Casshern

I have just finished watching Casshern and overall it was a visually stunning feast for the eyes with a beautifully woven fairytale at its heart. Unfortunately the fairytale was somewhat drowned under layer upon layer of heavy handed and mostly unnecessary exposition that ponders on for two long and mind-numbing hours, the result being that I am baffled by the entire experience. On the one hand I loved the movie; the style of the film was exceptional, every aspect of the world the director had created strained with the quality that is lacking in most western films. The cinematography was perfectly executed, the design work was breathtaking and the idea at the core of the narrative was ingenious. On the other hand these qualities cannot make up for the script, which is overly long and excruciatingly convoluted; taking an unnecessarily long and ponderous route to a conclusion that, in the hands of a better writer, could have been much more straightforward without necessarily losing any of the emotional complexity of the narrative or its characters. I would recommend seeing this movie if just to experience the spectacular visual feast that it is, but I can't help thinking that the story could have been treated so much better.

After reading the comments on IMDb I was second guessing getting the DVD. It was getting average scores, and many complained about the lack of action. I actually went into this film expecting some nice effects and that's about it...

Luckily I was wrong. The story was actually pretty entertaining. There were a couple of minor points I would have liked more information on, but living in North America I'm used to brainless plots because of Hollywood. In the end I thought the story was more than acceptable, and shouldn't cause anyone to pass by this film. It was the best attempt (at least it my eyes) thus far in creating an Anime movie with real actors.

I've been an avid fan of Asian cinema for a little over eight years now. I've seen a lot of good films, and a lot of bad ones. This is one of the good ones, and I hope people take time to view this film.

It's really a shame that crap like Azumi can score a 7.5 or higher on here, and something as beautiful and jaw dropping as this gets a lower score.

Having received my copy of Casshern from CD-wow today,my thoughts were to hang on till the weekend to view this movie!But for some reason,my thoughts were telling me to watch it NOW,Tonight never mind the weekend and my god how right was i to trust them.I cant think of any film in my 20yrs+ of movie watching that has left me stunned and speechless!This is cinematic genius,and master-craft in narrative,visuals,soundtrack&meaning.From the CGI shots a plenty to the rounding up of the meaning using simple camera visuals,i simply cant recommend this film enough,my only gripe is that I know need to see this baby on the biggest screen possible.To all you film fans out there don't sell yourself short,leave everything behind and lose yourself in this film.This is for all you who believe,trust me!!!!

My goodness, I really don't know where to start with this film. It looked great in the trailers...

First off I understand what the filmmakers were trying to say - anti-war, anti-playing with genes, anti-lots of things, but unfortunately these intentions are marred by ponderous, drawn out and pretentious dialogue. Fair enough, a lot of Japanese movies (that I've seen) have a bit of this in it (along with those REALLY annoying unfinished sentences), but in this case it was so relentless that I almost cried from boredom.

From the marketing and the tag lines and the trailers I had expected a decent, fresh looking action flick but instead I got a somewhat political film that tried to make a point about human existence, and personally I don't believe that this is the right kind of movie to make this kind of statement. As I say, I get what they're trying to say, but I remain disappointed at the vehicle for it.

Other problems - things intercut and jump about so often that getting confused is far too easy. The music is also relentlessly playing ALL THE WAY through the film (save for a few pauses). Perhaps this might have been OK had it not been so repetitive in style. The film is also far too long. Considerable lack of character - all I remember after watching it are faces, no characters.

Good things - very new look for a start. The CG is used to great effect to construct the environment in this world although it can be a little overbearing at times. Regarding the action, when it gets going it really gets going (although this was far too infrequent for me). The point the movie is trying to make is also quite potent - it's probably better to watch it to get the point rather than me telling you, but it is quite an arduous task.

All in all - overlong, relentlessly pretentiously scripted, absent of character, gratingly scored yet with an interesting point to make and an original aesthetic to show off with all too sporadic action scenes which were, let's face it, what most of us came to the show to see after seeing trailers etc. I spent £7 on the DVD after waiting for ages for the price to come down, and personally I would like that £7 back.

6/10

Casshern sacrifices narrative continuity in favour of aesthetic grandeur. Kazuaki Kiriya made his feature debut with Casshern and had previously devoted his time to music videos, the influence was overbearing. Soundtrack motifs played in crescendo to action sequences throughout the film, intense colour and CGI made the film visually intense but shot to shot and scene to scene continuity suffered. I found it difficult to follow the story often lost in a mess of fragmented shots and incoherent animations. The plot itself was no linear transgression of events, the film resolves instead on a message rather than a resolution. Kiriya places emphasis upon metaphor rather than storytelling which is unusual. Hollywood fans like myself will probably find the film too messy to deal with, Casshern leaves many loose ends which some may find intriguing. Casshern does offer stunning visuals with big budget action sequences and fresh looking CGI. For die hard 'Art film' fans, the film was so enigmatic and metaphorical, fans of narrative cinema like myself may fall asleep!