Title: Casshern
Genre: Action/Drama
Director: Kiriya Kazuaki
Format: Movie; 141 minutes.
Dates: 24 Apr 2004

Synopsis: As a war rages on between the Greater Eastern Federation and Europa, a scientist named Azuma studies “neo-cells,” a breakthrough discovery that could save the human race, which has been ravaged by pollution, radiation and war. But then a mysterious accident occurs, and a new race of people are born from the neo-cells. Meanwhile, Azuma’s son Tetsuya is killed in the war, and Azuma conceives of a new, rather selfish use for the life-giving neo-cells. All of these events collide and spiral inevitably to a dark and violent conclusion.

The Highlights
Plot: Iffy at best.
Cinematography: Gorgeous and obviously high-budget.
Fight sequences: Confusing.
Characters: As self-destructive as moths circling a flame.

To be honest, Casshern completely surprised me. Throughout the beginning, I expected some kind of typical action flick, with lots of CG and a nice tidy ending. What I got instead was something much more. While the movie is flawed in a lot of ways, the emotional impact I felt upon finishing it was unexpected and profound. Casshern is no simple action flick designed to while away a summer night. Instead, it tackles questions like the purpose of war and of existence itself. While several of its plot points fail, Casshern’s unflinching look at the devastation of war greatly redeems it in my eyes.

Casshern has a lot of things going for it. The cinematography is fantastic. The use of color was inventive; vivid colors were the mainstay, starkly contrasting with scenes which are almost completely black and white. An interesting blur effect was often used, usually during the more emotional sections adding a dreamlike quality to these moments that heightened the feeling rather well. Several times, the angles used were also quite interesting and not what you might expect. The use of CG was relatively well-done; while it is blatant, most of the time it did not feel overly unnatural. In many ways, Casshern felt almost like an anime movie brought to life, particularly during the fight sequences and the scenes involving huge mecha.

One of the strongest elements in Casshern is the wonderful soundtrack, which features many gorgeous pieces of music and a score that really suits the contemplative nature of the movie. The soundtrack is wielded very well and even in unexpectedly moving ways. For example, Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” is played during a few key moments in the movie, running mournfully beneath scenes of criminal violence and death. This contrast between the visual violence and the aural eulogy makes these scenes painful to watch. The rest of the beautiful music is used in a similarly skillful way, augmenting without ruining the mood of a scene.

The characters are interesting and realistic in that there is no one true “bad guy” in this movie. Instead, everyone is battling everyone else, making them all antagonists. And they are all flawed; even the alleged protagonist, Tetsuya, perpetrated war crimes during the battle with Zone Seven. The only truly sympathetic characters are the neo-sapiens, whose decision to destroy humanity becomes understandable as the movie progresses. There is little in the way of true “humanity” in this gritty and violent film.

The message on war that is sent through Casshern is really nothing new, but it is intertwined so well through the struggles of the characters and instilled so perfectly into a monologue at the end of the movie that it feels reinvented and fresh. The end of the movie is the most meaningful section; it clearly ties up all the storylines of the different characters, whose backgrounds you might have wondered about, into a terribly depressing complete whole. With a sort of “home-movie” recap, we can see the characters as they were, rather than what they became throughout the course of the film, which only makes the events that unfold that much more terrible to remember.

Despite this, there are a number of huge flaws to Casshern. The largest of which is that several plot elements are never really explained. Early in the movie, a huge lightning bolt solidifies into stone in the middle of the city, but that’s apparently not even considered as an abnormal event, because there’s not a single word from any of the characters concerning what might have caused it. There are a number of implausible leaps in the story as well, made for convenience’s sake, such as Tetsuya miraculously travelling quite a distance somehow. This too is never explained. The mechanics behind much of the scientific elements in this film are never fleshed out enough to satisfy the logical mind. The ending, while gorgeous and very moving, is confusing. Much of the reason needed in an intelligent sci-fi movie was sacrificed for the sake of focusing on the emotions of the characters, and developing the oppressive atmosphere of the war-torn setting.

Another negative in this pseudo-action film are the action sequences themselves. The fight sequences are rather underwhelming. The first fight sequence of any importance is almost incomprehensible; when one of the characters is killed, it’s as much a shock to the audience as to the character. As the movie progresses, the fight sequences just get less and less important to the story. Although Tetsuya is intended to be a strong warrior, his fighting ability is directly proportional to plot necessity; after only one cool fight scene, he becomes almost impotent in his fighting ability. If you are looking for a film chock full of outstanding fight scenes, this is not the movie to turn to.

As a logical sci-fi movie, Casshern falls short; as an action film, it also fails. In the end, this movie is more about the pain of existence and the devastation that people can cause each other than the sci-fi action and cool special effects. As that kind of dramatic film, it surprised me with the poignancy of the emotion it expressed. With such a sharp disparity in the good elements and the bad, I had a difficult time choosing an appropriate rating for Casshern. After much consideration, I have docked points for the significant lack of plot explanation. However, I still highly recommend this visually unique and tragic film.

The Rating: 5