Casshern

After fifty years of bitter warfare between Eastern Federation and Europa, chemical, biological, and nuclear war have poisoned the land and left the exhausted population with newly mutated diseases. To save teh endangered humanity, Dr. Azuma proposes a "neo-cell" treatment that can rejuvenate the body and regenerate humankind. But an accident occers during the "neo-cell" closing experiment, unleashing a race of mutant human beings upon the world.

Casshern is the debut feature film of popular japanese music video director Kazuaki Kiriya. This film uses the popular new cinema technique of a "digital backlot". This means that most of the acting takes place in front of a huge greenscreen with a minor amount of props or set. Then, the background is added in later digitally. This technique is used in the new Star Wars films and films like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Sin City. The technique was incorporated really well. The CGI in the film looked like a fmv out of a final fantasy video game. They weren't spectacular compared to Hollywood's standards, but they were amazingly detailed and quite believable. The robots and machines in the movie look really cool.

The cinematography is really great in the movie. Also, the use of colors is very very good. Depending on were the scene took place... the background changed accordingly. I really enjoyed that aspect.

The movie is based off of an old anime television series called Shinzo Ningen Casshan. The story is good, but one part struck me as funny, because they started shooting at these "neo-sapians" before they even tried talking to them or anything. Other then that, I enjoyed the story very much. The fight scene are good and done in the japanese fighting style. The action sequences are intense and engaging. Overall, very well shot.

The music was also very good. I thought that the score was fitting at all the appropiate times. A blend of a classical score and some electronic beats make for just the right mix of emotions.

The acting is good and the characters are fascinating. The moral or theme of the movie seems kind of hard to decipher, but I think it is that humans don't really care about anything but themselves. Usually movies have a redeeming character that changes their ways, but this one doesn't seem to, but it is a different culture and the film is quite awesome. I would suggest Casshern to anyone who likes a good action movie.

Trailer at Apple.co.jp
Casshern.com Official Site
Official U.S. Casshern Site