jpikachu

I waited to see this movie for two years, and had almost given up hope... But it was more than worth the wait. The central storyline is quite tightly scripted, though using a few too many (and now inaccurate) time-travel cliches and occasionally tripping over itself with continuity. It's presented with a visual style that ranges from pulp SF to classical Japanese, and with character designs that are among the best ever used in a Japanese film. Christopher Franke's wonderful soundtrack alternates between dramatic, soft, and tearjerking. The excellently-cast voice acting is indicative of what Pioneer does best, with particular kudos to Grace Zandarski, whose voice does so much to emphasise her character's loveliness. The script, however, does have numerous problems, and tends to over-rely on certain characters arguing, which does get ludicrous after a while. Still, despite its flaws, this is a spectacular film.

Admittedly, the film may not possess quite the same panache as the original Stephen King novel. Some of the more high-brow elements have been replaced, turning it into an SF-style wrestling match. And after a while, it relies on this to keep it afloat. But, rather than rely on the novel's government conspiracy theory as its centre, it does a rather cynical take on media manipulation on the part of an insidiously fascist government... and it not only does it wittily, it also does it disturbingly well, with the schedule of propaganda and public execution in a convincing, and sometimes even blurred mix. And the media war that's fought between the government and the rag-tag radio shack of its resistance nemesis is far more amusing (and effective) than the government conspiracy that would be done to death in later years, and all wrapped up in a nice bittersweet action movie shell to boot. I'm no fan of King adaptations, but this is a good one.