Reaction & Review | Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 1995. That movie is "Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure".

Now, I want to start by saying that I got into "Lupin the 3rd" when "Lupin the 3rd: Part IV" first aired on Toonami a few years ago. I watched that series from start to finish and I loved it. I really enjoyed that show, even though the last arc was a bit weak. And then later on, Toonami aired "Lupin the 3rd: Part V", and I really enjoyed that, too. Again, minus the last arc where it tried way too hard to be dark. But overall, I enjoy the "Lupin the 3rd" series as a whole. And since watching part's 4 and 5, I was able to find a scant few episodes of "Lupin the 3rd: Part 2" that are available on TMS's YouTube channel. TMS, for those unaware, are responsible for creating some of the most memorable cartoon shows for children such as "Batman: The Animated Series", "Animaniacs", "Sonic X", and many other shows and movies that are too many to count.

I also know that they have made many TV shows and movies involving "Lupin the 3rd". Tonight's movie is one of those, as well. Now, I have seen only one movie with Lupin's name on it. That movie being "The Castle of Cagliostro", which I thought was an amazing movie. And similar to the two television series I watched on Toonami, I've always wanted to watch more movies involving Lupin. And tonight, I finally get my chance. Now, as for this movie, the only thing I know about it is it's basic plot, where Lupin and the gang are after a treasure that is worth 8 billion dollars. And that's totally fine, because that's really all you need for a plot involving "Lupin the 3rd".

I really want this thing to be as good, if not better than "The Castle of Cagliostro". But the only way I'm gonna know how good this movie can possibly be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure".

4 minutes later

Well, guys...I just saw Goemon being a badass as he cut the ice underneath all of the police cars, which caused them all to drown. That was certainly awesome.

1 minute later

Oh, and by the way, one thing that's always been consistent with "Lupin the 3rd" is that the music, including this movie, is amazing. I think I'm really going to enjoy this movie, guys.

11 minutes later

OK, I have a bit of a stupid question here. So Archer has this picture of the three statues that leads to Harimao's treasure. Which, in turn, would help him pay off his 7 billion pound debt. Does he always carry that picture of the three statues with him, on the off chance that something might go wrong? Is that always just like a last resort for him in case he needs to pay off a huge debt? I totally understand that what I'm asking is trivial, and stupid, but I just felt like asking, you know?

15 minutes later

OK, I know this is a trivial thing to be bitching about, but I keep hearing Lupin's name being pronounced as Lu-pen. And I know that's how it isn't pronounced, because it's always been pronounced as Lu-pon. At least, that's what I've always been hearing since I started watching "Lupin the 3rd." Again, guys, I totally get that it's a trivial thing to be bitching about, and, so far, the movie's been really good, but the pronunciation of Lupin's name in this thing has just been bugging me slightly. Just thought I'd share that with you guys.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I just noticed this. Lupin, in this movie, is written a lot more as a womanizing thief than he usually is. It's not really a negative on the character itself, but I was not expecting Lupin to be this much of a womanizer, you know?

9 minutes later

So the way that Lupin, and the others, got passed this checkpoint was to hand out magazines that feature nude women on the front cover to the Russian soldiers. At least, I think they're Russian. I could be totally wrong about their accents. I will say it was an effective plan. I, myself, would've never came up with that idea. But hey, at least it worked.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Well, I can definitely say that the movie is really solid. Now, do I think it's as good as "The Castle of Cagliostro"? No. This thing is nowhere near as good as "The Castle of Cagliostro". That's because "The Castle of Cagliostro" was written a tad better. And because I really liked that movie so much, this movie would have to go out of it's way to try and be as good as that movie. But rather than me gushing about how good "The Castle of Cagliostro" was, let's talk about this movie. Let's talk about "The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure".

The writing here is really strong, for the most part. Because a lot of it is what you would expect when you're working with a story involving "Lupin the 3rd." It's, mostly, a light-hearted comedy/action movie. In fact, I think it's one of the better light-hearted comedy/action movies that I have seen in a long time. One of the reasons why it works is because of it's tone. Because, for the most part, it doesn't take itself too seriously. And that's one of the biggest issues I had when I was watching "Lupin the 3rd: Part V" is that the final arc for that series, and I'm not gonna spoil what that arc was about, but it focused itself on just becoming darker with it's tone for each episode. And it really took me out of it, because while "Lupin the 3rd" does have it's dark moments, it doesn't overshadow everything else with what it was originally suppose to be. And this movie was able to show you that you don't need to become dark for the sake of being dark. It does have one dark moment in the movie, and that's towards end of the film, but it was still able to keep itself within it's light-hearted tone throughout most of the movie.

As for the story itself, we have this 8 billion dollar treasure known as Harimao's treasure. And the reason why it's so important is because Archer is close to being bankrupt. And the reason why is because a monorail train underground, that belonged to Archer, gets destroyed, and tons of people were killed in it. And even with his massive fortune, he's not able to pay it off. Except, he offers a solution by searching for Harimao's treasure, which conveniently, has more than enough to pay off his debt. And because it's a movie involving Lupin, he's also after the treasure because...well, that's his nature as a thief to steal it. However, later on in the film, he, his comrade Jigen, and Archer, end up working together so that they can split the treasure 70%/30% once they uncover it. Now, because this is a movie involving "Lupin the 3rd", we have a bunch of recurring characters such as Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon. We also have Fujiko, who is Lupin's love interest. Except, in this movie, he doesn't really focus his attention much on Fujiko. That would go to Diana, who is Archer's granddaughter. I'll get more into that a bit. And then we have Detective Zenigata, who's sole purpose is catching and arresting Lupin. However, in this movie, Zenigata is completely wasted here. Because when he's not trying to catch Lupin, he's more focused on trying to cook noodles. And that happens a few times throughout the movie. The only time that he plays any kind of important role is when he finds one of the statues that is responsible for unlocking Harimao's treasure, and he uses it as a way to cover the noodles that he's trying to cook. And he really doesn't play that much of a role once the statue is taken away from him, and just ends up being a comic relief character. And, to me, that just comes off as a bit lazy. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say that none of it is terrible, but it sort of makes Zenigata look like an afterthought, and he's only in the movie for the sake of being in the movie.

So, beyond Zenigata's role in the film, I do have a couple of gripes when it comes to the writing in this movie. And both of those gripes involve Lupin himself. The first one has to do with how Lupin's name is pronounced. Throughout the entire movie, Lupin is pronounced as Lu-pen. And that kinda bothered me throughout, like, the first half of the movie, because I know that the character's name is pronounced Lu-pon. And for whatever reason, at no time, does this movie ever pronounce his name as Lu-pon. And this is kind of important because I happen to remember watching Lupin the 3rd: Part's IV and Part V on Toonami, and I always remembered his name being pronounced as Lu-pon. Hell, even when I watched "The Castle of Cagliostro", they even pronounced his name as Lu-pon. I don't know why this movie decided to pronounce his name as Lu-pen. It just doesn't sound right, to me. Now, I don't know if this was an issue with the dub, or if that's how Funimation, the company that dubbed this movie, thought that's how his name was pronounced. But, either way, it just seemed really off to me because I've been hearing how Lupin's named was pronounced for so long, that just hearing it being pronounced as Lu-pen, was kinda, sorta, bugging me throughout most of the movie. Now admittedly, I did get use to it as the movie went on, but still, it was something that I felt needed to be brought up. The other issue involving Lupin has to do with his characterization in this movie. Now, for about 95% of the film, his character is written like how he mostly is. However, the other 5% is a little bit off-putting, and this is going to involve the character of Diana. In almost every scene in this movie where Lupin and Diana share screen-time together, Lupin is hitting on Diana. Now, that doesn't really bother me, because I have seen moments in Part's IV and Part V where he's hitting on other women in those series. However, in this movie, Lupin does this a little too much. And it gets to a point where it becomes really old, really quick. In fact, I haven't seen womanizing done this much since I watched "City Hunter" back during "Tales of the Longbox". The thing about that is that "City Hunter" was self aware of what it was trying to be. In this movie, when Lupin is hitting on Diana, it's done so much that, not only does it get old, but it kinda makes Lupin a little bit unlikable. And I'd never thought I would say that about a movie involving "Lupin the 3rd". Now before anyone gets the idea, I am not a feminist. Never have been. Never will be. I'm just saying that the movie could've dialed it back a bit with it's constant running joke of Lupin hitting on Archer's granddaughter.

Now beyond those minor issues, the writing here is still really good. And you're going to be sucked into this movie because of it's well written humor and awesome-looking action scenes. Now, with all that said, let's get to the acting. I opted to watch the English dub for this movie. And, for the most part, the acting in this dub is really solid. But then again, this movie was dubbed by Funimation. And Funimation usually does a really good job with it's casting choices. I do, however, need to comment on one particular voice actress. And it's whoever voiced Diana. Because, Diana is suppose to be supporting a British accent. Yet, at times, it seems as though her accent keeps disappearing. So you would have a few moments where you will either hear a normal English accent, or you will hear her British accent. Now, it's not too noticeable, because the actress was able to keep it consistent throughout most of movie, but it is sort of noticeable with the few times that her British accent wants to disappear on her. There are also a few extras that put on some noticeable fake British accents, but, as I said, they're mostly extras like random people in a large crowd. And since they're barely in the movie, it's not going to pull you out of the film, unless you're some weirdo who demands that people have the correct accents for certain characters. Overall, guys, the acting in this dub is really solid. Granted, I still wish they pronounced Lupin's name correctly, but again, it's a trivial thing to be bitching about, so I'm just gonna leave it as is.

Animation in this movie is great. But again, this is from TMS. And TMS usually does some great animation, aside from that god awful "Hunchback of Notre Dame" sequel. The art style is reminiscent to what you would see if you watched "Lupin the 3rd: Part IV" and Part V. It's not as clean-looking as those shows are, but it's still really solid for mid 90's hand-drawn animation. So overall, guys, the animation is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, highlight of this movie.

Sound-mix here is really good. The music is great. The score in this movie was composed by Yuji Ohno, who has done a ton of music work for "Lupin the 3rd". And it fits the tone with this movie. There's one particular moment, however, that kinda made me smile when came to the music. It's during one of the early scenes of the movie as Archer is showing Fujiko his life's work as a former thief. And in one particular moment, there is a piece of music that plays that is a dead on soundalike of the 007 theme song. And it is one of the best soundalikes to the 007 theme that you will hear in a long time. I understand that it is a minor thing, but that one moment made me giddy, because I am a huge fan of James Bond. And just hearing that soundalike made that whole scene even better. In fact, I remember reading a blurb on the back of the DVD case where it says "Lupin even out-Bonds James Bond himself when it comes to action, intrigue, and all-around coolness." And that blurb was from Anime Invasion. And while I, personally, wouldn't go that far, it certainly can be seen that way to others. In fact, if you are a fan of the James Bond movies, I think this movie would be perfect, if you're looking for a really good action movie to watch.

On that note, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure"? Oh, definitely. This movie is awesome. As I said, if you're looking for a solid action movie, then this movie will be right up your alley. If you're a fan of "Lupin the 3rd", I would instantly recommend it, provided you haven't seen it yet. However...could I recommend this as your first experience with "Lupin the 3rd"? I'm not totally sure. Because, as I mentioned before when I talked about Lupin's characterization in this movie, it could be seen as a bit distracting, and some would think that this is how the character of Lupin is like. However, I assure you that it isn't, and I can attest to that. If you want to start with anything involving "Lupin the 3rd", I would, personally, say start with "Lupin the 3rd: Part IV". Or if you want to start with something earlier, you can find episodes of "Lupin the 3rd: Part 2" on TMS's YouTube channel. Or, if you're looking for a Lupin movie to start out with, the best I could recommend is "The Castle of Cagliostro", because it was the first film involving Lupin that I did see. Speaking of which, I'm probably gonna go watch "The Castle of Cagliostro" as soon as I'm done putting this review together. And as for this movie, not only is it going to have a happy spot on my DVD shelf, but it makes me even more interested to watch more films with "Lupin the 3rd". But for now, I'm just gonna go re-watch "The Castle of Cagliostro", because I love that movie so much.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Shock Labyrinth

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a Japanese horror movie from 2009. That movie is "Shock Labyrinth". Or "The Shock Labyrinth". It's a little bit unclear as to whether or not there is a 'the' in the front of the title. But since my copy doesn't have the word 'the' in it's title, I'm going to refer to it as "Shock Labyrinth".

Now, I can tell you that this movie was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also directed "The Grudge" and the "The Grudge 2". And I would've not known that if I didn't decide to read the blurb on the back of the DVD case. For the record, I have not seen any of "The Grudge" movies. I'm not totally sure if I even want to watch those movies, but for now, I'm just gonna focus on this movie.

Essentially, what the movie is about is a group of childhood friends bring their friend, Yuki, to a hospital, after she gets a panic attack from seeing a toy rabbit. I'm not totally sure how a toy rabbit can do that to somebody, but I'll find out the context to it eventually. And then they find out that the hospital is haunted and Yuki disappears, somehow. So they gotta find her, while navigating through a haunted hospital. And that sounds kinda interesting. I don't know if the movie will make this premise work, but I am certainly hoping for the best on that.

I'm also hoping that this movie will be better than the last Japanese horror movie that I watched, which was "The Neighbor No. 13". And we all know how much I despised "The Neighbor No. 13". So I'm hoping that this movie doesn't tread the path of where that movie ended up. But the only way gonna to find out how good or bad this movie can possibly be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Shock Labyrinth."

15 minutes later

OK, I know this is still early for me to be asking this, but are we going to get an explanation about these visions that Ken's been having about Yuki and these flight of stairs? Or how, apparently, Rin has Superman's X-Ray vision powers when her eyes bug out of her head? Again, I totally understand it's very early in the movie, and there's plenty of time for the movie to explain all this, but I am rather curious.

10 minutes later

Wait a minute. So, we just saw Yuki run away as soon as Motoki shows up seconds later. Rather than noticing Yuki run away down the hall as soon as he showed up, he asks where Yuki is? How the fuck did he not see her run as soon as he showed up?! Either he's more blind than Rin, or the person who wrote this thinks the viewer would not catch this shit? I'm sorry, guys, but that kinda bothered me slightly.

11 minutes later

OK, I have a bit of a stupid question that I'm probably not going to get an answer to. So, we're seeing a flashback to when our main characters were children. One of them decides to go to the Shock Labyrinth, which is this haunted house of horrors, even though they're not old enough to go into this haunted house. My question is where the fuck are their parents? Why aren't these kids under parental supervision? Why is it that Yuki, who looks no different here in the 10 years she's disappeared, is the only one who's looking after these children? I totally understand that most of it sounds, and stupid, but it's these kinds of questions that bother me a bit, you know?

13 minutes later

So...the blind girl is now dead. And I probably would care if her death had any impact, but honestly...I don't. Yeah...this movie's starting to become a little bit dull, guys.

14 minutes later

OK, guys, two things. One, this song, I guess, is getting rather annoying. And two, the CG in this movie is fucking awful. I really want something interesting to happen within the next half hour or so, but right now, those hopes are fading pretty fast.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Shock Labyrinth"...dear god, that was "Shock Labyrinth". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Where to start? I'm not going to spoil the ending, on the off chance you want to go and see this movie for yourself. I will say that the ending fucking sucks. It was building up to something that would be deemed as interesting. But it failed at being interesting because of that awful fucking twist. Mind you, the movie is not that interesting or scary. I'll get to that in a moment. But the ending was sort of building up to something halfway interesting, up until that twist happened, where it destroys any impact on what this movie wanted to accomplish.

Now, setting aside that awful ending, let's talk about the writing. I can only talk about the writing so much without going into heavy spoilers, but I will say that it had a lot of promise. Because, as I mentioned before, it involves our five main characters. And one of them, Yuki, ends up turning alive, after being left dead, supposedly, at this haunted house of horrors, otherwise known as the Shock Labyrinth, if you will. And because of her sudden reappearance, they try to figure out how she's still alive, or if it's even Yuki at all. And after Yuki ends up being at Rin's house, she's starting to get acquainted with her past memories of her room. And then she sees her toy rabbit, which is what triggers an entire chain of events as Yuki starts panicking and suddenly falls down the stairs, where she ends up unconscious. They then decide, rather than going to the police by Miyu's suggestion, they end up bringing her to the hospital. And it's where everything starts to become haunted, because there's no one there and Yuki ends up running off, so they end up trying to find her. Along the way, we get a ton of flashbacks, where it connects to how Yuki disappeared and how our main characters interact with these events with their past selves from 10 years ago. And I will say, again, that this story could've been interesting, had some of this stuff made any sense. And perhaps if I cared enough to watch this movie a second time, I probably would end up noticing things that I might not have noticed on my first viewing. But because of that awful twist, any chance of me watching this film again was completely shot down because of how terribly handled that ending was.

While I can't really talk too much about the writing, I can talk about the characters. The characters are not all that developed well, with the one lone exception being Miyu, who is Yuki's sister. Miyu was horribly jealous of Yuki when they were children, and Yuki was always considered as the perfect child. And anything that Miyu did, Yuki would let her do as she pleases, which always ends up with Miyu being in trouble. And because of what happened to Miyu, she wanted her sister to die for it. And you do kinda feel for her, because of all that Miyu had to go through with her sister. As for the other main characters, I could barely tell you anything interesting about them. We have Rin, who is blind, and has somewhat of a love interest for Mitoko. Oh, and she also has Superman's X-Ray vision for some reason, where she was able to use it when Yuki was at the door of her apartment, and she uses it when her eyes bug out rather creepily. We never get an explanation as to how she's able to do this, or how before she's killed, she's able to see one of our main characters with her normal eyes. It probably would've helped out her character immensely, if we had gotten an explanation as to how she's able to use these "powers". And I understand that it's probably something else, but that's what I'm going to stick by. But we don't get that, and it made her character kinda pointless. Now I mentioned Mitoko, and how she had a love interest for him. Mitoko, as far as I know, did not have any kind of personality to speak of. And I couldn't tell you a single memorable thing he did that would warrant me even talking about. We also have Ken, who would've been interesting, had he not kept bringing up the idea of what happened to Yuki was his fault. And to a certain extent, it was his fault. But again, I'm not going to spoil how, otherwise, it would result in me talking about that horrendous twist at the end. And then we have Yuki, who is the center of this whole movie, and she's the connection with how our main characters interact with the events of what happened to her at the haunted house. And I will say that she is the only other interesting character in this movie. So, outside of two characters, I could really not care about anyone else in this movie, and the writing kinda solidified that by making these characters rather shallow and empty.

Now, because this film is advertised as a horror movie, how well does the horror aspect hold? Honestly, not really all that well. Now, this is partially because, I have been watching quite a number of horror movies within the last few number of years. So, at this point, I have been conditioned enough to not let any of this scare me. But setting aside my personal aspects with horror movies, this movie is not scary at all. Now, it's not impossible that you could get creeped out by some of the images in this movie, but this movie, ultimately, is not scary in the slightest. And what few attempts at jump scares are in this movie are not that interesting or scary. I'm actually kinda surprised by that, because in many horror movies, specifically American horror movies, they would attempt this shit constantly, because that's what they think constitutes as scary to viewers. So I have to give this movie a little credit in where it doesn't try too hard to go for the obvious jump scares. But like I said, it's still not scary. It's kinda creepy, at times, but not enough to where you will be scared by anything in this movie, including the toy rabbit. And I'm gonna jump ship to special effects. Normally, I talk about the acting after I'm done discussing writing, but I really need to talk about the special effects in this movie, because they are a ridiculously mixed bag. I will start by saying that the practical effects are pretty good. I'm talking about stuff involving makeup effects, the animatronics on the mannequins, and what little practical blood is used here. All of that stuff looks fine. And then we get to the CG, which, as I stated before, looks awful. This movie came out in 2009. And the CG in this thing would've looked awful if this movie came out in 1999, that's how bad the CG is in this movie. Two examples I can think of are when our main characters see Yuki running down a hallway. And I'm not talking about when they first get to the hospital where Yuki first runs off. The point I'm talking about happens later on in the movie. So, they see Yuki running down a dark hallway, and as Yuki is running, her face slowly turns around, except it looks like Yuki's face was chroma-keyed into the shot, and really poorly chroma-keyed, too. It looked so awful, that it actually ruined the scene, and took me out of the movie quite a bit. Another example of poorly done CG is when one of our main characters gets killed off, and I'm not talking about Rin, just in case you're wondering. And there's water droplets that looks to be like rain, except the rain droplets are done in CG. How bad is it? Well, when our one of our main characters die, you don't get to see the rain water make impact on the clothes. Instead you just get to see stains pop up, and it looks really lazy, and poorly done. Which really begs the question on why they couldn't use practical water? I mean, it couldn't have cost that much to use practical water for this scene, right? Now, most people are going to notice that one as a minor problem, and you would have to actively look for that one if you were watching the movie like I was. Going back to the toy rabbit for a moment, there are also moments where the toy rabbit is in CG, and in the few instances when it appears in CG, it looks terribly done. And it really showcases how awful the CG is in this movie. So overall, I can say the special effects, when it comes to CG, is terrible across the board. And it really overlaps the good practical effects that are used in this movie.

Now, let's get to the acting. There is no English dub for this movie, so I do have to warn those who prefer dubs, you're probably going to want to avoid this movie, if you're not interested in reading subtitles. Now, I will say that, even though the writing is a jumbled mess, and the characters mostly suck, the acting was pretty good. Nobody in this movie, as far I know, turned in anything that I would say was a bad showing. And I'm even including the few child actors that are in this movie. Which is astonishing, because a majority of child actors are terrible by default. Now admittedly, I haven't listened to a ton of Japanese child actors, so I can't gauge it as well with the adult Japanese actors, but from what I heard in this movie, they do turn in a decent showing. So, I can give props to them for turning a performance that would mostly be seen as terrible. And as I said, everyone else turned a rather good showing, especially the script that was given to them.

Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting, however, I do need to talk about. And I don't get a ton of chances to talk about lighting in movies, but this movie is an exception. Because there are a few instances where we will get flashbacks, and the lighting is so bright in most of these flashbacks that I was almost having a hard time trying to see what was going on. I'm talking about flashbacks involving when our main characters were at the fair, and when Ken was seen at the hospital as a kid, and the flashbacks were so brightly lit during these scenes, that the people in charge of the lighting could've toned it down during these flashbacks. Now barring the few instances of bright lighting during flashbacks, the lighting for everything else is OK. Sound-mix is mixed well. The music is kind of an odd one. I say that because there are a few moments, during the latter half of the movie, where I would hear music that reminds me quite a bit from, of all things, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". For those who haven't played "Twilight Princess", in the early portions of the game, you would enter the Twilight Realm, and would hear music that would sound very similar to what you would hear in horror movies, such as this one. Because that's where I got most of those vibes, when listening to that part of the score. Now, mind you, the score, as a whole, is serviceable. But those few moments where the latter half of the movie's score reminds me of a Zelda game's soundtrack kinda caught me off guard slightly. So I will say the music here is decent.

So, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Shock Labyrinth"? Um...if you're into horror movies, then maybe you'll find something more out of it than I did. And you would have to get through the bullshit twist ending as well. Personally, I would say just skip it. This movie kinda sucked. Now I will say that it is far better than "The Neighbor No. 13.". However, that's not saying a whole lot. And considering that this was from the director of "The Grudge" movies, I'm probably just going to skip those movies, because if this film is anything like those movies, then I don't think I'm missing anything of value there. Now...I think I'm gonna go watch a better horror movie. And I see my copy of "Repo! The Genetic Opera" sitting on my DVD shelf. I'm gonna go watch that, because it's been a while since I last seen it. And as for this movie...well, it left a rather bad taste in my mouth, especially that fucking ending.

Anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | The Ninja Mission

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a Swedish action movie from 1984. That movie is "The Ninja Mission".

Now, I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I don't really know a whole lot about this movie. But judging by the title, I'm gonna be taking an educated guess here and say that the movie has something to do with ninjas, and that they're on a mission of sorts. Or there is a mission involving ninjas. I'm not totally sure which at this moment, but I am going to find out soon enough. I also know that this movie has spawned several sequels...sort of. I'm gonna get more into that when I cover one of those supposed sequels next month.

I can also tell you a little bit about the person who made this movie. And he goes by the name of Mats Helge Olsson. And from what little information I was able to find, apparently, he is known for making cheeseball style action movies that were suppose to resemble American-made action movies. I don't know how that's going to bode well for me, personally, but I am rather curious to see how an action movie from Sweden can do when trying to be like the action movies that were made in the U.S. Also, I think this is the first time, in this series, that I'm covering a movie from Sweden. I could be totally wrong on that, but I am pretty sure that it's accurate.

I really don't know if this thing is going to be any good. But I am hoping for the movie to, at least, be entertaining. And the only way I'm gonna find out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Ninja Mission".

10 minutes later

My god...the acting in this movie is fucking terrible. I understand it's still early, but if this is the kinda acting that I have to get use to for the next 90 minutes or so, then I fear it might be torturous.

6 minutes later

OK, I've never seen someone shoot a dart from their elbow before. Especially since it was covered from that guy's coat. That is sort of unique, I gotta admit that.

18 minutes later

So, guys, I'm gonna ask this. Is ANYTHING interesting gonna happen in this movie? Because we are over a half an hour into this thing, and I have been struggling to stay the fuck awake. I'm genuinely hoping that the next hour is going to get better, but right now, this movie is boring as shit, guys.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I understand that this is suppose to be a touching moment where both father and daughter are meeting for the first time. And I probably would care if these characters had some level of depth, but no. I just can't bring myself to care.

2 minutes later

OK, this has been bothering me since I started watching this thing. Why is it that certain handguns have these laser sounds every time someone shoots with them? It doesn't really make any sense, especially considering that other weapons, such as the machine gun I'm seeing right now, sounds like what an actual machine gun should sound like. I understand that I might be asking a trivial question, but it's these kinda details that really bother me a bit, you know?

19 minutes later

And the scientist is now dead. Again, I would probably care about his death, but you know what? I don't. At this point, I only care about the movie ending. Thankfully, there's about 23 minutes left in the movie, so the closer this thing gets to the end, the happier I will be.

The Review

Thank Christ, this piece of shit is done. Well, guys, that was "The Ninja Mission". Let me shut that crap off...OK. Holy shit, was that ever boring. Now, let's see if I can talk about this thing, shall we?

The first thing I need to talk about is what I mentioned at the start of this thing. And that is that Mats Helge Olsson was known for making cheesy action films that were suppose to resemble American-made action movies. And, for the most part, it does kinda live up to that standard. However, this is where we run into a problem. This movie almost relies on nothing, except action scenes. And I totally understand that there are those who are probably going to enjoy this kind of thing in their action movies. Now, before I continue, I need to stress that this was released in 1984. And the reason why I bring this up is because I haven't seen a lot of action movies that came out in the 80's. The closest ones I could think of are the latter two Dirty Harry movies, and "Lone Wolf McQuade", which I covered for this series. The difference between those movies and this one is that, those movies had some level of story. Even "Lone Wolf McQuade" had more of a plot than this movie did. Which is saying a lot, because "Lone Wolf McQuade" didn't really have any kind of plot to speak of. This movie, on the other hand, doesn't even try to go for some kind of story that would, in some way, be partially interesting. In fact, I guarantee you that even people who don't care about plot in action movies are going to find this thing boring as shit, because it relies far too heavily on action scenes. And I wouldn't have that much of an issue with it, if the action scenes were, in any way, interesting. And, outside of the last half hour, the action scenes are incredibly stale, because damn near all of them are straight up gun fights. And it is boring watch, because that's all you see in the first hour is nothing but that. The closest thing we get to partially interesting with these scenes is that one of them shoots a dart from his elbow, and that's kinda it. And the action scenes don't improve at all until the last half hour, where it starts to get partially interesting with our ninjas.

Speaking of which, I'm gonna jump ship to writing and get straight into it. There is no story here. At all. I'm gonna give you the summary of this movie's "plot". A scientist has an invention that could balance the powers between the East and the West, and he is trying to defect to the West. The KGB get involved and capture him as their prisoner. To give the power of this invention to them, they kidnap the scientist's daughter, Nadia, and it's up to our main character, Mason, who happens to be a CIA agent, to rescue both the scientist and his daughter before the invention is given to the Russians. That's it. That is literally the entire plot to this movie. Now, you would think that would sound interesting, if we had interesting characters to back it up. However, that isn't the case. Every character in this movie is completely shallow and lifeless. Now again, I totally understand that you don't need mountains of character development when making an action movie. But, at the very least, give the viewer a reason to care about any of these characters. Give them some kind of background on these characters and why we should, at least, take them seriously. But no. This movie couldn't even attempt that much. There is no life to any of these characters. Mason, I would say, is a shitty knockoff of James Bond. However, that would be a terrible insult to James Bond, because, not only is Mason missing the style, the coolness, and the personality of James Bond, he has no character to speak of. According to this movie, he's in control of ninjas, which I would've like to have seen more of and less of Mason, but oh well, I guess you can't get everything you want. I would've like to have seen how he has a connection to these ninjas, or how he came across them during, or before, his time as a CIA agent, but again, that would require some level of effort on whoever wrote this lifeless script. Nobody else here has any real development, and I didn't care about a single one of these characters. I didn't care about when Nadia's father got killed. A bit of a spoiler there, in case you cared about what happens to him. Overall, guys, the writing in this movie is so lifeless, and the lack of interesting characters is what kills this movie for me. Again, you don't need ultra deep characters for action movies. But if you can't give any reason as to why the viewers should care about your lifeless, shitbag characters, then they deserve nothing, except the quick of release of death.

Now, beyond the borderline, plotless writing, and the shitty characters, what about the acting? Well, I commented at the start of the movie that the acting was terrible. Well, not only did I get terrible acting, but it got progressively worse as the movie went on. Nobody in this movie put in any kind of effort that I would say was half decent. The acting is incredibly wooden, and this is all attributed to the fact when you are given a script that is this lifeless, you can't expect any of the actors to make their dialogue work. And for a movie that claimed to be a cheeseball style action movie, I was kind of expecting the acting to be just laughably bad. However, I didn't get any of that. Instead, all I got was acting that started off terrible, and it just went downhill from there. The worst actor, by far, has to go to whoever played Ableman, our villain for this movie. Every single line of dialogue he gives comes off as, not only as wooden as the rest of the cast, but I swear, he speaks like a human version of Speakonia. I want you to imagine that for almost the entire movie, coming from our villain, where it comes off as wooden and robotic as possible. If you seriously want to watch this movie to riff on it, then you might get a laugh out of his horrendous acting. I, personally, didn't get any of that while watching it. So I can just write the acting off as shit in general.

Moving onto special effects. As I was watching the movie, there weren't a whole lot of special effects, outside of some occasional blood effects. At least, until the last half hour kicks in, where guns are blazing, and there's heads being sliced in half by our ninjas, and just blood, in general, exploding from body parts. And that's where the special effects really take it up a notch. And honestly, even though this takes a complete left turn in terms of how much blood there was, it actually kinda made this movie partially interesting. Which leads me to wonder why this movie didn't do more of that? I understand that it wouldn't fix the writing at all, but at least it would've made the previous action scenes more interesting to watch. But anyway, as I said, there is a ton of blood pouring from bodies, and it really makes the special effects shine in this scene. All of the blood is practical blood, and the blood that is used here looks great. The only problem is that you have to get through the rest of the movie, in order to get to that halfway interesting action scene in the last half hour of the movie. And I really don't think you'll be able to sit through this thing without attempting to fall asleep. Because I was yawning multiple times, just trying to stay awake and hoping for the movie to get better, but it didn't. However, I'm getting off track here. Long story short, special effects are the only highlight of this movie.

Camerawork here is OK. Lighting is lit well, for the most part, outside of a few scenes that were shot in the dark. But since they're minor, I'm not gonna count it as a negative. I want to touch upon sound, for a moment. Because I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. So, we have some handguns that makes this laser sound. It comes from Mason's gun, and several other extras who have these laser-sounding guns. And, it still boggles my mind as to why they make this sound. Either the Foley Artists wanted to add it in because it sounded cool, or they have never heard how a handgun sounds like, and they just decided to use that sound because fuck you, that's why. The only other movie I can recall where I heard laser-sounding guns was when I watched "2020: Texas Gladiators". And that is fucking shameful, because of all the movies you had to replicate laser-sounding guns, why in the fuck would take a note out of "2020: Texas Gladiators"? In fact, thinking about it, I'm sensing a pattern. Both "The Ninja Mission" and "2020: Texas Gladiators" were made in European countries. I have to wonder, do Foley Artists in European countries think that adding in laser sounds for handguns sounds cool, or have they never heard how a handgun sounds like in their lives? I'm kinda curious about that, and I totally understand that it has nothing to do with the review, but it was something that I kinda noticed. Anyway, beyond the oddball choice for the laser-sounding handguns, the sound-mix is mixed well. I couldn't tell you a single piece of music that was, in any way, memorable. It was kinda shit, for the most part, so I guess I can add music as another negative to pile on this movie.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Ninja Mission"? No. This movie is boring as shit. I'm not totally sure if I could recommend it to fans of plotless action movies, because they might even find this movie to be boring as shit, too. The only other way I could, maybe, recommend this thing, is if you have friends over on a bad movie night. If you want to riff on something, then by all means, go ahead and check this thing out. It might prove to be a fun time, providing you haven't fallen asleep from boredom. This movie sucked balls. And the worst part about that is that I have to cover one of the supposed sequels next month. I feel I like I may not make it through that movie, if this movie is anything to go by. However, it could always prove me wrong and actually be interesting. But right now, I just want to go and  do something else. And seeing as how I mentioned James Bond, I think I'm gonna pop in a 007 movie. I haven't decided which yet, but anything is better than watching this shit piece again.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until, next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Take the X Train

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an OVA from 1987. That movie is "Take the X Train".

Now, I'm gonna tell you guys how I came across this movie. You see, when I was scheduling movies to cover for this month, I found out that one of the movies that I was originally going to review was not the correct movie. You see, it had a similar title, until I found out that there was more to it's original title, and that was when I found out that the movie I had wanted to cover was, in fact, not the right film. So, I had to remove it from the schedule, and do some re-scheduling with a couple of the movies I had planned to watch this month, including the movie I originally planned to watch. So I did a search of the movie I wanted to watch, and to see if I could find a bit torrent of it. As I was doing that, I was searching for other movies that I could find to, possibly, replace it. And that's when I came across this movie. And I was sold on the premise, because this sounded rather interesting.

So, from what I could gather from the plot, it has something to do with a ghostly train known as the X Train. And the main character is, somehow, connected to it in some way. So, this leads to other dangerous people wanting to wield the power of this train for their own. And, I think, the train is also a killer train that destroys everything in it's path. And that sounds kinda interesting to me, because I really want to see what this movie could do with that kind of premise. And thankfully, there is a copy of the movie on YouTube, so I'm gonna be watching it off of there. I also know that the movie was made by Madhouse. So, chances are, the movie's probably going to look awesome, even for the standards of 1987.

Now, as cool as this premise sounds, the only thing I'm a little concerned about is the runtime. I'm not totally sure if this movie is able to handle this kind of premise at almost 51 minutes. But who knows? This movie could end up surprising me, and be genuinely amazing. And the only way I'm gonna find that out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Take the X Train."

5 minutes later

So, Toru is still eating his rice lunch, even though the nosebleed he just got a second ago dropped into his rice lunch. You know, if it were up to me, I would probably just end up throwing away the rice lunch if I got a sudden nosebleed and my blood ended up in my food. That was just kinda nasty.

10 minutes later

A "dwatch" sound? So, Toru just stated that the ghost train made a "dwatch" sound? I've heard a lot of trains in my lifetime, but I do not recall a train ever making a "dwatch" sound. In fact, I don't think anyone, even in Japan, would describe a train making a "dwatch" sound. That just sounds kinda stupid to me.

10 minutes later

.........I am so glad you asked that movie, no, I don't know what's going on. This movie has barely offered any explanation about anything, and I really hope that it starts explaining things soon.

2 minutes later

OK, guys, this is like the fourth or fifth time I have seen a close-up of Toru getting a nosebleed. It's rather creepy, especially considering that the camera seems to be focusing in on these shots. And it's getting a little bit creepy, even for me.

6 minutes later

Wait, so these guys that were after Toru have known for seven years that he has the ability to control the X Train with ESP. I have a question. If these people have known this for how long, then why wait until this point? Why didn't they capture him a lot sooner when he first started having these powers? I'm really curious, guys, and I don't think this movie is going to attempt to explain that.

The Review

O...K. That was an...interesting ending. Well, guys, that was "Take the X Train". I'm gonna shut the movie off...OK. I'm still trying to process what I just watched. Good lord, where do I start? I think I should start by talking about the movie's runtime.

Now, I totally understand that because this thing was an OVA, you don't really have a lot of time to boil up a slower-paced story. Sometimes, it can work. A couple of examples would be "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" and "Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals". And even though I didn't care for either one of those movies, they were still able to make it work with their given runtime's. I kinda wished the latter didn't have missing footage, but I'm not gonna dwell on that again here. Or you could have a story that sounds interesting, but doesn't work with a really short runtime, such as the case with "Black Magic M-66". In that movie, there were just so many logic issues and plot points that either don't make a ton of sense, or were not properly explained very well. And had it gotten more time to develop, it probably would've been a better movie. When it comes to "Take the X Train"...it falls somewhere close to the middle. More so leaning towards not working than working, but I should probably talk about the writing.

Writing here is incredibly weak. So we have our main character, Toru, who is able to connect with this X Train, which is the ghost train I mentioned at the start of this. And the connection between him and this ghost train is that he's able to control it through ESP. How do we know that he has ESP? Well, during the latter portion of the film, the people who have been chasing after him have known that he has this special hidden power within his subconscious. And that the way he develops ESP is through something call the inner companion alpha wave and that it's affecting the ghost train's beta wave to make it move. Don't ask, none of it makes any sense. So they tell Toru that because the X Train sent him a message through Morse code, they tell Toru that he must send a message back to the X Train with an image. I'm not going to tell you what kind of image, on the off chance you want to go and see this thing for yourself. But basically, guys, the writing in this thing almost makes no sense. And you know what? I could honestly overlook the short runtime, if the writing was any better. But it really isn't. 

Before I talk about the characters, I do need to make a small correction on one thing. I said at the start of this thing that the X Train was a killer train that destroys everything in it's path. And while the latter is true, it's not really a killer, per se. I say this, because, first of all, it barely causes any destruction. The only thing that it destroys was a diesel truck, a trap that was set for it, and most of Toru's car. And it's not really a killer because, at one point, we see that the military was trying to capture it. And as the X Train comes near it, we see a small boy chasing after a firefly on the tracks. This gives the X Train time to stop as the boy stays on the track until his mother steps in and gets him out of the way. So really, to even call this ghost train a killer is kind of misleading on my part. But anyway, as for our other characters, nobody here has any real depth. The closest we do have for character depth is Toru. And I'm not just talking about the connection he has with the X Train. Apparently, his one big character trait is that he has constant nosebleeds, and this happens a lot throughout the entire movie. If there's any one shot in this movie that you will get sick of, it's whenever Toru has any moment where he gets a nosebleed. But that's more on animation than the story. Then we have the people that are after him, because they somehow knew that Toru has these hidden ESP powers. Which begs the question that if they knew that he had these powers for so long, then why didn't they step in sooner instead of letting him be for 7 years? Also, how do they know that Toru has had these ESP powers for 7 years? What if he has had these powers so much longer than that? I understand that I might be putting too much thought into this, but that did kinda bother me a bit as I was watching the movie. One other thing that kinda bothered me was the pacing. And it happens during one scene where Toru is captured and is trapped in some sort of a detention center. And he's getting asked questions about who he is and his date of birth. They also ask him questions as to whether or not he's had a dream about a heart transplant, or if he knows who Deichi Warisaburo is? I don't know what these questions have anything to do with how Toru knows about the X Train. When they brought up the question of who Deichi Warisaburo is, I thought that name was going to become a plot point later on in the movie, but no, it was just a random question that they decided to ask him. And the pacing of this scene drags for about 6 minutes, and that includes him trying to escape this detention center. I really think that they could've either shortened this scene, or cut it out entirely. I totally understand that the OVA would be around 45 minutes or so, but it probably could've benefited the movie's pacing some.

But beyond that one scene, the rest of the movie's pacing is OK, I guess. But the writing here is just incredibly clunky and could've been a hell of a lot better. What about the acting? Well, as far I know, there is no English dub for this movie. So, I have to go off by the Japanese version that I watched on YouTube. And the acting is pretty good. None of it is great, but it's certainly decent for what it is. And for those who were curious about this thing, and didn't want to run the risk of watching this thing with a, potentially, awful English dub, then you can go into this movie without any problems. But for others who prefer watching dubs, you're probably gonna want to skip it. However, if you still want to watch it, regardless if it has a dub or not, then you can go right ahead and check it out. The acting in this movie is, overall, pretty good. So I have no complaints about the acting.

Animation in this thing is great. But again, this is from Madhouse, so I kinda figured the animation would end up being really good. This is, honestly, one of the better looking animated movies I have seen from the mid-to-late 80's. The character designs are really unique, and showcases what this movie wanted to look like. If a character has to be ugly, then they are shown as ugly. And to some people, they are not going to like the look of this movie based off it's character designs. However, if you are able to look past that, including the many close-up shots of Toru getting a nosebleed, then you're probably going to dig the art style of this movie. The animation is really smooth, and I really like the design of the X train when you first see it. This is some really amazing some stuff for 1987 standards. And, in a way, it does kinda hold up today. So, I can give the movie that much.

Sound-mix is mixed well. There are no syncing issues when it comes to mouth movements of the characters, and the subtitles are timed really well. The music is also another positive. One thing I had found out, while looking up information on this movie, is that it's dedicated to legendary jazz composer; Duke Ellington. And one of his songs was called "Take the A Train", hence the title change for this movie. And I'm gonna tell you now, the music in this thing is great. For about 95% of the movie, it's all piano music, and it really is some awesome piano music, too. So, if anything else, if you want a reason to watch this movie, then the music is probably one of the reasons. Especially if you're a fan of Duke Ellington's music.

So, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Take the X Train?" Honestly...that's a very difficult question to answer. I would, personally, say...watch it once. Or if you're a fan of really obscure anime, then you're probably going to find some enjoyment out of this. And, even though I personally didn't really care for this movie, I can't fully say, no, I cannot recommend it. It really is something that you can probably watch once. It is on YouTube, and, like I said, it's almost 51 minutes long. So, I don't think you're gonna have your time wasted if you watch this movie just once. But, as for me, I'm probably not gonna watch this thing ever again. And while I did like the concept of this movie, it didn't really work so well because of the clunky writing. And now that I've gotten this movie out of the way, I kinda want to go and watch another obscure anime film. And I see my copy of "Robot Carnival", so I'm gonna go watch that after I'm done putting this review together.

Anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until, next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Escape from New York

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a movie from 1981. That movie is "Escape from New York".

Now, I've been wanting to see this movie for a very long time. But, for one reason or another, I never got an opportunity to watch it. And thanks to this series, I finally have my chance to see it.

The only things I can tell you about this movie is that it was directed by John Carpenter. And I've only seen one other movie that he made, which was "They Live". A movie that, at least to me, was really good. And ever since I saw that movie, I've always wanted to see what else Mr. Carpenter has made. I can also tell you that it stars Kurt Russell, and that he plays an outlaw by the name of Snake Plissken, who has 24 hours to save the President. Otherwise, he will die horribly from an explosion that is, somehow, implanted in his neck. I'm kinda curious to know how exactly that happens, but I will find out eventually.

Now, I really want this movie to be amazing, and I've heard nothing but good things about it. However, with all the praise that this thing has gotten, it could also be a huge letdown. Because, and I mentioned it back when I reviewed "Transformers: The Movie", when people hype a movie up so much, it usually never lives up to that hype. Then again, I ended up loving "Transformers; The Movie", so this movie could end up that way as well. But I don't know if this movie will end up being any good. And the only way I'm gonna find out how good or bad this movie can be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Escape from New York".

19 minutes later

You know, guys, I wasn't really sure what to think of Lee Van Cleef's performance in this movie, considering that I've seen him in nothing but the scant few Westerns that he was in. But you know what? He is turning in an amazing showing. In fact, guys, the whole movie has been really fascinating, so far, and I'm hoping it continues this way.

17 minutes later

Is that the drifter from "They Live"? Holy shit, it is! Out of everyone I expected to see in this movie, the guy who played the drifter from "They Live" was not one of them. I understand that I'm bringing up such a small point, but I was totally not expecting to see an appearance from him in this movie. That was...kinda awesome.

17 minutes later

So the Duke has little chandelier's spread out on the hood of his car. That is really cool. I personally don't think it's very safe for the chandelier's, but considering that there's almost no other operational cars in New York, I think the Duke could get away with it.

10 minutes later

OK, guys, I know that this may be a stupid question, but how does almost everyone in this movie know who Snake Plissken is? I understand that he's a war hero, but does everyone in this movie know about that? I am a little bit curious, guys, and again, I totally understand that it's a trivial thing to bring up, but I just felt like asking, you know?

14 minutes later

Well, that was...quite a brutal kill. Very simple, but very effective, too.

9 minutes later

Wow, um...I was not expecting that. Two characters killed off in the span of about a minute. That certainly caught me off guard. Wow.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Escape from New York". Let me shut the movie off...wow. That was a satisfying way to end the movie. You know, guys, I kinda went into this thing with high hopes of this movie being great. And by the end, those standards skyrocketed past my expectations. Let's start with the writing.

Writing here is incredibly good. And it is essentially what I had described at the start of this Reaction & Review about Snake Plissken having 22 hours to save the President before the bomb that was implanted in his neck explodes. And yes, I did say he had 24 hours to save the President, but the movie clearly stated that he only had 22 hours. It's a little bit odd, and it is the one of the very few minor gripes I had with the movie is the time that Snake has to save the President. Because when he's first given the communicator that he has on his wrist, which shows the time he has left, it clearly states that he has 22 hours. And when the scene cuts to him getting in his glider so that he could fly onto the World Trade Center, it shows that he has 21 hours. And then a little later on, when he meets a character named 'Cabbie', and they are on the run from some lunatic hobos, it shows that Snake has 18 hours to go. Either this is the fastest countdown timer of all time, or the time discrepancy between scenes is a little bit off. Now, mind you, this only happens several times throughout the first, I would say, half hour of the movie, and after that, it doesn't really appear again until much later on. So honestly, it's not too much of an issue where you would have to wonder how much time does Plissken have left. You're going to be more focused on the story, because the writing is going to keep you interested as soon as the opening credits start playing. Essentially, crime has risen up so incredibly much that the United States government built a wall around Manhattan, and basically turned it into a prison. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. However, because Air Force One was hijacked by a bunch of terrorists, the President is forced to use an escape pod that was inside Air Force One. I didn't know that Air Force One had an escape pod, but since I've never been inside Air Force One, and probably never will, I can totally see that there. But anyway, the President uses it and crash lands somewhere in New York. Which leads to Hauk, the Police Commissioner, who turns to Plissken for help because he's the only one who can get in there without being noticed. And if he's successful, the President will automatically pardon him off all his crimes. If not...well, I already explained it, so there you go.

Our characters are, admittedly, not the most developed. Because, outside of Plissken and Brain, nobody here has a ton of depth. However, it's one of those situations where the story is incredibly good, that it benefits from having shallow characters. And you'll end up caring about them, especially towards the end, because the story takes a rather dark turn with it's characters. And I kinda spoiled it for a couple of the characters, because they end up dying, and you really feel for them after their gone. I even felt bad for their deaths, because they were rather likable. And that's something I don't see happen often with movies that attempt this sort of thing. A real good example of this would be "The Gene Generation". In that movie, you had a character named Jackie, who becomes incredibly unlikable because of the shit he does to try and earn money. And that movie tried, and failed miserably, to make you care about him when he gets killed. This movie, however, shows that you don't have to go out of your way to try and make your side characters unlikable, because John Carpenter knew what he, and Nick Castle, the co-writer, wanted to write for their characters. And when the writing accomplishes that sort of feat, then that is an amazing accomplishment, and I wish certain filmmakers would take note of this movie, because it shows you how to write good supporting characters. Not only do we have likable characters, but we also have incredible pacing. This movie speeds on by, and at no time will you feel like the story is crawling at a snail's pace. It just continues to chug forward with it's story and doesn't stop. And as much as I enjoyed "They Live", the first time I watched it, I felt like the pacing had a bit of a slow start, but the second time I watched it, I didn't really notice the pacing issues and wound up loving that movie. "Escape from New York" I was able to get into with no pacing problems, and wound up loving it on my first viewing. This movie has some of the best pacing I have seen in a long time. The only other movie that I could think of that had great pacing was when I watched "Killer Klowns from Outer Space". But anyway, guys, the pacing in this movie is awesome.

One other minor issue that I had with writing is something I asked earlier. And that is how does almost everybody in this movie know who Snake Plissken is? I ask that because it seems like everybody who he runs across in Manhattan recognizes who Snake is. The only ones who don't seem to know are the lunatic hobos and the President. One of them that makes sense is Brain, because he was a former friend and comrade to Plissken. And Plissken is the one who recognized him first. Not in a friendly way, but I'm not gonna get too deep into that. But anyway, I still thought it kinda strange to see that almost everyone recognizes who Snake is, even though they never met him. And again, I know that he is a war hero, and that kinda thing can spread to some people knowing about what you did. But still, it was something I noticed. But regardless of that, that is a trivial matter that almost no one is going to notice, or even care about. Because, as I said, the writing here is fantastic. And it's going to keep you interested, regardless if you notice these things or not.

Now let's get to the acting. Now, when I bought this movie last year, I noticed the huge cast list on the front of the DVD cover. And I said to myself, then, that this movie would have to commit a huge cardinal sin if the acting sucked from this all-star cast. And thankfully, that doesn't happen. We have acting that is fantastic from across the board. We have Kurt Russel, Ernest Borgnine, Issac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, and Lee Van Cleef, just to name those actors alone. Every single one of them shined beautifully here, and nobody turns in a bad showing. I want to mention two actors in particular. One of them is Lee Van Cleef. Because, as I mentioned before, Lee Van Cleef is mostly known for his roles in Westerns. I haven't seen all of them that he was in. The only two that come to mind that I did watch were "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". And I knew he could act then. So I was curious to see how exactly he would do in a role that's not a Western. And he plays that role really, really well. Which, at least to me, kinda makes him stand out a bit amongst the entire cast. Now, I don't want you to take that as a negative. It's just that I kinda have a bias for Westerns. Again, I've only seen two Westerns that featured Lee Van Cleef, but I may end up watching some more of his films, possibly even for Reaction & Review. But that's a whole different story altogether. So he does a fantastic job in this movie. The other actor I want to mention, and I had to look up his name, because I forgot who it was, goes by the name of George Buck Flower. I mentioned him earlier on during the reaction portion of the movie, but I recognized who he was because he played a character known as the drifter in "They Live", another movie from John Carpenter. I won't tell you his role in that movie, you're gonna have to watch that thing for yourself. But anyway, he makes a cameo appearance in this movie in which he plays a drunk, who was also wearing the President's communicator. It was such a small role, but he stood out the most for me, because I recognized his voice from "They Live" and that's when I put two and two together and realized that it was him. Again, that's just a nerdy thing for me is when I recognize actors from different movies and TV shows, so take it for what you will. But overall, guys, the acting is fantastic from the entire cast.

There really isn't a whole lot of special effects in this movie. The only things I could remember were some slightly dated shots of Snake flying his glider, but since they're incredibly trivial shots, I'm not gonna count that as a negative. There is also quite a bit of practical blood used during the final act of the movie where some of our side characters end up getting killed. And the shots of blood that were used also looks really good. The makeup effects are also done really well. So I can definitely say that special effects, what few there were, were genuinely awesome.

Camerawork here is amazing. I love the cinematography in this movie. There are certain shots in this movie that are gonna stick out at you, in a good way. Such as when you see a front shot of Snake riding his glider. Although that's partially because of the lighting effects that were used in that shot, so I can add the lighting as a positive. Sound-mix is mixed rather well. The music is here is really good, too. It's similar to the score that I heard in "They Live". However, I do think it's better in this movie than in "They Live". Part of that has to go to the theme song. And I'm gonna tell you, the more you listen to the opening theme, the more that it's gonna stick out at you, because it is rather catchy. And mind you, it does not have any lyrics, so you're gonna end up humming this song for quite a while.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Escape from New York"? Oh, hell yes. This movie was amazing. And after finally getting a chance to see this movie after so long, I'm totally happy to say that it was worth the wait. I loved this movie. Now, do I think it's better than "They Live"? It's kinda hard to say. For me, I'd say both films are equally great. And trying to pick one of them would be very difficult for me to do. In fact, now that I'm thinking about "They Live", I kinda want to go and watch that movie again. So, I'm probably gonna end up doing that. And this movie is going to have a very prominent spot on my DVD shelf.

Anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.