Casshern (2004)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Kazuaki Kiriya

Writers:

Kazuaki Kiriya (screenplay)
Dai Sato (writer)

Release Date:

24 April 2004 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Action | Sci-Fi | Drama

Tagline:

Reincarnated with an invincible body to fight an iron devil. If Casshern does not do it, who will?

Plot:

Live-action sci-fi movie based on a 1973 Japanese animé of the same name (Shinzo Ningen Casshân). Theme song by Utada Hikaru.

Plot Keywords:

Mutant | Loss Of Eyesight | Blood Splatter | Dark Hero | Hunchback

Cast

Yusuke Iseya	...	Tetsuya Azuma / Casshern
Kumiko Aso	...	Luna Kozuki
Akira Terao	...	Dr. Kotaro Azuma
Kanako Higuchi	...	Midori Azuma
Fumiyo Kohinata	...	Dr. Kozuki
Hiroyuki Miyasako	...	Akubon
Mayumi Sada	...	Sagurê
Jun Kaname	...	Barashin
Hidetoshi Nishijima	...	Lieutenant Colonel Kamijo
Mitsuhiro Oikawa	...	Kaoru Naito
Susumu Terajima	...	Sakamoto
Mayu Tsuruta	...	Burai's wife
Ryô	...	San Ikegami
Tetsuji Tamayama	...	Sekiguchi
Yôko Moriguchi	...	Luna's mother

Also Known As:

Kasshân (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
Casshern (Finland) [fi]
Casshern - Reencarnado do Inferno (Brazil) [pt]
Kyashan - La rinascita (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

141 min | USA:117 min (cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-15 | Italy:T | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Casshern Film Partners

Trivia:

This is considered a "live-action anime" and borrows heavily from standard anime techniques including camera angles, action backgrounds (i.e. lines indicating movement), acting styles, and plot elements.

Quotes:

Dr. Kotaro Azuma: Murderer, feel my pain.

Movie Connections:

References "Mahha GoGoGo" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Requiem

Beautiful

If I hadn't already seen Zhang Yimou's Hero the previous week, I would have had to say that Casshern is one of the most beautiful-looking films I've seen in years (or ever). However, it'll have to suffice with second place. The CGI is highly stylised, with some green-screen shots looking purposefully false, but the real joy is in the production design - very evocative of Metropolis. Visual references are also made to the Nuremburg rallies of the 1930s, the Holocaust, Orwell's 1984 and those retro wind-up robots. A massive twenty-storey building is suspended in the air by hundreds of propellers like some overgrown zeppelin, and there's shots of a train so wide it requires five strips of rail side-by-side to accommodate it. The battle scenes are particularly awesome, and the combat scenes between Casshern and the Neo-Sapiens equally sharp.

However, the story primarily revolves around the drama of two families and there's very little affinity made with the main characters. Perhaps it was because the action scenes were so bombastic, but I found it very difficult to spur my interest in the character-driven moments, and this consequently made the two-and-a-half-hour running time feel a tad too long.

The final closing message, which runs contrary to the adrenalized mid-section of the film, is presented rather clumsily. But in true Japan-fashion, you can't help but be charmed by the sincerity of the whole thing.