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Metropolis 2001 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Rintaro
PG-13, 107 min. (violence, images of destruction) |
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Starring: Jamieson Price, Toshio Furukawa, Dave Mallow, Scott Weinger
Producers: Katsuhiro Otomo, Yasuhiro Nakura, Shuichi Hirata, Yuka Imoto, Kei Kobayashi, Kouki Okada
Screenplay: Katsuhiro Otomo
Distributor: Columbia Tristar
Released: 1/25/02 (Limited) |
Rating:
 (out of ) |
Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis is based on a combination of a visually stimulating city of advanced technology as presented in
Fritz Lang's classic, Metropolis (1926), and Japanese animation by legendary anime writer/director Katsuhiro Otomo. Directed
by Rintaro, or Taro Rin, this eye-popping adventure film uses breathtaking computer-generated images and the best anime
available to tell a riveting story of power, corruption, and the courage to oppose it. Like Akira, also by Otomo,
Metropolis imbues its characters with life-like emotions and behavior, thereby allowing its story to match its visuals. In a
sense, you'd probably hardly notice the story if it had been bland, because you're too enraptured in the endless imagination
of the futuristic city's multileveled existence. Although most moviegoers will miss the film in theaters, it should gain a healthy
following on video this summer, and for good reason. Metropolis is intelligent, full of life, and irresistibly eye-catching.
It's surely one of the best animated films I've seen in quite some time.
The film opens with a stunning shot of Metropolis in all its glory, highlighted by the Ziggurat, a group of skyscrapers that
are connected by bridges. This technological marvel masks the devious plot behind its owner, the evil Duke Red, who
is determined to overtake the city with humanoids under his control. Inside the Ziggurat is a throne where his most
prized creation, Tima, a humanoid created by a mad scientist, will sit and control the city through the use of computers and her formidable brainpower.
Opposing his plot is the mild-mannered duo of a detective and his nephew, Kenichi, who stumble upon the newly-created Tima
after a fire destroyed her maker and the giant laboratory where she was kept. Tima and Kenichi strike up an innocent, close
bond, and must escape the constant assassination attempts of Duke Red's adopted son, Rock, who is determined to see his
father, not Tima, sit on the powerful throne in the Ziggurat. As the story unfolds, we learn of the dark secret that will
determine Tima's fate.
The film portrays its characters in classic anime fashion - slender bodies with large heads and eyes to accentuate their
numerous expressions in convincing fashion. It's interesting to see these type of characters intermingled with such
impressive visuals around them - it's a contrast that's hard to describe. The music incorporated into the film is also striking,
especially during the film's climactic moments when we hear Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" playing in the background.
It's these dissimilar elements that give Metropolis its unique feel. This is a film to be experienced, not described.
Seeing Metropolis as a live-action piece is difficult to envision, considering the epic scale of storytelling within its
frames. Few films, with the exception of Dark City or Blade Runner, have effectively transferred a conceptual idea of a
convincing futuristic city with a competent story to match it. Here, as an anime, the film is able to breathe, to move within
itself without limits, and to thoroughly portray a vision of its own design without fault or misstep. In its current state, Metropolis
is engrossing stuff to be sure.
Some critics have called Metropolis the "Blade Runner" of anime. I tend to agree with that assessment.
As in Blade Runner, Metropolis' storyline is important but not essential to appreciating what its visuals have accomplished in
terms of sheer magnitude of imagination. There were times during Metropolis when I felt the same fascination that I felt during
my first viewing of Blade Runner - it was hard at times to focus on the story rather than the background. This is a
film that must be seen twice to fully experience all its hidden treasures. Films such as this challenge your own imagination,
and eventually, you're completely under its magical control.
© 2002 Jonathan Cornwell
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 |
 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
 | Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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