rsaintj

I think folks here are being a little harsh on THE PROMISE. For the sake of brevity, I'll say this: I found it more engaging than HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and as gorgeous (if not more so) than HERO. The special effects were the finest I've seen to come out of Asia, ever; some surpassed REVENGE OF THE SITH, though they've got some little work left to do on LOTR-like effects with Massive and compositing overall.

But overall, I thought it was an exceptionally entertaining film with some fine performances. Almost as good as HERO overall, and very, erm, promising for Chen Kaige. I'd skipped THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN because it seemed so close to HERO, but now I'm going to track it down.

I found LORELEI entertaining with some great performances and production values (especially for a big budget feature, by Japanese standards), but felt the story was lacking in a number of ways.

Shinji Higuchi (special effects director for GODZILLA-MOTHRA-KING GHIDORAH and Shusuke Kaneko's GAMERA series) shows great promise here to be an excellent director. His talent and originality really shines in this film, and it's obvious he has a big future ahead of him. I'll be looking forward to his adaptation of NIPPON CHINBOTSU (JAPAN SINKS) next year. Despite his background, Higuchi shows in LORELEI that he knows how to balance SFX with the drama.

Koji Yakusho as Captain Shinichi was wonderful. I'm so used to seeing him play laid back, morose characters in things like Kiyoshi Kurosawa films, and I didn't think he could be as animated as he was in LORELEI. Tokusatsu fans will also appreciate a good performance from Jun Kunimura (Major Komuro in GODZILLA FINAL WARS) as Dr. Matoi Tokioka, and one of my favorites, Masato Ibu (the Old Controller in GFW) shows up as Admiral Narazaki. On the other hand, the "young leads", Yu Kashii as Paula and Satoshi Tsumabuki as Origasa left me rather cold. The western cast was one of the best I've ever seen in a Japanese film, delivering their lines and reaction shots on a much more convincing level than anything I've seen recently in Japanese SF/F film.

Special effects heavily dominated the movie, and although great (unprecedented?) for a Japanese film, they still looked like special effects more often than not. I was surprised (and a little disappointed) how much of it seemed to be CG as opposed to miniatures work. Very few shots looked "real". There was an almost dreamy "unreal" nature to many of the shots that may have been intended. But I think Japanese SFX crews still have a long way to go with compositing. Having said that, water is said to be the most difficult thing to work with in CG, and they did an admirable job with exciting dramatic shots that supported the story rather than detract from it.

As I mentioned, though, the story itself felt weak in spots. LORELEI was written by Harutoshi Fukui, based on his bestselling novel "Shuusen no Lorelei". Based on what I've read of the original storyline, there were many changes made in the transition from print to screen, and the film probably benefits as a result. The storyline is tighter and faster, and jumps right into the action.

But there are, in my Western-informed opinion, some mixed messages here that are a little hard to swallow, much of it related to how the Japanese tend to address their own perceptions of Word War II. Fukui certainly makes his politics known in the story. This is not to say that the Americans or Allied POV is treated poorly in the story, not at all. I just felt that there was a somewhat skewed "Japan as victim" angle that perhaps requires a Japanese background in order to truly empathize. As a result, it makes it difficult to understand some of the character motivations and twists in the story.

As far as the sci-fi element of the story (MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW), I was surprised by how little of it there was. The I-507 itself is a very advanced German-built sub that has a detachable minisub that is towed by cable. The minisub is operated by one crewman and occupied by Paula. Paula has been engineered by the Nazis to be a living sonar, and is delivered to the Japanese as a component of the "Lorelei System". She's wired and tubed up to the minisub, and the whole device basically provides the I-507 with a super-advanced 3D visualization system with a reach of 120 nautical miles. This makes the I-507 incredibly accurate, but the deadly side effects take their toll on Paula. It's an interesting concept, but it's really just a plot device, sort of "What if Japan had a modern day weapon in WW2?" In the end, it's only used to position against more "What ifs" such as "What if the US had a third atom bomb at the time?" and "What if there were Japanese who had a hidden agenda towards the end of the war?" Nevertheless, LORELEI is an exciting look at what can be done by modern Japanese filmmakers with a big budget, quality talent and time. It takes the best of big-budget American thrillers, and fuses it with a more thoughtful Japanese approach to human drama that is, more often than not, lacking in its western counterparts. It remains to be seen whether the politics of the film will prevent it from wider exposure to audiences in the U.S..

I loved it in a way I haven't loved a movie in a long time. I loved it for truly disturbing me, for really keeping me unnerved. I don't scare easily, but the building of horror upon horror in this film really got under my skin. I walked in thinking I'd probably "like" it or enjoy it, but that there really wasn't much left to do with an alien invasion movie, especially in a story already done. I was wrong. Whatever was going on in my head and my heart during the events of 9/11, Spielberg managed to tap right into that part of me again.

Oh, and Oscars for Dakota Fanning, Michael Babcock (sound designer... BEST SOUND IN A MOVIE... EVER!!!!) and Dennis Muren.

I know some have faulted it for not showing us enough big SFX battles. That is like the son, Robbie. He had to see it. It's something inside of us that keeps us glued to the TV on days like 9/11, or when the US invaded Iraq. We have to see it. But in this movie, we are completely limited to what Ray sees and experiences, with few exceptions. I thought that was kind of brilliant, and by never taking us out of his shoes, that's what makes the horror work. It's immersive in a way similar (in effect) to Blair Witch Project, without having to rely on a video camera. So in the end, we're like Robbie. We want to see it all. When we go to movies, we're used to seeing it all, as if the audience is omniscient. When we don't see it, it gets under our skin. And when what happens does happen, it's all the more effective.

I loved the ending, especially for not taking the easy way out: to try to outdo everything that's been done before.

Simply as a film, GFW is a wretched mess. If I had the movie on tape or disc, and it sat on my shelf, it would be one of the worst movies in my collection. There is no consistency in any element of the film. It isn't at all clear what kind of movie director Ryuhei Kitamura was trying to deliver. It is an uneven mish-mash of sci-fi, action, fantasy, children's movie, kaiju eiga and perhaps even parody. Had he pushed the work more in one direction and forsaken some elements, it might have been a better film.

The special effects in some ways manage to illustrate the problems with the entire movie. They ranged from a very few that were breathtaking and new, to pathetic. More often than not, the awful effects were the result of poor CG or clumsy compositing. This is not new to the Godzilla film, of course, but the sheer amount of overly-ambitious and poorly executed effects left me wondering, 'If you didn't have the time, money or skill to do it, then why do it?'

The acting is almost uniformly mediocre and unconvincing, even from Toho veterans such as Akira Takarada as U.N. Secretary General Daigo and Kumi Mizuno as EDF Commander Namikawa. Kazuki Kitamura as the evil Xilien Commander easily turns in the best (if not over-the-top) performance, and delivers the best line in the movie.

The biggest weakness other than the lack of direction is the story itself. Whether one takes the approach to film that a story should follow a traditional structure of introduction, protagonist, conflict, resolution, etc., or that the rules can be broken to tell a story in a more compelling fashion, GFW fails either way. The story simply throws too many components into what could have been a rather straightforward story. Elements and ideas are introduced, often out of the blue without reasonable explanation, and sometimes abandoned for no reason at all.

The best example of this is Neo's, um, I mean Ozaki's development into The One, um, I mean his full potential as 'a Kaiser'. The Shobijin have told him earlier that there will come a time when he will have great power, and must choose between evil and good. When the time comes, however, it is not Ozaki that makes the choice, but rather love interest Miyuki (Rei Kikukawa) and the deus ex machina use of the Shobijin amulet.

Speaking of which, how many unoriginal ideas can Kitamura and co-writer Isao Kiriyama introduce into a single movie? Quite a few apparently. The entire MATRIX TRILOGY is covered quite well in GFW, both in terms of visuals and what passes for character development. As already mentioned, Ozaki is roughly the equivalent of Neo. The 'Burly Brawl' of MATRIX RELOADED is duplicated in 'lite' form as EDF Instructor Kumasaka (Masakatsu Funaki) takes on the converted M-force. Similarities to INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIENS, and X-MEN were already expected, but nothing can prepare you for the horror of the 'tribute' to RETURN OF THE JEDI when Kazama (Caine Kosugi) makes his final run on the Death Star. These moments were not taking something familiar and giving them an original twist. It was copy and paste laziness.

The score by Keith Emerson was, like everything else, all over the place. It often sounded like cheap synth music from a CASIO or straight-to-video films of the eighties, composed by a John Carpenter wannabe. Fortunately, I could console myself that the film opened briefly with Godzilla's theme from KING KONG VS GODZILLA (over an old 'Tohoscope' banner no less!), and cues from Masaru Satoh's SON OF GODZILLA (Minilla's theme) and GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA make brief, if strange, appearances. Other music such as popular tunes by SUM41 and others are dropped into action sequences to good effect, though they often seemed to end abruptly.

'But wait,' you are probably saying to yourself at this point. 'This is a Godzilla film. Stop talking about your CITIZEN KANE scale expectations, and tell me about the monsters!' Of course. After all, it's not unprecedented for a Godzilla film to fail on one or more of the above counts (MEGALON and GIGAN come to mind). I giggled in delight at the opening sequence with the original Goten and Godzilla. Favorites such as Manda, Gigan and Anguirus are certainly seen as never before, and the scene with the EDF battling Ebirah was great. The initial invasions of the kaiju are generally well-executed, albeit brief. And that's my problem with all of the monster action: it is so very short, and beyond the first 20 minutes, it is poorly integrated into the rest of the story. Although the concept of the King of Monsters, so powerful he takes out enemies with one punch, may sound good on paper, it leaves a lot to be desired when it actually happens within seconds. Even the final battle is anti-climactic, and falls victim to yet another out-of-the-blue plot device that left this viewer feeling cheated.

When it comes out on DVD, I'll get it, but I doubt I ever sit through the entire film again more than once. With 27 other, better Godzilla films, why would I?

I never thought I'd give a 10, let alone to such a big-spectacle type film, but I'm happy to make an exception for ROTK. Thank you, Peter Jackson, for the gift of this trilogy. Never as an adult have I been immersed in a film experience before. I thought I'd lost that ability after "Star Wars". I now hand the reins of my favorite all time film to ROTK, and my favorite film trilogy to LOTR. I had high hopes for the SW prequels to bring an adult sensibility and modern sophistication to what was the best film series of all time. Who'd have thought it would be Peter Jackson and LOTR? The only downside to ROTK? It hurts to say goodbye to these remarkable characters and creations.

Although I prefer the more linear storyline and drama of CTHD, I found this film to be much more unique, daring, and beautiful. In the end, comparing the two is apples and oranges, very different experiences. I really hope a wider audience gets to see this, and I want to see it on the big screen with big sound!

I don't want to give away anything about this wonderful, haunting film. If you liked "The Sixth Sense", "The Others" or "Ring", this will show you how those films pale in comparison. I felt my skin crawl so many times, and the movie has been haunting my thoughts for days now. I sincerely hope that a wider audience has a chance to experience this dark, beautiful film.

I saw this and Ringu on the same day. I had very high expectations for Ringu, and found it to be rather predictable and overhyped. I was worried that Odishon would be the same.

No worries: Odishon is far superior, and IMHO the better horror film. Why compare the two (other than the fact I saw them back to back)? Because both are highly hyped modern Japanese horror films about the revenge and hatred a damaged young woman takes out on the world. Odishon conveys far more horror on a more personal level without depending on a supernatural element, and I found Odishon's Asami far more terrifying and creepy than Ringu's Sadako.

Lots of effective, creepy moments building up in the first 2/3 of the film, but seems to putter out after that. Solid performances and great handling of the "movie within a movie (within another movie?)". Still, a good first effort from director Hideo Nakata ("Ring").

Anyone who enjoys the Lynchian weirdness of Twin Peaks, or any fan of HP Lovecraft who knows that the most frightening things are the familiar things, will really enjoy this film. Don't watch it as a horror film in the "traditional" western sense, but more like a Grimm's fairy tale. It is gory and definitely for 16+, but once you start watching it, you too will find yourself drawn into the vortex. Definitely one of those movies that hangs with you for a few days after watching (I'll never look at my snails the same way again!)

Like Gamera 3 (no coincidence), this is the type of film that pushes the envelope of what a "giant monster movie" can be. I can only hope that more audiences outside of Japan get a chance to see this film, and a chance to see that this genre can be well acted, superbly directed, and feel "dangerous" (rather than silly). American studios have a long history of abusing Godzilla films, but this is a Godzilla film that could change your mind of what could be with the series. The special effects are generally very impressive, and the pacing is well done.

It's worth noting that this movie does, in many ways, truly "redefine" Godzilla. Although the original 1954 classic is referenced, this Godzilla is portrayed as an angry "dark god" (with creepy, milky white eyes!), apparently taking vengeance on a culture that has forgotten the horror of war that led to his creation. Mothra, King Ghidorah and Baragon are redefined as well, but I don't want to spoil the actual story.

Should you ever get a chance to see this on video or (I hope!) the big screen, do so. A double feature with Gamera 3 would be the perfect evening!

While most seem to feel that this was an improvement over The Phantom Menace, I found AOTC to be much more flawed overall. Granted, there were some real highs, what I call "fanboy moments" such as the visuals, the battles, Yoda, the Fetts, and Ewan's much-improved performance as Obi-Wan. Unfortunately, the movie is filled with terrible dialogue, uneven pacing, unforgiveably bad edits, and a horribly hacked edit of a wonderful music score (make that two, since they re-used so much music from TPM).

The romance element is unconvincing, almost creepy, due to inept performances by Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. I can only assume that the director himself is to blame, considering that both performers have done so much better in other films, and Christensen as Anakin does have one brief shining moment late in the film.

Of course, one doesn't come to Star Wars looking for fine art. But even as a "summer blockbuster" and "come to be entertained" kind of film, sitting through the bad bits makes it hard to enjoy the great bits when they come. Nothing in the original trilogy was this bad, and even the vilified "Phantom Menace" had a fraction of the clunkers to be found in "Clones". Although there are classic moments that rank amongst the highest in the Star Wars series in AOTC, the uneven elements ultimately make it the most disappointing entry in the series.

Yes, simply the finest daikaiju eiga made since the original Godzilla. Not only a film that can make you take Gamera seriously, but one that makes you take giant monsters seriously as well. Great story, fine acting, clever script and story, excellent directing, brilliant special effects.... this is the only one (so far!) that has it all.