Monsutâzu

As usual I am not sure what I am getting into before I watched a movie. I thought it was a horror movie, especially when it credited Hideo Nakata as the director. Half-way through the movie, I began to think this could be the best sci-fi movie in 2014, at least the one from Asia.

The Good As usual, I began with the casts because it is half the reason we are watching a movie and the casts are what we see before we jump into the twist, the plot and the scenes. I must say, the casts are pretty good, especially the main protagonist and the main antagonist, especially the antagonist. It is almost they were successful in creating the Japanese version of Clark versus Luthor or Batman vs Joker, or in this case, Clark versus Joker. The antagonist might have learned a lot from Heath's Joker. The supporting casts are also pretty good, even the sissy guy added something to the movie.

The Bad As almost all Asian movies, we cannot expect stunning visual effects to wow us. But in this case, it also shows the specialty of Hideo Nakata in creating an atmosphere. If you are a sci-fi fan who takes stunning visual effect, then maybe you will find this movie below average.

Summary

You will see a lot of shoots of Akira book in this movie and this is exactly what this movie is. If you have read Akira, you can tell this movie is inspired by the book. Otherwise, better read the book. Thus, I do not agree with the other reviewer that said this is a remake of a Korean movie. This is clearly a remake of Akira and Hideo Nakata really wants us to know this. This movie also creates the exact feel of going through a live action manga: the expression, the scenes, even the set.

After finishing the movie, I am surprised by the lack of awareness for this movie. There was only one review for Monsterz. In short, it you like Akira, or scifi manga, this is a must watch.

I saw this at the Montreal Fantasia Festival. Before going in, I didn't realize that this was by the same director as the 2 Japanese "Ring" movies and the Japanese "Dark Water" or my expectations could have been too high. This is mostly a fantastical thriller with a little action. Not that much action since the antagonist often "freezes" people with his mind (think Professor Xavier in X-Men). In fact, this nameless man (I call him that way because it's a mystery) can control anyone he sees and make them do what he wants. Despite this amazing power, he seems not to abuse it too much (except to steal) and lives "outside" of society, isolated, with no friends. That is until he encounters by chance the one person he cannot control. His nemesis, the "hero" Shuichi, is initially unaware of this man and might have remained so if not for the nameless man trying to kill him (actually thought it was an accident at first) and later becoming obsessed with him. How could a man survive against someone who can have anyone else kill him? Well, there's more to the hero than just mind-control immunity.

We could only qualify the performance of the nameless man as intense, perhaps too much so. There was a cool, blue, swirling effect in his eyes when he used his power, but most of his emotions had to be conveyed silently. He was either extremely focused or what seemed to be terrible pain. I enjoyed his physical performance (he also limps) although his weird, child-like yet handsome face sometimes looked "constipated" provoking unintended laughter from the audience. The hero was more of an average, normal man, which was appropriate. Not a great performance, but OK. After a gripping intro in the childhood of the nameless man, there were a few very good moments where he froze lots of people, including the memorable end scene at a concert hall with people in danger of jumping down from balconies. How this was made was amazing. The scenes with less people (notably in the guitar repair shop) were less successful. Still, there was usually good dramatic tension because we often didn't know what the troubled nameless man might do and how the hero could possibly stop it. In fact, I liked the ambiguity of the nameless man very much although he did do terrible things. I kind of felt sorry for him sometimes.

The movie was perhaps at its best in the intimate scenes with his mother. In contrast, the scenes between the hero and the love interest didn't work for me and lacked chemistry. The worse thing though, and what turned a potentially very good thriller into something much less were the lame and "comic-relief" friends of the hero, including an effeminate gay caricature. Whenever they were around, they defused the suspense and turned the movie ridiculous. I understand the need for levity in such thrillers but this was too much. The scene with the friends at the sauna was particularly painful. Even when the friends weren't around, it seemed there was a fine line between dramatic suspense and campy ridicule that might be crossed depending on your level of tolerance. The "freezing" scenes were not done as well as X-Men or the TV show Heroes - it was obviously people standing still - but I think it was done as well as it could have been done. I liked how straining his powers seemed to really hurt the nameless man (rotting his parts black), but this was unfortunately forgotten in the denouement. Wasted opportunity if you ask me. Some have compared the movie to X-Men or Unbreakable, and there are a few elements of those, but Monsterz is weaker and not that similar. Do not expect actual monsters or creatures either, as the "monsterz" are metaphorical. I think it's worth watching provided you don't expect too much and don't mind too much the friends of the hero. You can't call it original either because it's a remake of a 2010 Korean film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 (good)