Director - Takashi Yamazaki
Rating: 3/5
In the year 2194 Japanese morals are alive and well in this Hollywood-esque CGI spectacular.
Survivors of an alien attack on earth are living underground, hiding from the radiation poisoning left behind after the onslaught. It seems that all hope is lost, but when Kodai, Takuya Kimura finds a remnant from a crashed capsule that has the power to stop the radiation, the humans are given a last ditch chance to reclaim their planet. The warp technology enhanced Battleship Yamato sets off on its maiden voyage to find the planet the capsule came from, with the hopes of mankind pinned on it. I confess that I was not familiar with the animation series before but subsequent research shows that the film keeps the retro stylings of the original series intact. Those snazzy leather jackets still look pretty cool and the naff sailor suits for the captains are at least authentic. There is no series reboot or re-imagining going on here.
The action may be set in 2197 but the message is one that has echoed throughout the ages in Japan. The importance of the group, fulfilling your role in it, and respecting authority all come to the fore here. At times the film comes across like a very strange sort of propaganda, not helped by the constant aggressive saluting. The series itself harks back to the real warship Yamato that went on what was essentially a suicide mission to Okinawa in April of 1945. This is evident not only in the design of the spaceship itself, basically a flying 2nd world war battleship, but in the perpetual taking one for the team message that reverberates from start to finish. Among Yamazaki's previous output as director are the two Always films. Polar opposites on the outside, they are sentimental dramas about post-war Tokyo that embodied the same conservative messages being presented here.
Takuya Kimura asserts himself well. He definitely has star quality and is one of the few modern Japanese actors with the star status to pull off a role like this. This said, the transition Kodai goes through seems to be set to fast forward. He starts the film as an aggressive loner but after every smidgen of exposition he seems to have changed immensely. By the 3rd act with Kodai suddenly all grown up, and not shouting at authority figures, it remains a little unconvincing. His dynamic with Mori, Meisa Kuroki the ass kicking female ace pilot, is overall a bit lifeless. Apart from a few instances when her strong woman credentials are being established, she doesn't maintain your interest. The cast as a whole is full to the brim with house-hold Japanese names, even in the blink and you miss it cameo roles, giving the film a nice meatiness.
The CGI is by and large impressive. The battle scenes show some unique touches. They feel like one of those old arcade games with spaceships and lasers flying in every which direction. The pensive space-scapes are mesmerizing and help to immerse you in this alternate reality. There are a few moments where the CGI has a noticeably fake sheen to it, largely when blended into actual scenery. When things are purely blue screen based though, it is of a high standard. The interior sets of the spaceship look the part, too.
Aside from the distinctly Japanese morals, we are in standard Hollywood emulation territory here. The film works in bite-size chunks of exposition washed down with a smattering of action, all paced in that very familiarly slick way. The cockpit scenes have an inevitable Star Trek dynamic to them. Even the final song by Aerosmith's Steve Tyler seems to be geared up to replicate Armageddon (why anyone would want to escapes me). One thing that is striking in its absence, there is no Darth Vader character, no supreme bad guy to unite against. The threat is largely a faceless one. For most of the movie the enemy is just wave after wave of spaceships and this lack of a focal point makes it a little hard to engage with at times. Perhaps for those inclined to, this could be read as a further example of a Japanese subtext, that general fear of the outside, but on face-level it leaves the story feeling a little unbalanced. Already a massive success in Japan, this movie is an admirable attempt at playing Hollywood at its own game.
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