Thoughts for: Tuesday 8th August 2006
Angels, Clones and Assassins :: [18:10:16]I've watched quite a few films in the last few days. Started off with Azumi and Azumi 2 on Sunday night. Both damn good films, I was very impressed and while the subject matter of a young girl killing machine who still possesses a modicum of innocence is cliche the films are filmed in very entertaining ways and possess enough action to make anyone happy. The character is compelling and the only real complaint to mention is weird camera angles at certain occasions. The villains are similarly compelling and the story overall presents a few interesting views upon life. If all of that isn't enough to catch your fancy then how about just watching it to see a small Japanese girl go ballistic with a katana and kill an entire town of evil doers and a horde of samurai? The plot revolves around Azumi, a young girl who has been orphaned by war and was along with 9 other children taken in by a great warrior who believed the only way to stop wars was via skilled assassination of key figures before they could incite war. To this end he trains his war orphans with all his skill to create potent killers. Of course things never go all that well and the group encounter problems. Watch it and see.
Next on the agenda we had Appleseed. A classic by most peoples standards and one of the first things to use cell shading with any measure of seriousness (in my mind). The plot is slightly odd but basically the world is at war and totally fucked over except for one city which has managed to escape the violence and function normally. This perfect city houses a mix of humans and synthetic humans who are monitored by a large computer network which controls their emotions and how they react so that a stable society can be born despite the violent nature of humans. The key character is a young woman referred to as the Goddess of War due to her unnatural ability in the field of battle. She is brought in from the outside warzone in order to deal with a potential war inside the city and has to work hard to cut through the layers of intrigue and politics to reach the right conclusion for all. Of course a fair amount of action is involved and it is done in a very stylish and skilled manner. Go watch it and enjoy, especially the cyborg that looks like a robot bunny.
The final film I got to cast my eyes over lately was The Prophecy. A fantastic movie with incredibly strong acting, a well thought out plot and intelligent use of concepts. The film follows a young man who becomes a homicide detective after failing to become a priest but soon finds himself investigating some very strange crimes. Unknown to him he has a murdered angel on his hands and is soon caught up in the middle of a war between the Angel Gabriel and those who would oppose him. Apparently Gabe is pissed that humans got a soul and thus became favoured in the eyes of god. Understandable really. He can win his war though by taking hold of a dark soul, a single soul from a human of such incredible darkness and evil and should not exist. This film sees Gabriel try and retrieve it and the detective and a young school teacher stand in his path. Christopher Walken gives a masterful performance and quite frankly should be worshipped. A certain other angel turns up in this movie who's appearances and portrayals I am always critical of, but this one is again very nicely done and I enjoyed it substantially. if you haven't seen this movie you should.
There are two more Prophecy movies, both of which I now own thanks to HMV's sale making the price shiny. I will watch them shortly and report on their likely awesomeness. Oh yeah and I have to watch Sahara or rather finish watching Sahara. I have tried twice now but was oddly distracted both times and finishing it never really happened.