by F-Man » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:19 am
I just saw it and I just have to tell everyone to not believe the ratings on this one, the movie is underrated.
It just surpassed all my expectations, which were neither good nor bad. I watched it first thing after waking up and it's been in my head the whole day. I was already interested in reading the manga, and the movie has raised that interest by 3 times. I've read two negative impressions/reviews so far (latter was by Recca_Phoenix up there) and I have a lot of counter arguments about what they felt didn't work.
I won't go all the way into it, except saying that I felt the gay relationship between Yuki and Gorai was made obvious by one scene, but while still staying enough of a subtext so that you don't think about it more than necessary. And if you do, you'll want to read the manga to get to know better all of those characters, which is precisely a point that I think worked so well about this movie. The characters are so interesting and you care about them that it makes you want to know more. If you've already read the manga, I guess it works as well because you don't need to be shown everything a second time.
The movie started on a high note. That chase scene made me realize how often I see these kinds of thing in American movies, except this time, it was actually well directed and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The camera was constantly showing you proper shots and no unnecessary shaking. The cop was a bit overweight but had one hell of a spirit and you felt like he could have continued running after Yuki for quite a while. This was all that was necessary to know about the character. He has passion for his work.
It's funny how much I loved this movie despite being exactly the kind of movie I usually can't stand. I couldn't watch more than half of The International and State of Play, for instance.
What prevented it from being perfect was a few plot holes however. Why did the Americans stop shooting Garai just because he was "obscured by a cliff"? They were in a freaking helicopter! And that ending... Well I guess I could see a few ways it could happen, but I still don't understand why Yuki doesn't kill the Prime Minister if he could've. Are there multiple endings? I've read an impression somewhere that mentioned a completely different ending than the one I've seen. Or maybe they only pretended they saw the movie. Lots of things were wrong about what they said.
Also don't they ever mention the name of the reporter guy who works with Kyoko? He has the exact same curly long hair as some of Tezuka's characters! Godo in Phoenix 2772 and Hyakkimaru in the Dororo anime come to mind. His name's on the official movie site but I don't read Japanese.
So I rate MW my 5th so far, right behind the new Astro Boy movie. But don't worry, it's a much better film than Astro Boy. I just preferred Astro for personal reasons.
I'm on .
I'll see it as soon as it comes out here in Japan and let everyone know how it is!
