sum of many parts with the culmination of acts of violence converted for reasons of a more noble nature.



Edited: Due to the untimely death of its lead actor The Crow almost didn't make it into release. Luckily enough the makers behind it had enough material of Lee to complete the filming. It would have been a travesty if The Crow had never seen the light of day. As it is Brandon Lee in his short film career has niched himself a legendary status because of it. Brandon's death, an accidental shooting during one of the scenes bears some comparisons to his father's, the martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Brandon died by being shot and his father, of a cerebral oedoma. Suffice to say that these cases of either conspiracy or accident have added to The Crow's infamy and have gained it an unhealthy interest in the search for Brandon's actual death moment. :edit finished.

Back to the film, Brandon's character Draven is a killer. Dying and scrabbling your way out of your very own grave to see a world that offers little value and the love of your life long dead would have that kind of effect on you. It is a surprise that his mind does not deteriorate to zombie status but he does have a cause to focus upon. We see that when he remembers the events leading up to his last breath.

Grief is a powerful emotion and through the necessity of Dravens revival in correcting a terrible wrong, he is given an opportunity to resolve and direct it. Without this glimpse of grief to stain upon his soul there would be little to find remorseful about him in his endeavors. Draven would just be a killer and the entire concept of The Crow defunct.

As it is, the acting is competent enough. Brandon Lee ideal as the main character. I have seen a few episodes of the Crow series and have found the actor there although good enough compares little to Lee's interpretation.

The bad guys are played with some theatrics but remain aptly unlikeable whilst Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott and Ling Bai act with some significance in their respective roles. Rochelle Davis has a tendency to be slightly annoying but gets by in her role.

I am no expert on the technical aspects of movie-making, however I will say this, I found the camera work at times stilted, not at its potential best but some of the camera angles did really highlight the scurviness and shadowed aspects of this near future society. The direction could have worked better too but like so many smaller budget films it adds a certain appeal that makes films like these a cult. Another downside is the growing obviousness of the grainy effect upon the lens, which makes The Crow look dated.

The story behind The Crow is it's marvel. It is this and Draven himself that pull along the film like the Orient Express. A relentless train of well known origin and dating but wondrous aesthetics. Such has brought a number of continuations of the story, a series, sequel and further comics. The series, short-lived added further to The Crow mythos but does not match its film superior, and the less said about The Crow's film sequel the better.

The Crow has a power of images and idea's. It is an unequaled cult film of its type and a lasting joy to watch. The Crow is a symbolism of strength in adversity, that the meek are more then just victims and the world is as dark a place as we allow it to be.

Brandon lives on eternally by this film. He died on The Crow but he was also born from it too. A terrible, terrible loss but from which imbues The Crow with a timeless and at times morbid appeal.

I dearly love The Crow, I never tire of watching it, such is it's appeal to me. It is a cult classic that is imitated but never truly bettered. I highly recommend it.

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,

And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Great reviews Rev… I'm looking forward to more... ... I haven’t seen Appleseed, but The Crow is one of my all time favorites…

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Nice review.
Actually he died of a cerebral oedema. I believe it was in Game of Death, where he played an actor, who faked his own death by making it appear as though he had been shot during the filming of a scene. Still, quite a chilling coincidence.

Great review of a film I love, although I am pretty sure Alex Proyas directs...Maybe the guy mentioned here did the second one? Anyway, I think this film has one of the more memorable character sets I have seen in a while. Folks like Funboy, Skank, the kid, Albrecht, and both villains are GREAT characters. Proyas has a great style and I love both this film and Dark City, which he also directed.

That's exactly right. When morning came, Bruce Lee never woke up and was taken to the hospital where doctors found out he died while sleeping. He never got the chance to view his last film, Enter the Dragon.

Great review Revenant. The Crow is an awesome movie and so is your review.

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Last 5 films I’ve seen

An American In Paris ****/*****
Once Upon A Time In China *****/*****
Father of the Bride ****/*****
Spartacus *****/*****
The Hidden Fortress ****/*****

You can view my review for each of those films at T-850's Reviews

I've corrected the mistake concerning Bruce Lee's demise.

I'd seen The Crow quite recently and it seemed like the most natural film to review. I'm undecided on my next one though. It's a toss between 'Spirited Away' and 'The Exorcist'. Or possibly another, but both are definately on my list.

I look forward to reading your review of both films

_S

Please review The Exorcist next. It's my favorite horror movie of all time and I would really like to see what you think about the film.

That's some review, man. I can't wait until your next one.

Thanks for a great review, I have added this to my must watch list.

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Great review, looking forward to your next one.

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"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf." - Walter Lippman