Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2

It's better than I thought of this animation movie following the cult hit of the same name of 1981. Julie Strain is the muse that has inspired the animators for creating the heroine of this movie (and any film with Julie in it, even as a cartoon clone, is worth all of your time, trust me). The story is nothing particular, but it's fun to watch. There is also a very good heavy metal score that pervades the movie. Beware: it's bloody, politically uncorrect and with a few nude scenes. Another reason to watch it and enjoy.

When watching HEAVY METAL 2000, you have to forget the first film. The original HEAVY METAL was ground-breaking in its day. After all, very few animators ever tried directing animation towards adults (only Ralph Bakshi comes to mind)in the U.S.. Add to this the fact that the original HEAVY METAL was unavailable for nearly 20 years and you have a true cult classic. It is unfair to compare them.

On its own, HEAVY METAL 2000 is ok, neither good or bad. The animation is average and the story has very little in the way of originality. The voice acting is good, but at times over-the-top. Julie Strain, however, does a very good job voice acting. The film is very predictable and none of the characters are interesting. The background art is excellent.

The music is provided by various heavy metal bands, but little of it fits in the film. The score to the film, however, is better than you would expect.

This film has very little nudity and essentially no sex. What nudity it has is pretty bland. Admit it, you picked up this film looking for illustrated nudity. Well, you won't find much.

Since the original film, anime has made its presence known in the U.S.. Frankly, GHOST IN THE SHELL has more in common with HEAVY METAL (the magazine) than HEAVY METAL 2000 does.

The most serious problems with HEAVY METAL 2000 happened before the film was started. While I credit Kevin Eastman with getting this project going, I believe he lacked the experience to make a movie. If the film had the backing of an experienced producer, the film may have benefited. If Eastman ever considers another HEAVY METAL film, perhaps he should look to Japan for animators.

I've watched this film many times. Why?! Well for one thing, we just don't have very many animated films made in America that are directed to adults. There's a whole group of animation fans that are waiting for a HEAVY METAL film that rocks. Hopefully our wishes will be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, this film is just a rehash of the 1981 classic, particularly the last story about Tarna. (They even redid the whole "Swimming to get your battle armor" scene.)

Essentially, the plot is that a guy is infected by a glowing green evil that makes him into a homicidal maniac, seeking to destroy. In the process, they slaughter the heroine's community, and she goes on a quest to hunt down the raiders and avenge them.

Let's talk about sex. This film has a couple of nude shots where it looks like you are going to get some sex scenes, but then they pull out at the last minute. Coitus Interruptus! The 1981 original actually contained several graphic sex scenes. This film pulled out (pun intended) just in time.

Michael Ironside does a great job as the villain, exuding menace over his character's poor animation. But overall, it's barely worth watching...

I've read the posted comments at this site, and wow - people are really enjoying ripping this movie to pieces. I admit, it is not a great movie by any standard, and it certainly pales in comparison to 1981's original HM. First, it's too bad that it adapts only one story, and not a diverse selection of linked stories, from the pages of the comics. Second, there are no memorable characters here - no Den, no Harry Canyon. Third, this film lacks humor and it lacks tenderness (the surprising touches of softness helped give soul to the original). YET, the animation is dazzling with a lively combination of computerized and traditional techniques. The action scenes are very exciting. The women (though only two of them) are beautiful. The soundtrack is also excellent, tho, like the film as a whole, it is lacking in tenderness. Not a must-see, but not a disaster. 6/10

HM 2000 is a fairly good animated movie similar to TITAN A.E. I'm 35 and remember seeing the original HEAVY METAL in 81 and I have stacks of the magazines. I searched through pawn shops till I found a bootleg tape years before it was released. It's one of my favorites. At the theater where I used to work, HEAVY METAL was as popular as ROCKY HORROR at the midnight movies. I wouldn't want my children to watch it, as it was filled with sardonic humor, sarcasm, sex, drug use (nosedive!) and violence. I wouldn't mind my children watching HM2000 as it isn't much worse than what's on t.v. these days. And therein lies the rub, the magazine is not for all ages, and neither was the original movie. Granted, the story could have been a story in HM magazine and is, but the fans expected it to be more like the original. The Rerelease of the original was touted "louder and nastier than ever" and the fans flocked to see it, including a new generation of fans that had heard about the legendary film. The video tapes sold like hot cakes, nearly everyone I know owns a copy. Now supposedly, Kevin Eastman and associates had been working on the new movie for close to 8 years. It was chosen to be one story, instead of an anthology. That's fine if the consensus is that the story is fantastic. Unlike the original, they didn't pick the best stories from the magazine and then bring them to life. Eastman decided it would be cool to use his wife, the beautiful model and actress, Julie Strain as the model for the lead character. Cool, so far so good. Hype showed Julie in skimpy costumes wielding huge swords and submachine guns. Royo and Bisley had done numerous paintings of this Xena, Red Sonja, and Rambo all rolled into one, bad-ass warrior woman. Obviously, she was to be bigger and tougher than Taarna from the original. From Bisley's MELTING POT, the comic on which it was loosely based, one would expect massive battle fields with hand to hand combat, something like the fighting in GLADIATOR, THE 13th WARRIOR, BRAVEHEART, or SOLDIER only nastier and meaner. One would have expected villains unrivaled in their cruelty and violence, villains so vile that your blood pressure would have risen whenever they were on screen. To balance this one would expect lots of humor to flavor the story. The best movies are filled with humor even if the movie is fairly serious like AMERICAN BEAUTY or SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. One would have expected lots of black humor, wise cracks and humorous situations. After all, they had 20 years to come up with a great story and a library of over 100 issues of HM that they had the legal right to use. One would have expected hot, sexy, little honeys that would have made you wish you were a cartoon, Julie Strain had done raunchy adult layouts for Earl Miller that were published in PENTHOUSE wearing the FAKK2 outfit. You would have expected this to have been one bloody, raunchy, sexy movie with a HEAVY METAL soundtrack. Would you go to a movie entitled HEAVY METAL to hear Rap or New Age or Grindcore or any other kind of music. I thought not. It does not suck because it is a bad movie, it is a relatively o.k. movie. It sucks because of what it could have been. Lastly, the decision to go cable t.v. first and then straight to video was noble, because they realized the fans would be disappointed, but stupid. We wanted to see it on the big screen. It would have earned 100 million easy. I know you don't believe me but there are LOTS of Heavy Metal fans out here and it would have. You literally threw MILLIONS of dollars away and the fans would have liked the opportunity to have seen it on the big screen even if it sucked. I know I would have and I would have been first in line for the first screening and paid my 6 bucks and all of that. My suggestion is to redeem yourselves by making a BADASS Heavy Metal 3 and go all digital, it's easier and it looks better.