Country and Year: Japan (2004)
Director: Kazuaki Kiriya
Starring: Yusuke Iseya, Akira Terao, Toshiaki Karasawa, Kumiko Aso, cameo by Susumu Terajima

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars (good)

Casshern, a sci-fi epic set in an all-digital world, is a movie that has sparked a lot of disagreement. Some love it and think it represents a new breed of film. Some hate it and think it is a bloated abomination. I fall somewhere in between. On first viewing, I was completely caught up in the emotion and spectacle. On a second viewing, Casshern’s deep flaws became more apparent. Still, on balance I think the positive outweighs the negative, and that Casshern remains a fascinating precursor of things to come.

The premise - revolves around a series of father and son figures, and some twisty but not especially relevant politically intrigue - is fairly straightforward but bogs down frequently, despite archetypal characters and intense action sequences. Casshern is set in a future world where the Eastern Federation has conquered all of Asia except for a rebellious province. The brooding, angsty Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya) joins the army out of what appears to be spite and rebellion, leaving behind his somewhat narcotized fiancée Luna (Kumiko Aso). Meanwhile, his morally ambiguous scientist father Dr. Azuma (Akira Terao) collaborates with the military government and evil industrialist Naito (Mitsuhiro Oikawa) to produce clone body replacements for the elderly and the wounded, with the secret goal of curing Tetsuya’s angelic mother Midori (Kanako Higuchi).

Tetsuya is psychologically scarred in combat, and then dies violently. On the same day his body is returned, a bizarre accident brings Azuma’s creations to life. Dubbed the Neo-sapiens, these new organisms are instantly perceived as a threat by the government and viciously eradicated except for a small group that kidnaps Midori and flees to the mountains. Led by Brai (Toshiaki Karasawa), a manic figure thirsting for vengeance, they declare war on humankind, and prosecute it with a robot army that somebody conveniently left in a castle garage (seriously!).

Meanwhile, Tetsuya is brought back to life by the same technology, equipped with armor and equipment by Luna’s engineer father, and must confront both the Neo-sapien scourge and the duplicity and viciousness of his own government and father, including the Federation’s geriatric generalissimo Kamijo (Hideji Otaki), and his son (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is scheming to usurp his authority. Many fights and speeches, and much footage of the horror of war, ensue.

The above synopsis should give you some idea of the problems with Casshern. The movie is crawling with father figures, heavy-handed symbolism, and portentous speeches. Director Kiriya takes well over two hours to deliver one message: War Is Bad. At times, the lack of subtlety is almost unbearable – imagine if Hayao Miyazaki’s characters just stood around and talked about the environment for 10 minutes at a stretch. I’m generally more of a “director’s cut” kind of guy, but this is a movie that could happily be trimmed of a good 45 minutes. Considering how dynamic the film’s highlights are, the lugubrious pace of other scenes is even more egregious.

However, it is that dynamism, along with Casshern’s visual flair, that saves the film from being a pretty but dull misfire. Using every trick of the trade, Kiriya has constructed some of the most incredible action sequences I have ever seen. Casshern reaches its amazingly adrenaline-filled crescendo midway through the film in the confrontation between Tetsuya and Brai, where Tetsuya must use all his new found powers to tear through a huge army of automatons and, finally, to take Brai on hand-to-hand. This is the best adaptation of live action to the anime style that I have ever seen, and is accompanied by a superbly timed, surprisingly rock-oriented score that achieves a perfect mesh with the action. The film would be memorable for these 5 minutes if for nothing else, and I find myself replaying that scene on disc over and over.

The key is to approach Casshern as more of an opera than a traditional movie. Director Kiriya’s history in music videos is apparent in every minute of screentime. It’s rare that a scene goes by without music in the background - even during dialogue-heavy scenes the music is as much of a presence as the actors. While the score can get repetitive at times, it adds greatly to the atmosphere. The actors and actresses too perform in an operatic style. Every look and word is weighted with emotion.

Casshern is famously one of the first three live-action movies to consist entirely of a digital world. The variety and depth of the visuals is astounding. It ranges from the creation of a Blade Runner-esque rundown future world, to battles that mix old-school speed line-heavy anime with Matrix-style slo-mo effects, to propaganda-like cartoony images of robot armies that will recall Pink Floyd’s The Wall. While the CGI in some scenes may occasionally too closely resemble a video game, and the constant use of blurring and glare to add a dream-like feel to the proceedings sometimes grates, as with Sin City, you have to admire the successful creation of a distinct world whether you like the movie or not. With Casshern, Kiriya has proven himself a true visionary, creating a uniquely visual future as Ridley Scott and George Lucas did before him. Even the characters are designed to fit anime conventions –Tetsuya and Luna have a stretched, narrow look, and the Neo-Sapiens range from the silver-haired wild-eyed Brai to a cruel and feral female warrior.

Many complaints center on the fact that Casshern is not true to its roots as a fluffy, silly anime. This may be a legitimate reason for fans of the source material to avoid this adaptation, but I refuse to judge Casshern on its fidelity to the original. It is obvious that Kiriya had a very different vision. Complaints about the ponderous pacing and trite message, on the other hand, are fair. Casshern can’t resist including a lengthy (and tedious) pocket philosophical monologue at the end – something science-fiction anime fans will recognize as a staple of the genre. A streamlined Casshern would undoubtedly be superior. However, the joys of watching this unique world unfold, the pervasive atmospherics, and the thrills of the action scenes make up for those flaws.

Recommended? Yes, some will hate it but Casshern is undeniably an interesting and original film.

If you like this, you might like: Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Avalon, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Uzumaki, Cutie Honey

© David Austin