Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)


Introduction:
Japanese animation director Mamoru Oshii is probably most famous for his two feature length adaptations of Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. But he’s worked on quite a few other projects, including some live action films and screenwriting. In 1999 one of his scripts was adapted into a feature length animated film that many felt was a game changer for anime – finally bringing it to the mainstream. But we’d all heard that story before.

Summary:
The story occurs during the late 1950s in a world (including Japan) that has lost World War II to the Germans. Japan is ruled like a police state, and the people are rising up attempting to buck off the harsh rule. To quell the protests Japan creates a special police force (since they are not permitted an army) known as the Capital Police. These heavily armed teams are permitted to act with extreme measures to ensure public safety. Within this force is a secret counter intelligence unit, known as the wolf brigade. It is their job to ensure that the Capita Police retain the power they have within the political organization.

We meet Kazuki Fuse (Michael Dobson) a member of the Capital police who finds himself in a bit of a mess. During an operation that involved eliminating members of a militant group called The Sect, Fuse comes face to face with a pretty young girl. Dressed in a red coat and obviously transporting a bomb, she is cornered by Fuse. He tries to reason with her, unable to just kill her outright, as he is ordered to. Instead the girl blows herself up in front of him.

Now Fuse is being investigated for his inaction. He’s being watched by organizations within the government – did he act out of compassion, or is there something else going on? He eventually meets Kei Anemiya (Moneca Stori) a young woman who looks a lot like the girl he watched die. They become fast friends, as Fuse attempts to reconcile what he’s done. But even Kei is not what she appears. The stakes are raised as the Capital Police’s function is questioned.  In the end Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade will be forced to act and Fuse will be caught in the crossfire.

Good Points:
  • Amazing animation and backgrounds
  • Period and technical details are impressive
  • A moody musical score by Hajime Mizoguchi

Bad Points:
  • Deliberately paced
  • The political machinations require close attention
  • The film is very morose and dark

Overall:
From an animation standpoint, Jin-Roh is an impressive piece of work. The design and execution of the visuals is some of the best from the 1990s, and from hand drawn animation. But the story itself is dreary and dark. Combine this with the entire atmosphere from the visuals and music, and the slow pacing and you end up with a movie that isn’t entertaining. It’s a slog to make it through, but it delivers an emotional punch at the end.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 5
Sound: 4
Acting: 4
Script: 4
Music: 4
Direction: 3
Entertainment: 2
Total:  4

In Depth Review
The wolf finds red riding hood.
I’m very conflicted about Jin-Roh. I haven’t seen it since its release on DVD in 2002. I appreciated so many artistic factors to it, but I couldn’t bring myself to delve back into that dreary world of despair. There is very little hope presented in the film, and none of the characters we meet escape the events of the film without injuries – mental and physical.

Let me qualify something here. I don’t mind tragic stories. I enjoy the power behind them, and understand how they can be very effective entertainment. In fact some of my favorite films are tragic in their nature. When it comes to Shakespeare, I find his tragedies much more engaging than his comedies. I love horror films (which are based on the tragedy mold). But there is something missing in Jin-Roh that turns it from tragic and into nihilistic.

Lets look at the good points. There are many and that is the reason I can’t write this film off. The animation is extremely impressive. Set in an alternate version of the 1950s, we get a view of Post War Japan that is very detailed and authentic. The cars, clothing and hairstyles reflect the time period and pull you into the world director Hiroyuki Okura creates.

In addition, the mechanical design for the weapons and armor used by the Capital police looks fully functional, and realistic. The helmets recall German design. The heavy armor, glowing night vision scopes and heavy weaponry not only appear realistic, but also intimidating as hell. To see these soldiers coming toward you means certain death.

A very realistic post war Japan
The character design in Jin-Roh is very realistic. You don’t have any crazy hair or clothing here. The people are all designed to look like real people, much like the work we see in Satoshi Kon’s work (such as Perfect Blue) or even in Ghost in the Shell (which did rely more on Shirow’s character design). But unlike Akira it is easy to tell all the characters apart. They do a good job giving characters distinctive facial features, clothing elements or body types.

The action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen. There are three set pieces, each one fluid, violent and intense. The way the armored troops move feels authentic. Later when one man attempts to take out a group of several armed guards, his motions are very realistic. The animators never shy from showing us all the moves, all the violence and the blood that these encounters create. Jin-Roh is a violent world.

Overlaid on all of this is the atmosphere of control, repression and despair. Nearly every scene in the film occurs during the night, dusk or early dawn. The sun rarely appears, and even when it does, the days are cloudy or rainy. There's a dusty color scheme to everything. It makes the visuals appear soft and faded like an old photograph. Visually, it’s a murky miserable world. And while some of the characters speak of hope, or of times changing – the visual cues are quite the opposite. It’s an oppressive mood, effectively created.

The realism also spreads to the sound design. Most of the film occurs in Tokyo, and you get plenty of crowd and traffic noise. But even quieter moments are well defined with gentle wind or rain adding to the overall film.

Turmoil rages in the streets. Order must be maintained.
Hajime Mizoguchi is no stranger to orchestral scores, since he worked with Yoko Kanno on Vision of Escaflowne, which sported a huge orchestral score with full-blown choral moments. For Jin-Roh he keeps things a bit more low key, but very effective. The score uses a mix of synthesizers, orchestra, solos by cello or electric guitar and some vocalizations.  The score gives a few moments of hope for the characters, and is very effective as a whole. The most impressive piece is the end credits, which I blogged about here.

I have to say the English voice acting is pretty solid. Dobson plays Fuse pretty close to the chest. This makes sense for the character, and also ties into the fact that Fuse doesn’t have a lot to say. Most of the character is developed through is actions and his reactions. Instead Stori gets most of the heavy lifting in her role as Amemiya. She has lots of one-sided conversations and develops a character that has several layers. The supporting cast does a good job with their parts, giving us various shades of grey to work with.

The script by Oshii is based on a series of movies, manga and radio dramas he worked on in the late 80s and early 90s. He created the world of Jin-Roh, including the Capital Police and the back-story that lead to their creation. This film doesn’t assume you’ve seen or heard any of the previous stories. And the first few minutes of the film are pretty much an info dump of history leading up to the events of the film.

Is she befriending a man or a wolf?
The most interesting theme of the story is the idea that to fight terrorism, a soldier must descend to the level of the beast. The obvious connection here is to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. There are constant allusions to the fairy tale, and to its more horrifying original version. Fuse and his comrades are often referred to as dogs, being part of a pack and talk of hunting. Wolf imagery abounds with key scenes taking place in a natural history museum in front of a diorama featuring wolves. In the Japanese version, the special unit is called Kerberos, the Greek spelling of the guardian of Hades – the three-headed dog Cerberus.

Then you have the two young girls who feature prominently in the story. Both wear red jackets with hoods. Both connect with the “wolf” on some level. Both wander into the dark dangerous inner working of the city. And both face fear. The outcomes are very different from each other (and from the original fairy tale). But the theme is obvious.

It is interesting that Oshii was exploring this theme of a strong military that de-humanizes it’s soldiers to fight terrorists,  a few years before world events really put a spotlight on this aspect of war. Not surprisingly, Jin-Roh was released in North America in 2002, two years after it’s premiere. It’s one of those things that may have made the film more relevant to anime fans at the time, and lead to the highly favorable reviews of the film upon its release.

The real motivators in the film.
But the film isn’t really about the terrorism, or the conflict between the people of the nation and their powerful police. It’s about the political machinations of the men in power who want to stay in power. This is what makes the film hard for me to relate to. It’s about men moving pawns, using people to obtain their own vague ends. Fuse and Amemiya are interesting characters with their own motives, sometimes buried deep down. But in the end, the movie isn’t’ about them. It’s about the men behind the scenes. Yes, Fuse fights with the fact that he has a soul and can’t kill a young girl (or is it all a ruse?) But the reality is that all the men in power have already removed their souls. They are willing to destroy just about anyone (or take souls from anyone) to stay in power. It’s a bleak statement.

Even though Oshii didn’t direct Jin-Roh, Hiroyuki Okiura does keep Oshii’s pacing in mind. The film moves very slowly, allowing the viewer to absorb the wonderful animation and become immersed in the atmosphere. At the same time, the tension that should be building often feels lost among the turgid meandering. I feel the movie needed to deliver its final gut punch with more speed and power. Instead, the movie ends with tragedy, but it’s taken so long to get there that we are just left feeling that all the depression up to that point couldn’t end in any other way. It’s not a surprise really; it just feels like a natural extension of this dark world.

A pack of wolves.
Let me put it this way. I’ve only watched Jin-Roh twice since I picked it up in 2002. It is impressive visually. I’ve listened to the score many times. But I never feel compelled to return to that world and those characters. It’s not an entertaining movie – not even from the perspective of tragedy. That is my biggest issue with this film. Take another extremely tragic anime feature: Grave of the Fireflies. It’s a sad story about two children attempting to survive during World War II after their village has been firebombed. They have no family, no one to look after them. They don’t have a chance. But there is hope in the film, it glimmers in the darkness, but it never goes out. And when the film ends, as it must, there is a catharsis at the children’s journey. Grave of the Fireflies is depressing, yes, and draining. But Jin-Roh lacks that catharsis. It’s depressing, draining and meandering. It ends and I’m thankful instead of reflective. And that is why I can’t give it top marks.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Anime Juke Box - Grace - Jin Roh

Composer Hajime Mizoguchi serves up an interesting score for the film Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade. For the most part it is a low key score, using a mix of orchestral and electronic elements. There are some interesting action cues and for the more touching scenes Mizoguchi serves up the right emotions. But the cue that makes the score is the end credits track called "Grace" or "Grace - Jin-Roh - Omega".

In this cue Mizoguchi takes his main theme, adds female vocals by Gabriela Robin (aka Yoko Kanno). Kanno also performs the piano in this track. It's a lovely piece, one of my favorites featuring Kanno's singing.



Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)


Introduction:
You can’t keep a good franchise down, or even a mediocre franchise down. But I kid Mission: Impossible. For the most part, the series has remained entertaining and perfect summer weekend viewing. But it’s one of those series that I don’t hear people clamoring for. One will come out; people will see it, enjoy it and then move on to the next action flick. It’s rare to hear someone say, “I can’t wait for the next Mission: Impossible. But that doesn’t keep Tom Cruise from going back to the well.


Summary:
After Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is sprung from a Russian prison, he finds himself involved in a new impossible mission. Agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and newly minted field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) need his help to break into the Kremlin and steal some classified information. Of course things don’t go as planned and before you can say, “Didn’t this happen in the last three movies”, Hunt and his team are accused of a terrorist action and disavowed.

It’s all a plot by the diabolical Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist). This brilliant war strategist believes that nuclear war will bring about the next stage of world peace and human evolution. Now Hunt and his team are joined by the capable analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) to stop the mad man, and do it off the grid. But Brandt is hiding a secret and Hendricks is one step ahead. Can Hunt and his team survive all the chases, escapes, explosions, dust storms, building climbing and malfunctioning gadgets to save the world?

Good Points:
  • Excellent direction by Brad Bird keeps the flick moving at a good pace
  • Plenty of humor injected into the film, keeping everything fun
  • Enjoyable musical score by Michael Giacchino

Bad Points:
  • Michael Nyqvist is underused in a flat role
  • Some of the scenes break the laws of physics a bit too freely
  • Tom Cruise is… Tom Cruise

Overall:
This movie was a bit of an improvement over the last film. The pacing was perfect, the humor was a great addition and action scenes were intense and fun. However the main villain isn’t given much of a chance to shine here. Cruise is pretty much in his comfort zone , and that will not work for some viewers. But this outing was a fun evening’s viewing.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 4
Acting: 3
Script: 3
Music: 4
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 4
Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Mission: Impossible Reviews

Friday, May 17, 2013

Score Sample - Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - Michael Giacchino

The Mission: Impossible series has had an interesting musical history. For the first film, Danny Elfman created a modern action score infused with Lalo Schifrin's memorable main theme and a theme known as "The Plot". Hans Zimmer followed this up with a rowdy score that was filled with electric guitars. But with the third film, Michael Giacchino was brought on board, and created a fun action score with good balance of modern and 1960s swagger. 

For the forth film, Giacchino was back and this time was inspired by the locales in the film. He still uses the main theme and "The Plot" theme in interesting ways. But he adds plenty of musical flavor for the scenes in Moscow, Dubai and Mombai. The last locale treats us with a Bollywood style for the main theme. Give a listen to "Mood India" and see if can detect Schifrin's famous theme.


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Mission: Impossible II (2000)


Introduction:
There was a time when Hollywood really wanted to get the magic of director John Woo to work for them. But Face/Off and Broken Arrow  just didn’t cut it with audiences. So they threw him the sequel to a successful franchise, gave him a hefty budget and a bankable star. Would this be Woo’s biggest hit?


Summary:
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is trying to enjoy a nice vacation climbing up cliffs when he’s told of a new Impossible Mission by his superior Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins in a cameo). Ethan needs to find out why former agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) is after something called Chimera. To get to Ambrose, Ethan must find an ex-girlfriend Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) and convince her to rekindle their relationship.

Of course it’s all a ruse, because she falls for Ethan almost immediately. Unfortunately, Chimera turns out to be a incredibly dangerous synthetic virus that can only be stopped by a serum called Bellerophon. Yeah someone read their Greek mythology.  Now its up to Ethan to stop Ambrose before this super disease is used as a weapon. Oh yeah and Ving Rhames and John Polson are also part of this Mission: Impossible.

Good Points:
  • Has some dazzling over the top visuals
  • The final half is nearly nonstop action
  • Fun and popcorny
Bad Points:
  • Over the top visuals can lead to laughter
  • Turns Ethan in James Bond and drops the team effort
  • What is with all the masks?
Overall:
Easily the weakest in the franchise, but it’s a nice silly action movie. Has some great visuals on display, and the use of slow motion in the actions scenes is handled well. But then there’s the other side of the coin, where Woo’s operatic sensibilities just make you laugh out loud (I’m looking at you motorcycle chase). Also the reduction of the team effort to a one-man show makes this feel like a Mission:Impossible wannabe. It’s fun, but not as rewatchable as the other films. 

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 3
Acting: 3
Script: 3
Music: 3
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 3
Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Mission: Impossible Reviews

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Nostalgia Nugget: Mythic Movies of Ray Harryhausen


I tried to remember a time when I didn’t know about the movies of Ray Harryhausen. It was pretty tough. From a very young age, I enjoyed the stop motion creatures in his thrilling fantasy adventures. I honestly don’t know if I saw Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger on videocassette first or if it was a trip to the theater to see Clash of the Titans. All I know is that whatever the first film was, I was hooked forever after that.

It was a slow discovery of these films in my childhood. I remember seeing those two films very early on. Then followed by The 7thVoyage of Sinbad and The GoldenVoyage of Sinbad a few years later. It wasn’t until junior high that I actually saw Jason and the Argonauts. I know I saw Mysterious Island somewhere in there too. Probably around the time I discovered Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Most recently was the discovery of Harryhausen’s earlier work on films like Earth vs. Flying Saucers and 20 Million Miles to Earth. A few years ago TCM was showing some of his films and I caught those two movies. I was amazed how good the effects looked considering that I only knew of his work from the later fantasy flicks.

And you’re saying, that’s nice and all, but I’ve seen those flicks too.

I bet you have. The thing is, I have to credit Harryhausen’s work for getting me interested in writing. Yeah, you read that right.

He isn’t solely responsible. I have a lot of influences on my writing, and if you want to go back to the real impact, it was probably Star Wars that started my love for genre fiction. But Clash of the Titans in particular made such an impression on me, that I had to know more.

I’m not sure what lead me to find out that the story in Clash of the Titans was based on Greek mythology, but once I knew that – it was all over. I remember picking up books on the ancient heroes, monsters and gods from the library as often as I could. The adventures within blew my tiny mind away. And I continued my journey.

I started reading other mythology; Norse, African, Japanese and Native American stand out most vividly to me from that time. I found the stories endlessly creative and fascinating. As amazing as Clash of the Titans was, I ended up disappointed they didn’t follow the myth a bit closer.

The interest in mythology lead to an interest in storytelling. That lead right into an interest in writing fiction.

During my last revisit of some of these old movies, I began to wonder, what connected so strongly to me when I was a kid.  I really have to hand it to Harryhausen’s work. The creatures he created in those fantasy films really seemed to move, live and breathe on their own. Their strange movements added an additional feeling of the uncanny to them. That might be why I find Golden Voyage of Sinbad to be the most effective of the films. The creatures in that movie seem to exist in a dream world, where Sinbad and his crew must face these other worldly creatures. Many of them are creations by the sorcerer prince Koura (played with perfect menace by Tom Baker). Because they were created by magic, their unnatural movements aren’t distracting, but feel bizarrely realistic. As a child, watching these films, I felt as if I was immersed in a complete world (very similar to how I felt when watching Star Wars). That quality has always stood out in well made genre films.



And so I salute Ray Harryhausen, a pioneer in stop motion animation. I know his work will live on and I’m sure will inspire countless other children to make movies, animate characters or attempt to write a heroic adventure of their own.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Mission: Impossible III (2006)


Introduction:
Mission: Impossible II didn’t go down too well with most folks. John Woo’s style seemed at odds with the franchise and was too different from the twisty thriller that Brian Depalma delivered. It appeared the franchise was stalled. But Tom Cruise wasn’t about to let that happen. They brought in popular television director J. J. Abrams and gave him his first shot at a big budget motion picture. Was it worth the gamble?


Summary:
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is settling into a nice quite life with his fiancé Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Sure he stays in touch with his old pals at the MI office and does some teaching of new recruits. But he wants to leave that life behind. Which means he’s going to get pulled right back into it.

One of his former students, Agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) has been caught during an investigation of a powerful arms dealer Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Lindsey has vital information and Ethan is pulled in for one last job, to save Lindsey and find out what info she has. For this impossible mission he’s going to need the help of his old pal Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames reprising his role from the original film) and two new agents Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Lei (Maggie Q). But there’s a catch, Davian seems to be one step ahead of them, and he’s not going to allow any of Ethan’s missions, impossible or otherwise, to succeed.

Good Points:
  • Does a great job balancing thrills and action
  • Captures the intensity of the first film with some intense sequences
  • The story makes Ethan a bit more human 

Bad Points:
  • Some annoying overuse of shaky camera style
  • Seymour Hoffman seems a bit underused
  • Tom Cruise is playing Tom Cruise… again

Overall:
Abrams did a fine job with his first full-length movie, and a big budget star vehicle at that. The story has a bit more of a personal edge to it, allowing us to get to know Ethan a bit better, but Cruise is still Cruise no matter what the script says. Some of the actions scenes get a bit confusing with the camera work, and some of the dialogue scenes have the shaky-cam syndrome. But the pacing is pretty solid and Michael Giacchino’s score is a great mix of modern cool with the classic themes from the television series. The film takes itself deadly serious, and a little humor could have helped. An enjoyable thrill ride for weekend viewing.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 4
Acting: 3
Script: 4
Music: 4
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 3
Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review. 

Mission: Impossible Reviews

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Mission: Impossible (1996)


Introduction:
Although people like to complain how Hollywood has no new ideas these days, the problem was actually alive and well back in the 1990s. That was the decade that brought us films based on Saturday Night Live characters and The Beverly Hillbillies movie. But there was some good that came out of it. Tom Cruise wanted an action vehicle to star in and he picked the old 60s espionage series Mission: Impossible. It started a film franchise, but does the first film hold up?

Summary:
It was just an ordinary impossible mission for Jim Phelps (Jon Voight instead of Peter Graves in the role) and his crew. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is Phelps right hand man and leading the team in the field. But before you can say double-cross, everyone on the team is killed and Ethan is the prime suspect. With the rest of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) hunting him down, Ethan turns to a set of disavowed agents to help clear his name.

The cat and mouse game begins, as Ethan goes underground recruiting his new team, while dealing with an arms dealer, breaking into the IMF headquarters and getting in and out of all kinds of scrapes. Can Ethan trust anyone on his ragtag crew, or is this one Mission: Impossible that he won’t survive? The impressive cast includes: Emmanuelle Beart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave and Emiio Estevez.

Good Points:
  • A twisty story just made to build suspense
  • Solid casting helps the whole thing flow
  • De Palmas visual style is a perfect fit

Bad Points:
  • For some folks the story is a bit too twisty
  • Those looking for action will be disappointed
  • I didn’t need to see Jon Voight’s cheeks vibrating across my screen

Overall:
One of the many spy films of the 1990s, but one that holds up well to repeat watching. DePalma’s sure handed direction keeps the movie suspenseful and exciting. You can’t turn your brain off if you want to follow the plot, but it’s not nearly as complicated as some folks complained. Cruise makes the character of Hunt compelling and watchable. It’s easy to see why this launched a franchise.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 4
Acting: 4
Script: 4
Music: 4
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 4
Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review. 

Mission: Impossible Reviews