The Wicked City

I just watched the anime and live-action versions of "Wicked City" back-to-back, and find it almost impossible to believe that they were based upon the same source material.

The original, Japanese animated version of "Wicked City" was a wildly original blend of supernatural horror, film noir, and secret agent adventure. It's tale of humans and demons battling on earth was really compelling, thanks to some interesting characters (the MIB-like Black Guard) and visuals (a spider-woman assassin, demons whose severed body parts continue to do battle).

The Tsui Hark-produced live action version virtually jettisons everything plot-wise that the anime version built up. The setting is Hong Kong instead of Tokyo, instead of supernatural demons, the villains are alien "Reptoids" (whose origins remain murky). Whereas the anime version drew energy from the conflict/romance between the partnering of the male human agent and the female demon one, plus an impending showdown between the two worlds, the Hong Kong version is more like a modern mafia drama with its multi-leveled relations and betrayals, only that the mobsters are shape-shifting reptillian monsters.

The film begins promisingly enough with what initially promises to be a scene-by-scene recreation of the prostitute/spider woman attack that opens the animated version. Before the segment ends, you already get the sense that something is amiss.

A couple of other visuals are swiped from the animated version: the lead agent's big gun, the female reptoid has laser-like claws that pop out of her hand like the demon-world female agent in the anime.

After that, everything is different - the plotting, character dynamics, everything.

Judged on its own merits, "Wicked City" has some impressive (though low-budget) special effects, an interesting visual style and decent fight choreography. However, I would take the animated version over this film any day.

I loved the Japanese anime of this movie - saw it 15 years ago and loved it. Found this the live action version at a roadside VHS sale. I was so excited! Then I watched it and was disappointed at how BAD it was. Our jaws hit the floor when the guy was having sex w/the Pinball machine/lady. Gave it another chance and watched it with hubby, found new life as a comedy! Would make a great MST3K movie. I still own the VHS copy, wouldn't part with it for anything now. I definitely would still like to see a decent modern adaptation of this movie. The effects were so bad, I just couldn't get past was the scenes with the lasers(?)that looked like those glow necklaces from the Dollar Tree.

Mak Tai-kit co-directed this adaptation of the Japanese anime with Tsui Hark. This HK live version stars Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Michelle Reis as Taki, Ken and Windy, the characters from the anime whose names have been slightly changed as well as many other things, too. The anime has plenty of sex and nudity and this (of course) lacks all those elements and concentrates more on action filled mayhem. The plot is so confusing I don't even try to describe it, but it is about those reptoids who live "in peace" with humans and now someone is trying to destroy this peace and inhabit the world for reptoids only.

The action and mayhem-o-meter are as high as possible in this film. Still the story and plot are so hard to follow that it all looks little gratuitous, but maybe it is that way for Western eyes only. The cinematography and atmosphere created by blue and moody lightning is gorgeous and easily the greatest thing this film manages to give. The film bathes in this color and thus is very dark and takes place in night time only.

The film tries to say something about humans and our way of fighting and destroying everything and that is of course a positive point in a film like this, but still they don't concentrate too much on these deeper elements and they look little unconvincing. Also the fears of year 1997 (the film was made in 1992) when HK was given back to China are clearly visible and the film can be easily seen as a dark and pessimistic future vision of HK as well as the whole world of human beings. There is content but there is much more plain battles, shoot outs, chases and spectacular effects and monsters, which are really something rarely seen in Western films, but still they're miles away from those of the original Japanese anime, which I recommend very warmly for those interested after this film or in general.

I give this live version "just" 6/10 because of its mad and confusing elements and lack of any deeper meaning but still it is recommended for fans of fast paced Hong Kong action and fantasy cinema, but don't expect another Heroic Trio!

This movie just goes to prove that most anime or manga "A" titles do not translate well to live action. Taken from the Anime of the same title (or AKA Supernatural Beast City) by Kawajiri Yohiataki, it lacks the visceral punch of the original. I was sorely disappointed with the "soft-core" shots and "soft-core" action. It coulda been a contenda...

This film is a mess. No amount of suspension of disbelief will overcome the real world short comings. This is a special effects laden film, but the letter box format, ruins the impact by greatly reducing the size of the effects. Far worse is the use of a blue filter on many of scenes, which were shot entirely at night. Then, when the filter wasn't used, the backgrounds were in blue. Then, I guess for a diversion, some scenes used a bright red filter. I mean everything was red. Blue, red and dark. In conclusion, everything was difficult to see clearly, you had to use your imagination.

A foreign film has to be really good to gain acceptance from me. This film wasn't close. However, I am not meaning to put down people who like this sort of stuff. I am sure that this film does include elements that will be are greatly appreciated by some viewers. This is not a main stream film. Steer clear of this type of film-making.