I'll admit I didn't know what to expect from this movie. My main reason for seeing it was that it was the only movie playing and I had a few hours to kill.
The biggest surprise to me was the mash up of Asian and European styles. Suits of armor, marble floors, Gothic interiors kept me thinking of Germany and France. As for the Asian visual influences there was many a tiled roof, and the tiered castles and palaces were impressive and included Gothic touches. Many of the villains had a decidedly Chinese flair to their costuming. The heroes were garbed in a more European style with grubby tunics and thick leather boots. In fact, other than the opening festival scene and the hip-hop dancing girls there seemed to be little Japanese influence o the costumes.
Most of the score was strongly influenced by Howard Shore and John Williams, with just a bit of Orff mixed in for good measure. It wasn't bad, but it tended to use the same themes over and over. The same melodramatic piece was used in a funeral, a scene of love, a fight and more. It didn't always work and by the end of the movie I was tired of hearing it.
The plot was a retelling of the end of the Japanese warring states period with fantastical elements added to it. The real history is full of passion, betrayal and violence and lends itself well to an epic movie. I enjoyed the changes the movie made and how the fictional elements collided with reality. However, I do wish that the movie had done more with its characters. Many of them were just flat and had no real characterization. You know the villains by their sneers and raspy voices. Heroes develop grim determination. And maybe have families. It felt like the only two who were developed were Chacha and Goemon. I don't count Goemon's friend and rival, because to me showing someone has a family doesn't count enough mean development. Also, parts of the story just seemed muddy and unfinished. Things that are dreadfully important are suddenly dropped and never spoken of again.
*To be fair, my Japanese isn't the best. I'm sure there were details I missed. However, the Japanese friend I saw the movie with only did slightly better at following the interchangeable characters and convoluted storytelling.*
The acting was so-so. It's another Japanese movie the falls into the mindset where characters need only three voices: somber, cocky and yelling. While there can be additives to those voices, such as cocky-jocular vs. cocky-taunting, those are the three types and blending and building should not be expected. If our cocky villain (or hero for that matter) gets upset his voice will not natural build to show growing anger, it will just shoot instantly to yelling.
The only actor who really stood out is the entertainer, Gori, who brings overacting to a great height. He was Gori. And he was acting. Badly.
The effects were strange. The lighting was often unusual and nothing ever looked real be it castle, forest or grassy plain. Combine this with super jumps, 1 vs. 1000 fights and CGI straight out of last years video games and the result is an audience questioning if we are supposed to take the melodrama seriously. And since it seems more time and effort was spent stylizing fights than smoothing out a plot, I'm guessing the answer is no.
Overall, it was a fun movie. But it seems more appropriate for watching and laughing at the ridiculousness of it with friends than in the silence of a theater. It's main design concept of East meets West was visually interesting, but I couldn't help but think they should have chosen a style and stuck with it. Or perhaps use authentic period clothing and styles or even the amp up the traditional costumes as in Sakuran.
The main thing that kept repeating in my head while watching this was that it could have been good if it wasn't so bad.
The biggest surprise to me was the mash up of Asian and European styles. Suits of armor, marble floors, Gothic interiors kept me thinking of Germany and France. As for the Asian visual influences there was many a tiled roof, and the tiered castles and palaces were impressive and included Gothic touches. Many of the villains had a decidedly Chinese flair to their costuming. The heroes were garbed in a more European style with grubby tunics and thick leather boots. In fact, other than the opening festival scene and the hip-hop dancing girls there seemed to be little Japanese influence o the costumes.
Most of the score was strongly influenced by Howard Shore and John Williams, with just a bit of Orff mixed in for good measure. It wasn't bad, but it tended to use the same themes over and over. The same melodramatic piece was used in a funeral, a scene of love, a fight and more. It didn't always work and by the end of the movie I was tired of hearing it.
The plot was a retelling of the end of the Japanese warring states period with fantastical elements added to it. The real history is full of passion, betrayal and violence and lends itself well to an epic movie. I enjoyed the changes the movie made and how the fictional elements collided with reality. However, I do wish that the movie had done more with its characters. Many of them were just flat and had no real characterization. You know the villains by their sneers and raspy voices. Heroes develop grim determination. And maybe have families. It felt like the only two who were developed were Chacha and Goemon. I don't count Goemon's friend and rival, because to me showing someone has a family doesn't count enough mean development. Also, parts of the story just seemed muddy and unfinished. Things that are dreadfully important are suddenly dropped and never spoken of again.
*To be fair, my Japanese isn't the best. I'm sure there were details I missed. However, the Japanese friend I saw the movie with only did slightly better at following the interchangeable characters and convoluted storytelling.*
The acting was so-so. It's another Japanese movie the falls into the mindset where characters need only three voices: somber, cocky and yelling. While there can be additives to those voices, such as cocky-jocular vs. cocky-taunting, those are the three types and blending and building should not be expected. If our cocky villain (or hero for that matter) gets upset his voice will not natural build to show growing anger, it will just shoot instantly to yelling.
The only actor who really stood out is the entertainer, Gori, who brings overacting to a great height. He was Gori. And he was acting. Badly.
The effects were strange. The lighting was often unusual and nothing ever looked real be it castle, forest or grassy plain. Combine this with super jumps, 1 vs. 1000 fights and CGI straight out of last years video games and the result is an audience questioning if we are supposed to take the melodrama seriously. And since it seems more time and effort was spent stylizing fights than smoothing out a plot, I'm guessing the answer is no.
Overall, it was a fun movie. But it seems more appropriate for watching and laughing at the ridiculousness of it with friends than in the silence of a theater. It's main design concept of East meets West was visually interesting, but I couldn't help but think they should have chosen a style and stuck with it. Or perhaps use authentic period clothing and styles or even the amp up the traditional costumes as in Sakuran.
The main thing that kept repeating in my head while watching this was that it could have been good if it wasn't so bad.