Review of Casshern (2004) by Andrew H — 05 Nov 2009

I've read a lot of the reviews for this film labeling it as "preachy" and I have to say that I don't believe an American audience can totally relate to what this movie is talking about.

War--sure, America has had it's fill of wars over it's history. But has anyone ever really invaded us? Have we ever had an atomic weapon used on us? No. There's a common theme I see in a lot of Japanese Art, Anime, and entertainment that approaches the subject of war with a very melancholic and serious study into it's nature.

Casshern is a film that follows this pattern, and while I can praise it for it's lush visuals, powerful and exciting action-scenes, I wasn't disappointed with it's overall message but with the inconsistencies of it's plot.

Also, the story moves just way too fast. I personally like a certain amount of logic and science in the films I see, I don't like a movie to insult my intelligence. So when something of major relevance in a movie is not explained (what the hell was the thunderbolt supposed to be? God? Aliens?) I generally am not pleased.

However, this is just a minor criticism to a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.