Devilman = (Un)Holy Crap!
I just received my DVD copy of Devilman along with some other Japanese films (Survive Style 5 , Izo, Zebraman, Vital) I had ordered. I love Japanese cinema, from Kurosawa and Ozu, Fukusaku and Suzuki, to Miike and Ishii. I also love anime. Though I have been aware of the Devilman character, I've never actually watched an episode of the series so I didn't have any preconceived notions of what the film should be. My only expectation was that the movie would be enjoyable if nothing else.Well, Devilman fails remarkably to even entertain. I've heard people compare this movie to Casshern, and beyond the films being based on classic properties and employing a substantial use of CGI, that is where the comparisons end. Devilman is just plain awful. I like a good "bad" movie and Devilman can't even be enjoyed on such a level. The acting by the leads is horrendous, the special effects would be better served in a CGI animated movie, and the narrative is just not involving.
The viewer is never drawn into the story. The lead actor who plays Akira does not engender any sympathy as his performance is so flat. Two scenes in particular really display his ineptitude: When his girlfriend's father discovers he is a demon, Akira let's out a wail of anguish that does sound painful, but more like the type of pain accompanied by a rectal examination -- and when Akira discovers the severed head of his girlfriend he again bellows in agony, not once but several times. Rather than being swept up in his loss, the viewer is taken out of the scene because of it's unintentional hilarity.
I do have to say there is one really startling sequence in the film. It occurs during the finale when the Earth is engulfed by a massive wave of destruction and there is a depiction of "hell on earth" with bodies intertwined into enormous columns of suffering. That is the only moment in the film where I thought "cool." If there is one small service I can do for mankind it would be this: I implore each and everyone of you who reads this to stay away from this movie. If you really must see it, try to see it for free. Don't be like me who has to learn lessons the hard way. God bless!
score 2/10
bowieeno3 14 September 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1172426/35504
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