Metropolis
Type: Movie
Genre: Sci-fi
Version: Region 1 DVD
Reviewed: 1/15/04
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Metropolis is the story of a power-hungry politician named Duke Red, who is desperately trying to continue his legacy by reviving his dead daughter Tima by creating a life-like robot replica of her to control his empire. The plan gets thrown out of whack when his jealous adopted son named Rock decides to take things into his own hands and eliminate his competition for the throne. Meanwhile Detective Shumsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi are on a case to find the missing scientist Dr. Laughton, the same scientist that created Tima. So all hell breaks lose and before Rock gets the chance to destroy Tima, Kenichi meets up with her and they escape his grasp.
Aside from the main storyline, there are sub-plots running right in between. Atlas, the leader of an anti-robot group, is preparing a war against the robots because his people are tired of being replaced by machines at their jobs. Atlas is getting support from the police chief who in reality is tricking him because he is siding with the President in a plan to stop Duke Red from seizing control over the city, and he needs Atlas’s band of soldiers to do his dirty work. All this double crossing and treachery lead to a dramatic ending that will shock and surprise you. The great thing about the movie is that even though it’s about two hours long it draws you right in and keeps your attention.
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| Does anyone else hear Square’s lawyers running up? |
Some of you older readers may notice the animation style resembles the old T.V. show Astro-Boy. That is because the art is based off of Osamu Tezuka, who is famous for his Astro-Boy series. The director Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo took Tezuka’s comic book story Metropolis and created a full-length movie from it.
In the sound and animation departments, nothing really stands out as particularly awesome. The animation is good, but nothing much above average, while the exact same description can be applied to the music.
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| Guns solve everything. |
This is one soundtrack that you will be eager to purchase. Throughout the movie, aside from the regular background music there are small doses of Jazz that play in all the right places and are not just there for background melodies, they are actually there to prove a point. They add to the overall feel and presentation of the movie making it feel like a retro meets future look. Listen carefully to the lyrics…especially the ending.
In closing, Metropolis is a movie that deserves to be watched. If you like anime movies with action and a strong story that make you think this movie is for you.
-Q Jets