Review of Casshern (2004) by Louise P — 08 Jan 2008

There's a lot I'm going to forgive with this film. The near-Michael-Bay frenetic editing, the questionable plotting (though I'm assured the subtitling is particularly poor), the still-curiously-retro future we're made to believe, the fact that the entire last act has to be taken on faith before The Big Speech resolves everything; yep, there are flaws aplenty in this one. Make no mistake though, I love this film and they all make it that little more special (like Shatner's toupee).

From a purely superficial perspective, this film is visually awesome. Really awesome. Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T sort of awesome. While some elements might piss off the purists (the incessant grain, the bright faux-sheen, etc.) there's clearly a thematic thread which serves a greater purpose. Sadly, it's the story itself where everything really suffers - there are more than a few key moments where viewers will be left scratching their heads only to have things wrapped up conveniently in the final reel. While the film's conclusion more than sufficiently satisfies the aforementioned should really have been avoided.

I genuinely find this worthy of merit; flawed, but quite wonderful in its own way.