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Devilman
DVD/APPROX. 112 MINS/2004/JAPAN MA15+
DVD/APPROX. 112 MINS/2004/JAPAN MA15+
3
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I’m not too keen on comic-to-film adaptations. In my opinion, only Sin City was successful in transcending forms, and maybe Batman Begins, at a
pinch. Cutie Honey was a bit of silly fun, I’ll freely admit, but things like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, the X-Men franchise
and the Fantastic Four were pretty dismal failures, despite the fact that the source material was generally pretty good (in the case of the Alan
Moore written material above, which were both excellent, it cheapened the original, coming off almost as parody). So – Devilman. Based on Go
Nagai’s (yes, he wrote Cutie Honey, too) 1972 whup-ass manga (hell, the source material’s as old as me!), does it stand up, or fold like a house of
cards? It folds, like a bitch.
Look, I went into this with all the best hopes in the world – the source material was smokin’ after all – but the fact that I was going to be
subjected to 112 minutes of CG did not exactly warm the cockles, as it were. I hate CG effects. There, I said it. No – I really hate CG – born in ‘72, I’
m a child of the 70s and 80s when it comes to effects – give me prosthetics and appliance make-up any day. CG (especially when done badly) can
jar an audience, even a reasonably open minded one like myself, out of their willing suspension of disbelief, and then, as a director, you’re
screwed. Take this green screen and shove it… Yeah, I said I liked Sin City, which was largely done with CSO, but that film, with its heavily stylised
film noir delivery and impressive use of chiaroscuro made the effects work for it, not the other way around, as Devilman seems to want to do.
So, you probably want to know the plot, then. Revel in spoiler-free reviewing… Parentless uber-geek Akira is best mates with bad-boy over-
achiever Ryo, has been since they were little kids, playing at being monsters and reading monster-themed comic books together. After Akira’s
parents die in a traffic accident, he is taken in by nice girl Miki’s family, and his friendship with Ryo (who Miki doesn’t like – the feeling is mutual, by
the way) continues – despite being beaten to a pulp by folks who don’t dig Ryo’s vibe, and becoming a whipping boy for such along the way.
Anyhoo, in a Japanese research laboratory in Antarctica, Ryo’s father’s team have set loose a whole bunch of demons who happily go about
possessing anyone they please, including Ryo’s father, and then Ryo himself, who initially wants to be put out of his misery, now that he’s no
longer 100% human. He seems to get over that pretty quickly, becoming Satan in his angelic form. Akira, also becoming possessed, takes on the
chick-magnet mantle of Devilman – a demon with a human heart – and like Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man, becomes stronger and
faster, but with the added bonus of being able to turn into a great big fuck off demonic killing machine. This is all quite early on in the piece, so
please don’t think I’m giving anything away.
Did I also mention I don’t like wire-work? In my martial arts films, I like the real deal – give me a Bruce Lee or Sonny Chiba film over rubbish like
Once Upon A Time In China or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon any day. Too much wire acrobatics here for my liking. Sure, it can help the
characters seem more otherworldly, but really, it detracts from the impact of the fight scenes. It’s like watching ballet dancers have a dust-up.
So then we get to the crux of the film – the whole question of good versus evil. Not exactly the most original idea known to man – having been a
part of the human experience from the classics of antiquity to The Bible, and having been the major theme of all those medieval morality plays like
Everyman, most of Shakespeare’s best stuff right through to modern day characters like Batman. Akira, despite being Devilman, is a powerful
force for good – despite the enormous amount of collateral damage he causes – as in his fight with uber-hottie Selene – Ryo, as Satan, is rather
obviously a force for evil. Other school students (and other people) start becoming possessed – walking doormat Miko for instance grows a pair
and metes out a bit of justice, and this is the only interesting point this film raises: who’s the good guy, and who’s the bad guy? When does the
force for good become the force for evil? When does revenge cross the line to become worse, morally, than the act it punishes?
The senseless slaughter and paranoia of the Salem witch-trials is called into question, when regular humans are being accused of being demons
by jealous co-workers, and I guess it’s this element that makes Devilman a kind of a (very) poor man’s version of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, or
Ken Russell’s gloriously over-the-top and wonderfully heretical The Devils. The whole idea of people being persecuted for being different – I can
relate to that; having been the only head-banger in a town full of sad-arse pathetic wiggas when I was a teenager. Being different is being
championed in this film, as much as it is in Nightbreed, Christiane F, or countless other outsider films.
Ultimately, however, this film fails to deliver on any level bar the most basic, having deservedly won the Grand Prize in Japan’s Bunshun Kiichigo
Awards – think “Golden Raspberry” – for worst film of the year of its release. The script was truly diabolical (and not in a good way), the acting
utterly atrocious (rule of thumb: pop stars rarely act well, or even to the most basic and remedial of levels – and our pretty boy leads, from J-Pop
band Flame certainly prove me right – and if they didn’t, Bob Sapp’s newscaster – who appears to be serving the same purpose as the Chorus in
Greek tragedy – definitely does), and the whole enchilada came off as little better than brain poison to this reviewer. The director seems to be of
the “if we blow loads of shit up, people will be entertained” school of thought which powers moronic, zero second attention span fare such as Die
Hard 4.0. After a while it all becomes totally deadening, and over the top in a very wearing fashion indeed – avoid this like the plague. Actually, if I
had the choice I’d take the plague over watching Devilman ever again.
Can I tell you that this film introduced me to a new sensation – being disappointed by an Eastern Eye release. That’s never happened to me
before, and I own nearly their entire catalogue. Shame, really.
Extras: There’s a brief “Making Of Devilman” featurette (the only interesting moment was when the director stated that it was difficult making a
demon into a hero – I immediately started thinking of Amano Jaku from Urotsukidoji, Spawn, hell, if you want to stretch a point, fuckin’ Lone Wolf
and Cub – and they got six films out of that! The main character explicitly states that on entering into the life of the mercenary/assassin they’ve
become demons – creating an anti-hero is nothing new, or particularly difficult in my opinion), an annoyingly un-subtitled and over-long SPFX reel,
showing how the various gags were achieved, the theatrical trailer (hardly a “special” feature, seeing as how I just watched the whole fuckin’
movie), and a bunch of Eastern Eye trailers: Azumi 2, Death Trance, Cutie Honey and Shinobi. Not exactly a cornucopia of greatness…
pinch. Cutie Honey was a bit of silly fun, I’ll freely admit, but things like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, the X-Men franchise
and the Fantastic Four were pretty dismal failures, despite the fact that the source material was generally pretty good (in the case of the Alan
Moore written material above, which were both excellent, it cheapened the original, coming off almost as parody). So – Devilman. Based on Go
Nagai’s (yes, he wrote Cutie Honey, too) 1972 whup-ass manga (hell, the source material’s as old as me!), does it stand up, or fold like a house of
cards? It folds, like a bitch.
Look, I went into this with all the best hopes in the world – the source material was smokin’ after all – but the fact that I was going to be
subjected to 112 minutes of CG did not exactly warm the cockles, as it were. I hate CG effects. There, I said it. No – I really hate CG – born in ‘72, I’
m a child of the 70s and 80s when it comes to effects – give me prosthetics and appliance make-up any day. CG (especially when done badly) can
jar an audience, even a reasonably open minded one like myself, out of their willing suspension of disbelief, and then, as a director, you’re
screwed. Take this green screen and shove it… Yeah, I said I liked Sin City, which was largely done with CSO, but that film, with its heavily stylised
film noir delivery and impressive use of chiaroscuro made the effects work for it, not the other way around, as Devilman seems to want to do.
So, you probably want to know the plot, then. Revel in spoiler-free reviewing… Parentless uber-geek Akira is best mates with bad-boy over-
achiever Ryo, has been since they were little kids, playing at being monsters and reading monster-themed comic books together. After Akira’s
parents die in a traffic accident, he is taken in by nice girl Miki’s family, and his friendship with Ryo (who Miki doesn’t like – the feeling is mutual, by
the way) continues – despite being beaten to a pulp by folks who don’t dig Ryo’s vibe, and becoming a whipping boy for such along the way.
Anyhoo, in a Japanese research laboratory in Antarctica, Ryo’s father’s team have set loose a whole bunch of demons who happily go about
possessing anyone they please, including Ryo’s father, and then Ryo himself, who initially wants to be put out of his misery, now that he’s no
longer 100% human. He seems to get over that pretty quickly, becoming Satan in his angelic form. Akira, also becoming possessed, takes on the
chick-magnet mantle of Devilman – a demon with a human heart – and like Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man, becomes stronger and
faster, but with the added bonus of being able to turn into a great big fuck off demonic killing machine. This is all quite early on in the piece, so
please don’t think I’m giving anything away.
Did I also mention I don’t like wire-work? In my martial arts films, I like the real deal – give me a Bruce Lee or Sonny Chiba film over rubbish like
Once Upon A Time In China or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon any day. Too much wire acrobatics here for my liking. Sure, it can help the
characters seem more otherworldly, but really, it detracts from the impact of the fight scenes. It’s like watching ballet dancers have a dust-up.
So then we get to the crux of the film – the whole question of good versus evil. Not exactly the most original idea known to man – having been a
part of the human experience from the classics of antiquity to The Bible, and having been the major theme of all those medieval morality plays like
Everyman, most of Shakespeare’s best stuff right through to modern day characters like Batman. Akira, despite being Devilman, is a powerful
force for good – despite the enormous amount of collateral damage he causes – as in his fight with uber-hottie Selene – Ryo, as Satan, is rather
obviously a force for evil. Other school students (and other people) start becoming possessed – walking doormat Miko for instance grows a pair
and metes out a bit of justice, and this is the only interesting point this film raises: who’s the good guy, and who’s the bad guy? When does the
force for good become the force for evil? When does revenge cross the line to become worse, morally, than the act it punishes?
The senseless slaughter and paranoia of the Salem witch-trials is called into question, when regular humans are being accused of being demons
by jealous co-workers, and I guess it’s this element that makes Devilman a kind of a (very) poor man’s version of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, or
Ken Russell’s gloriously over-the-top and wonderfully heretical The Devils. The whole idea of people being persecuted for being different – I can
relate to that; having been the only head-banger in a town full of sad-arse pathetic wiggas when I was a teenager. Being different is being
championed in this film, as much as it is in Nightbreed, Christiane F, or countless other outsider films.
Ultimately, however, this film fails to deliver on any level bar the most basic, having deservedly won the Grand Prize in Japan’s Bunshun Kiichigo
Awards – think “Golden Raspberry” – for worst film of the year of its release. The script was truly diabolical (and not in a good way), the acting
utterly atrocious (rule of thumb: pop stars rarely act well, or even to the most basic and remedial of levels – and our pretty boy leads, from J-Pop
band Flame certainly prove me right – and if they didn’t, Bob Sapp’s newscaster – who appears to be serving the same purpose as the Chorus in
Greek tragedy – definitely does), and the whole enchilada came off as little better than brain poison to this reviewer. The director seems to be of
the “if we blow loads of shit up, people will be entertained” school of thought which powers moronic, zero second attention span fare such as Die
Hard 4.0. After a while it all becomes totally deadening, and over the top in a very wearing fashion indeed – avoid this like the plague. Actually, if I
had the choice I’d take the plague over watching Devilman ever again.
Can I tell you that this film introduced me to a new sensation – being disappointed by an Eastern Eye release. That’s never happened to me
before, and I own nearly their entire catalogue. Shame, really.
Extras: There’s a brief “Making Of Devilman” featurette (the only interesting moment was when the director stated that it was difficult making a
demon into a hero – I immediately started thinking of Amano Jaku from Urotsukidoji, Spawn, hell, if you want to stretch a point, fuckin’ Lone Wolf
and Cub – and they got six films out of that! The main character explicitly states that on entering into the life of the mercenary/assassin they’ve
become demons – creating an anti-hero is nothing new, or particularly difficult in my opinion), an annoyingly un-subtitled and over-long SPFX reel,
showing how the various gags were achieved, the theatrical trailer (hardly a “special” feature, seeing as how I just watched the whole fuckin’
movie), and a bunch of Eastern Eye trailers: Azumi 2, Death Trance, Cutie Honey and Shinobi. Not exactly a cornucopia of greatness…
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