| |
Harmagedon
|
|
| Year: |
1983
|
|
Director: |
Rin Taro
|
| Stars: |
Tôru Furuya, Mami Koyama, Masako Ikeda, Keiko Han, Kaneto Shiozawa, Kenji Utsumi, Yasufumi Hayashi, Hideyuki Tanaka, Ryûji Saikachi, Tomoyo Harada, Kôhei Miyauchi, Kôji Yada, Mughito, Masako Ebisu, Yoku Shioya
|
| Genre: |
Horror, Animated, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure |
| Rating: |
  7 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
It begins with the birth of the universe, the destruction of an alien civilisation and the arrival of a supernatural evil that threatens the whole, darn space-time continuum. Make no mistake, Harmagedon is a BIG movie. Produced by Japanese multimedia mogul, Haruki Kadokawa, this was the anime equivalent of a megabucks, super-hyped, event movie. Based on a bestseller, scripted by a living legend, assigned to an acclaimed filmmaker, and featuring character designs from the era’s hottest manga artist.
A falling meteor smashes a plane carrying Princess Luna of Transylvania. She is rescued by Floy, a benevolent interdimensional being, who warns her about Genma, the all-powerful space entity that has eaten half the universe and has its sights set on planet Earth. Floy shows Luna a vision of the alien world Genma destroyed ten thousand years ago, and resurrects its sole survivor: heroic cyborg, Vega. Together, they set about recruiting an international army of psychic warriors, beginning with Sonny Rinks - a jive-talking, skateboarding, black kid from New York city, whom they rescue from the demonically-possessed NYPD - and segueing onto the most powerful: troubled Japanese teenager, Jô Azuma, struggling with his newfound powers, a flighty girlfriend, and an overprotective, older sister. Frightened by Vega’s sudden arrival, Jô flees the scene, but Genma’s monstrous minions, Zombi and Samedi, murder his loved ones. Grief stricken, Jô is saved from an earthquake by little Chinese psychic/kung fu girl, Tao (voiced by Tomoyo Harada, one of Japan’s biggest movie stars of the eighties), who leads him to the other psychics, including a Native American, an Indian yogi, and some dude in a turban. After flying around the world, teaching Jô how to master his powers, they finally join Princess Luna and Vega for a final, cosmic showdown with Genma.
Like many pre-packaged blockbusters made by megalomaniac film producers, Harmagedon suffers from an unfocused storyline and a wayward pace that short-shrifts several intriguing concepts and characters. Nonetheless it remains a fan favourite to this day, on the strength of its epic scope, loony everything-and-the-kitchen-sink plotting, and several set-pieces that offer genuine movie magic. Princess Luna’s opening plummet from the exploding plane and Vega slowly emerging from the shadows to startle Jô (famously parodied in the anime classic, Project A-Ko (1987)) are heart-stopping moments. Jô and Tao’s global flight, befriending birds, trees and animals, and the scene where Jô entertains his sister by psychically bringing a whole theme park to life, are wholly enchanting. Jô’s relationship with his sister proves to be Harmagedon’s heart and soul (oddly, far more so than that with his girlfriend), even though it treads a fine line between being a touching subplot and stopping the movie cold.
Haruki Kadokawa spared no expense, recruiting prog-rocker Keith Emerson (fresh off Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980)) for the synth-heavy soundtrack, manga maestro Shotaro Ishinomori (responsible for nearly a third of Japan’s fantasy film output, from Cyborg 009 (1969) to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1994)) to adapt Kazumasa Hirai’s novel, and Katsuhiro Otomo to provide trendy character designs. Actually, one wishes director Rin Taro (who cameos as a drunken animator!) had stuck with those designs Ishinomori produced for his manga adaptation, since Otomo’s gritty visuals feel out of place amidst such a fanciful tale. Otomo was so aggrieved by his experience on Harmagedon he sought total control over his next project, the groundbreaking Akira (1988). Similarly, Haruki Kadokawa moved into directing for a series of costly pet projects, until extracurricular interests like cocaine smuggling, praising Adolf Hitler, and UFO spotting, brought his career as Japan’s most profligate producer to a spectacularly messy end.
|
| Reviewer: |
Andrew Pragasam
|
| |
|
|
