View Larger Image |
X - The Movie Director: Rin Tarô Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Animated, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 98 minutes Studio: Palm Pictures/Manga Video Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-09-25 Buy from Amazon |
 "Caught as the Crossroads"I have several of the graphic paperbacks from the X/1999 clamp production. I've read and puzzled over those, and now I have spent several hours with this DVD. There comes a point in the quest for value where one has to finally ponder why a work is the way it is. I don't expect every DVD or book to be a work of art, but I do expect that each such effort have some sense of its purpose or potential value. In the case of 'X', I confess I am mystified. On the surface, a young man (Kamui) returns to Tokyo at the behest of his dying mother to defend those he loves. But he fails to defend Kotori, who loves him, and forces his friend Fuuma to make impossible choices. On the layer below this Kamui and Fuuma are doomed to become the primary antagonists in a struggle over whether the human race should be allowed to survive. In the ensuing fight, shared with the other dragons of heaven and earth, the destruction is sufficient to wonder whether the cure is worse than the disease. In truth, the plot is a pre-ordained ballet of opposing forces driven to a tragic conclusion. I am not familiar with Japanese literature, but 'X' reminds me of a Greek tragedy where anyone could stop the inevitable end, but no one does. Kamui's tragic flaw is his inability to act until it is too late. Fuuma, supposedly the villain of the piece, seems to be the nobler of the two, simply because he throws himself into his role. All of the characters are disjointed archetypes, but despite all of the symbols and portents, nothing really gels. So this becomes an apocalypse in search of a cause. Harumitsu Shimuzu as put together an excellent score, which seems to capture Kamui's perpetual agonizing and the film's ambivalent perfectly. The film's theme, 'Forever Love' by Yoshiki, is worth keeping as well. But good music and interesting artwork are not enough to overcome a skeletal plot that never moves in any direction for long. A glance at the final credits reveals that this was a production with a cast of hundreds, and perhaps that is the problem. Tragedy is best when it is not designed by committee.  "One star is one too many."Now, I love anime. I love CLAMP. I love X. The REAL X, mind you. The manga. Or, now, even the anime series, although even IT has it's flaws. The main problem here? Everything. Except the art and music. The art and music are lovely. I could go on and on, but Whitney at 'What The Thunder Said' puts it all best. http://www.mancer.net/x/txt/review.html Now, for my own opinions, I think that if you REALLY wanna see this, DON'T buy it. Find a friend with it, or a fansub, or a hong kong pirate. ANYTHING. Do NOT buy it. It's a waste of money on a disappointing movie. And if you're really deperate to see Kamui animated, then find the CLAMP in Wonderland music video, or get your hands on some X TV series episodes. They do the masterpiece that is X a LOT better justice than this thing ever will. And for people that actually enjoyed this... I have nothing but the largest feeling of pity growing in my stomach. I don't know. If you like this movie, there's some dubbed Dragon Ball Z episodes elsewhere on this site. You'd like them too. "You either love it or hate it..."Well, I think from my rating above, that it's pretty obvious where I stand on this one. I was at [a local music store] a long time ago, and saw this movie. I'd heard a lot about it, so I decided, 'hey, why not?' and ponied up the 20 bucks for the priviledge of taking it home. My first impression? Perhaps this was the weapon the Pied Piper of Hamlin used to chase the children away (or did they go with him?), because after seeing this film, I was certainly left with a few vivid impressions, namely #1: Anime fans who like this [stuff] are into violence, and #2: those same said fans probably smoke...quite often. The entire movie is vulgar and disgusting, going from bloodbath to bloodbath, with forgettable characters like "that chick who gets blown up" and "that chick with weird super powers" and "that evil guy who thinks he's the good guy for reasons that I really don't want to know." Of course, it's not all blood and violence, thankfully, our beloved and benevolent animators decided to put in a bunch of Kamui (main character)'s hallucinations, which probably can be enjoyed best ...while listening to Pink Floyd. These hallucinations make no coherent sense, nor are they explained at all throughout the flick, making me increasingly itchy that I spent [money] on the stupid thing. Thankfully, the movie ends, though to no one's satisfaction, if you're into that silly thing about "happy" or "sensical" endings. Of course, if you liked "Ninja Scroll", you'd probably love this ... thing, so I'll shut up now before I see that "0 of 100,000 people have found this review helpful."  "A Great Movie"X was an amazing anime with a bit of gothic-like darkness about it. It has very good fight scenes and an interesting plot. In some places, it's like a huge nightmare, but it has a pretty good storyline and the dark tone to it makes it different than other anime. I loved this movie, I own the dubbed version, but I wouldn't recomend it to younger viewers. A must see for anime fans. "Horrible!"I knew bad anime existed out there, and that one day I would be unfortunate enough to come across it. That day arrived when I foolishly rented "X" on DVD. Is there a plot somewhere in this piecemeal mish-mash? I looked hard and came up emtpy handed. The movie suffers from far too many characters that are utterly insignificant and weak. The dragons of heaven die off like doughboys in the wrong trench, without a thought given to their character development. Once the dragons of earth start dying, the movie just becomes laughably bad. At least the action sequences are half-decent, but they dont even deserve to be compared with the edge-of-your-seat battles in Neon Genesis:Evangelion. To conclude? This is a terrible anime that wastes any scrap of potential and flat-out bores it's viewer. Stay far away! |
