Hey folks, Harry here... back a few weeks ago we provided a peek at the trailer to this film, and now it has been released in Japan and from the sound of this review... I've gotta see this thing, it sounds really damn cool! This is the exact sorta film that we never get to see over here. Well, thank god for all-region DVD players, cuz that's how most of us will eventually get to see this. Here's Ronin75 with our first review of DRAGONHEAD...
hi harry, hi atul,
didnt know to whom I should write this, hope it reaches you anyhow...
just came out of the theaters here in Tokyo (great city by the way) watching the japanese big budget movie DRAGONHEAD. As big as it is imdb strangely doesn't list it at all, but you had mentioned the trailer for it a couple weeks ago. Well, the trailer in fact is quite strange (as almost all japanese trailers are) and with that horrendous love pop song playing over the big destruction sequences you were wondering what this movie really is about. Well, I gave it a try after I read that it is based on one of the best mangas in recent times, and I didn't expect a manga just to be a sappy love story.
So, first of all this a live-action movie, not an anime. It is a strange mix of disaster-thriller-horror-love-mystery-story, but worked quite well and was entertaining throughout its 122 minutes.
A young boy awakes in total mayhem... it takes a while until he can recollect that he was on a schooltrip in a bullettrain as suddenly the train crashed. It seems first that he is the only survivor and unfortunately trapped inside the tunnel, where the train crashed. But in the giant wreck he finds company in another boy, who unfortunately loses his mind within 5 minutes. There is also a young girl hiding, because she knows that the crazy one already killed another survivor. Well, soon the good guy and the girl are on the run and one of the many earthquakes finally rips a drainpipe open, through which they can escape the crazy guy, who painted himself like one of the kids in LORD OF THE FLIES (who dies in the tunnel, or didn't he?).
Outside the tunnel the couple finds a deserted countryside.. everywhere is ash and dark clouds. Apparently some volcanic eruption or a nuclear war (though that is never really stated)...
They try to get to Tokyo, back to their parents and on their way they encounter many different characters, who drift into madness and bloodthirst more and more. There is one particularly spooky scene involving a birthday party of two seperated siamesian twins... brrrrrrrr... finally arriving in Tokyo there is no hope left. The whole city is totally destroyed (and we are talking here about a city of 30 million people!!!). Death everywhere, the few survivors are only shadows of themselves..., maybe also because of the food (which in my opinion was poisened by the army...). At the end the secret is lifted what caused this desaster and once more our couple has to run for their lives... up on a hill, looking down on the rest of Tokyo they face in horror what is after them and all seems lost...
well, this is really a short summarization. I dont wanna spoil really the secret, but it is very obvious very early and at the latest in the shootout scene in the middle of the movie (and also they put it on the poster campaign already, clever move, guys!). Anyhow, the movie is not so much about what caused all this but how people deal with it. That may not be new or original, but it is tense, sometimes really scary and horryfying and thanks to the good lead actors an emotional movie. Some viewers may argue, that the guy is crying too often, but hey, he is a) a young boy around 16 years old and b) just an ordinary kid... I wanna see you in a situation like this.
The sets are marvellous and very spooky, if you pay attention to them.. in each frame you see some dead bodies around, but you have to look closely.. sometimes it is just an arm or leg you see, but it looks like part of a car or something. Brrrrrr... Also, when the building at the end crumbles and all the people in there get smashed by big bricks was really intense... god, you see them hit right in front of the camera... splat splat splat... oi...
The main credit sequence was great (though I am not sure what it had to do with the movie) and the music to it was groovy.. unfortunately the music in the movie wasn't it that style anymore.. effective though, but I thought it could have been much grander in settings like this.
There are hundreds of effects shots in this movie, which usually range from acceptable to perfect (the fire shower on Tokyo in the final minutes were great, or that incident at the shootout scene). Of course, they can't compete with ILM, but for an Asian movie they were really good.
The overall dark tone was very tense and I wondered why the trailer had to make this movie like a sappy love story movie... it is really totally different and a dropdead serious film. Also that movie ended on such a downbeat was cool, though not really unexpected, as there seemed no solution to this situation, except flying away in a helicopter, but the movie was too serious already.
The title I guess refers to the crazy boy at the beginning and his painted face.. he appears from time to time as ghostlike figure... just in case you wondered.. no dragons in it! Sorry to disappoint you!
I really want to read the Manga now, which I heard is released outside Japan and won several prices.
Of course, this movie is not perfect. But you have to keep in mind, that a movie of this size is hard to produce in Japan and so you have to accept some not so well effect shots or sometimes that certain scenes are not as grand as they would be, had Michael Bay directed this. But then on the other hand, the movie would have never ended like this in a hollywood version. Still, it would be a great script to be "reimagined" from a Hollywood director...
The only real complain storywise I have is, that it is really beyond all belief, that you survive a fall out of flying helicopter (especially if you fall into a broken skyscraper...)... that's way to far out... but otherwise I think it was good how close the script stayed at the leads - but never made a silly lovestory out of it.
So, good movie, worth watching, but doubt it will make it to the USA... :-(
by the way, BATTLE ROYALE 2 was good, but senseless in the second half...
still very tense, very evil, very freaky... and fun... crazy me... :-)
call me ishmael (lol), no, ronin75.. cheers
