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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 |
 "All you haterz can get lost!"There's a lot of bad reviews for this movie, but I have to disagree with all of them. The movie is better than the series, way better and way cheaper too. Spend $30 or spend $210 on the series. The series follows the movie anyway. Plus the movie is drawn and animated better. At first, I thought the movie was a little weird, but soon I liked it, in fact I love it now. The music is great, too bad I can't say the same for the series. The ending song is soooo sad. So buy X the movie instead of the series, because it is way better.  "I came to Tokyo to protect the people I love..."I cannot judge this particular movie for the sake of comparing it with the "X" mini-series, since I wasn't able to see the episodes yet. Instead, I will try to provide an accurate description for this film ONLY. "X," first and foremost, is absolutely the most violent and grisly piece of Japanese anime I've seen so far. Basically, our hero Kamui returns to his home in Tokyo after a 6-year sabbatical, only to discover that fate chose him to defend the Earth in an apocalyptic battle for survival. Guided by the visions of Princess Hinoto (a blind, deaf mute who can mentally prophesise the future), Kamui soon dons the Dragon of Heaven, but finds out in horror that his childhood friend, Fuma, is his deadly opponent (the Dragon of Earth). After members of his team are massacred one by one in a towering inferno of lightning bolts, martial arts and falling skyscrapers, poor Kamui is forced to choose between saving the city or rescuing Fuma from the depths of his own self-destruction. "X" is littered with incredible fight scenes that transcend reality altogether: the participants leap across the roofs of tall buildings, glide in mid-air, and create cataclysmic weapons from the forces of nature itself. "X,s" 2 dominant characters are blessed with telekinetic powers so great that they can contort, twist and dismember human torsos at the blink of an eye. Many viewers will indeed be disturbed, even terrified, at the sight of the crumbling Tokyo; every graphic detail perfectly captures the severe images of cityscapes reduced to their ruin, burying the panicked civilians below, and all the while the action is shrouded by black, billowing clouds of smoke. To many first-time watchers (myself included), such disaster sequences too closely reflect the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City. The captivating, surreal sequences of "X" place the concept of dreams on the forefront: At almost every turn, the main characters stumble onto beautiful, foreboding dreams conjured up by prophets. Soon enough both the conscious and unconscious realms tangle together, barely allowing us to determine whether people are awake or asleep (or even alive or dead). Unfortunately, such scenes have to be watched over and over to pinpoint EXACTLY what's going on. What is interesting about "X" is that the flowing, poetic and grisly nightmares that Kamui and Fuma experience represent every possible conclusion regarding Tokyo's future. Also adding onto the tension is the common bond they share; fueling the fire is an undying devotion the two men have for the virtuous Kotari, Kamui's love and Fuma's only sister. In most of the epic nightmares (which display traits of delicate falling petals, walls of flame and blood rivers), Kamui and Fuma each witness Kotari's life being savagely taken by his future opponent, and eventually the 2 men are manipulated into becoming bitter enemies. What also held up the suspense of "X" is how it repeatedly questions the social order of time and space: are events determined by fate, or by individual choice? Coincidence or cosmic intervention?  "One of the worst Anime's..."I've seen some bad Anime's in my time but so far this takes the cake. Not only was the plot kind of lame, but also the art wasn't the best. The movie's plot was simple, which is good, but it was made complex by "dreams" of the potential future thrown in at random times throughout the movie. This made it hard to guess what was reality and what was the dream. I think the movie would have done better if it were to stick the hardcore action and skip the overly-melodramatic dreams. The basic premise of this movie is good versus good. Humans have been raping the planet for their entire existence. Now the earth is about to crack; Mother Nature needs a rest. The group that supports the Dragon of the Earth advocates wiping the human race out to accomplish this. The group that supports the Dragon of the Heaven believes humans must achieve the greatness god planned for them. That they will return Mother Nature to her greatness we just need to get over ourselves first. We can accomplish this through love and all that other jazz. Convoluted? Yes but each argument has a leg to stand on. With this being said you would think that one would be torn about whom to root for. But this movie makes this choice for you by weak character development and those stupid dreams mentioned earlier. The bad guy is this evil sadistic psycho and instead of empathizing with him you just want to see him dead. Overall the movie was simple but was made complex by useless scenes. And on top of that the ending was predictable and frustrating. See it for the sake of seeing it but don't buy. It will leave you frustrated making you want to hit the drawing board and come up with a better script and more cool characters.  "X the Movie Review"I liked the movie. But...the series is 100 times better. The movie is too short and there isnt enough character development. You are introduced to a character and shortly after, that character dies. Everyone dies, except Kamui...it's like a blood bath. Now, I could of over looked all that and gave this product 4 stars...but something else kinda annoyed me. Subaru and Seishiro are only in one scene that lasts about 3 minutes and they both die! Ok, that I can't stand. That's why this movie only gets 3. Now! Don't get me wrong, I like this movie, it isn't bad, its just too short.  "This movie STUNK"The animation and storyline held such promise, but the plot just got so BORING: read SLOW and Melodramatic. Some of the cheesy lines pierced my very being and left irreperable damage. PLEASE, for your sake, do NOT buy this movie! I might even recommend not wasting your time even RENTING this movie its THAT BAD. |
