Truly, even when characters are just sitting in a room, things always seem to be in a fluid state, and honestly, while it’s a rush to keep track from frame one to its last, there’s no denying how genuinely fun it is to do so, even when a lot of the time you’re wondering just what the heck is going on? Redline 2009 © Tohokushinsha Filmĭirector and animator Takeshi Koike, along with writers Katsuhito Ishii, Yōji Enokido, and Yoshiki Sakurai seem to abandon all storytelling conventions in favor of something akin to gulping an energy drink right after eating a bowlful of sugar. We’re not really meant to follow along, the film in constant motion, which is hardly a fault. It’s a lot and all of it flies at the screen at Mach … what’s the highest Mach? Whatever it is, that’s how fast. There’s more, including a megalomaniac cyborg ruler, organized disgruntled miners (the digging kind), not one but two gigantic biological weapons, mobsters, gambling, an orbital cannon, aliens in every direction, supersonic nail-biting racing, and a pretty girl who likes to to drive and takes her top off because of course she does. Can you guess who wins? Redline 2009 © Tohokushinsha FilmĪnd that’s it. ‘Manages’ might be the wrong word as a bit of trickery is at play, but either way, he’s on his way to Roboworld, where the race will be held, meeting various other competitors leading up the starting line. We meet “Sweet” JP, a slick ridiculous pompadour-wearing racer who finally manages to qualify for the Redline, the biggest most popular race in the galaxy. So what is the story, or lack of it? In a word, racing. After all, you could easily say that Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets or John Carter or even Jupiter Ascending are visually stunning yet none of these met with any acclaim, let alone a legacy like Redline, which admittedly didn’t have box office success yet has become renowned in the years following. It’s an interesting situation, one that I think only animation has rights to. Indeed, any consensus of the movie would have to include that most take note of the film’s lack of plot and let the imagery itself be the marker for success rather than the story that (literally) drives it. So much so that it is practically shielded from any other possible criticism. “Visual masterpiece” is perhaps the most common description for Redline, a hand drawn anime film released in 2009 that certainly deserves, or at least demands, that particular praise.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |