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The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack ([[Dolby Digital]] 5.1 on the [[PAL]] [[DVD region code|Region 2]] release{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}) and English [[Subtitle (captioning)|subtitle]]s.
The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack ([[Dolby Digital]] 5.1 on the [[PAL]] [[DVD region code|Region 2]] release{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}) and English [[Subtitle (captioning)|subtitle]]s.


The [[Theme music|theme song]], "[[Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro]]", was written and sung by the director's then wife, [[J-pop|Japanese pop]] [[singer]] [[Hikaru Utada]].
The [[Theme music|theme song]], "[[Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro]]", was written and sung by the director's ex-wife, [[J-pop|Japanese pop]] [[singer]] [[Hikaru Utada]].


== Reception ==
== Reception ==

Revision as of 05:15, 30 December 2009

Casshern
Directed byKazuaki Kiriya
Written byKazuaki Kiriya
StarringYusuke Iseya
Kumiko Aso
Toshiaki Karasawa
Mayumi Sada
Jun Kaname
Susumu Terajima
Akira Terao
Tatsuya Mihashi
Hidetoshi Nishijima
CinematographyKazuaki Kiriya
Edited byKazuaki Kiriya
Music byShiro Sagisu
Production
company
Distributed byShochiku
Release dates
April 24, 2004 (Japan)
April 25, 2005 (UK)
October 26, 2005 (France)
July 14, 2006 (Italy)
October 16, 2007 (USA)
Running time
140 min. (Japan)
120 min. (USA)
Country Japan
LanguageJapanese
Budget¥ 600 million
(US$ 6 million)
Box officeDomestic:
¥ 2.7 billion (aprox.)
(US$ 27 million (aprox.))
Overseas:
¥ 9.8 billion (aprox.)
(US$ 98 million (aprox.))
Worldwide:
¥ 12.5 billion (aprox.)
(US$ 125 million (aprox.))

Casshern (キャシャーン, Kyashān) is a 2004 Japanese tokusatsu film adaptation of the anime series of the same name. It was written and directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. It stars Yusuke Iseya as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern, Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki, Toshiaki Karasawa as Burai, Mayumi Sada as Saguree, and Jun Kaname as Barashin.

Plot

The movie opens with a narration stating there has been a fifty-year war consisting of the Eastern Federation against Europa using an array of different weapons: Nuclear, biological and chemical, which have heavily polluted the environment. A photoshoot follows, introducing Tetsuya, his father Dr. Azuma, Tetsuya's fiancée Luna, her father Dr. Kozuki, and Tetsuya's mother Midori. Tetsuya is in the war to spite his father; Dr. Azuma is a lead scientist to the Eastern Federation's new dictatorship government, and in a presentation towards investors he reveals that he has discovered Neo Cells, human cells that can form any body part and be transplanted without rejection. These are only found in an initially undisclosed ethnic group, but with the right funding, Azuma hopes to cure his wife, whose health is rapidly deteriorating due to a pollution-related illness. The council quickly dismisses Dr. Azuma's claims, however, a military adviser named Naito comes to Azuma and offers him the sponsorship he requires for his research and the development of his Neo Cells.

While walking away from a fight on the battlefield, Tetsuya hears a child's cry and pulls the child from the arms of its deceased mother. It transpires that the infant is booby-trapped, as the deceased mother is clutching a grenade with the pin seemingly connected to the child. The pin is released when Tetsuya lifts the child, but the ensuing explosion is unseen. In the next scene, Midori, now blind, is in her garden with an assistant, and while she checks outside for visitors, it appears she is visited by Tetsuya's ghost. Dr. Azuma, in the presence of Dr. Kozuki, receives a call informing him of his son's death.

Shortly afterwards Tetsuya's corpse is delivered to Dr. Azuma's laboratory under military escort.

As Tetsuya's corpse rests outside, disaster—in the form of a giant stone-based, mechanical lightning bolt—plummets from the sky, crashing through the roof of the research building and into the culture of Neo-Cells that Dr. Azuma is researching. This causes the organs in the culture to combine into "Neo-sapiens". They are instantly slaughtered by the government, with a select few escaping. While in a car en route to Azuma's lab, Midori and her fellow passengers are caught in the crossfire of the unfolding slaughter. Only Midori survives the barrage, however she is abducted by Burai and the other surviving Neo-sapiens.

Having escaped the laboratory, the Neo-sapiens venture into the frozen wilderness and discover a derelict castle. Inside the castle the Neo-sapiens find a battalion of dormant robots. They vow revenge upon humanity, which rejected them, and reactivate the battalion for their ensuing war.

Meanwhile, Dr. Azuma carries his son's body into his laboratory and submerges it in the Neo-Cell culture. Tetsuya is then resurrected as a superhuman, but his condition is unstable, and he is brought to Kozuki's residence to be treated. Kozuki, a molecular engineer, had been working on advanced battle armour, which he then uses to stabilise Tetsuya. Kozuki's residence comes under attack by the Neo-sapiens, who are seeking out scientists to contribute to their war effort, and Tetsuya, who is still being treated in a life support chamber, is awoken in the ensuing chaos. He kills a female Neo-sapien, Saguree, but cannot save Kozuki who was fatally injured. Before dying, Kozuki broods on Tetsuya's unfortunate existence and ponders his fate.

Tetsuya and Luna escape into the streets where they are confronted by a battalion of Burai's robot army. After eliminating their attackers Tetsuya battles Burai only to be beaten and consequently lose consciousness. When he comes to, he and Luna set off on a journey to a place called Zone Seven, but the route is hazardous due to heavy radioactive contamination, and Luna falls ill.

Tetsuya is found in the forest by a doctor and led to a nearby village in Zone Seven, where the doctor treats Luna. It is revealed the people of Zone Seven aren't terrorists at all, but have been slaughtered for decades because of the Government's discriminatory policies. The doctor, in conversation, informs Tetsuya of a local legend of a protective deity named "Casshern"-a deity whose statue makes numerous appearances in the movie. Tetsuya fights Barashin as the village comes under attack by the military and Neo-sapiens, and it is here that he first refers to himself as Casshern. While both suffer injuries in the fight, Casshern is the victor and Barashin is killed. Fighting Barashin has caused Tetsuya to lose Luna, who escaped with a Neo-sapien and eventually found her way to a train full of captured villagers from Zone Seven. Here, Luna and the Neo-sapien are confronted by a bereaved scientist who blames the Neo-sapiens for the loss of his daughter. Luna is rescued by Dr. Azuma, but the Neo-sapien is injured.

A coup d’état takes place and General Kamijo's son takes over, while in the laboratory Naito reveals that Neo Cells are not what they seem. The Neo Cells were acquired from the slaughtered "original humans" of Zone Seven for the purposes of prolonging General Kamijo and his cohorts' lives, and the Neo Cell culture did not in fact create the Neo-Sapiens. It simply rejoined the body parts that were harvested from the victims of Zone Seven after being struck by the stone lightning bolt. Even though Dr. Azuma had been spearheading the macabre experiments, he is unable to explain what has happened. As they talk, the stone lightning bolt crumbles and Casshern appears to fall from the sky into the laboratory, which is now in ruins.

Burai arrives with an airship and abducts Luna, Casshern and the dying Neo-sapien, leaving a now fatally wounded Naito, Dr. Azuma and General Kamijo's son alone. Burai gives his reasons for hating humanity, and Casshern finds his mother, but she's apparently dead. Burai launches a giant machine that appears to be set to self-destruct, which slaughters countless soldiers. Casshern uses all his strength to stop the machine, although it still detonates, albeit away from any urban or heavily populated area.

In the finale, the General's son kills Burai with a grenade after revealing he was human all along, and it is learned that Tetsuya, during his military service, slaughtered Burai's family. Casshern stops his father from resurrecting his mother, so Dr. Azuma retaliates by shooting Luna in the head. Luna is revived by the blood of Burai, only after Casshern kills his father. The souls of the dead come onto Casshern as he and Luna embrace each other. Luna rips out Tetsuya's containment suit and a pillar of light fires into space. It ends with a monologue by Tetsuya while the screen alternates between the pillar of light making its way through space & crashing down onto another planet and flashbacks of happier times for the characters. The film ends with home footage of the characters in happier times.

Production

The film is based on a 1973 anime television series, Shinzō Ningen Kyashān (translated as "Neo-Human Casshern" and known as just Casshan in the United States) from animation studio Tatsunoko Productions. Along with contemporary films Able Edwards, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Immortal, and Sin City, it was among the first feature-length live action films to be shot on a digital backlot, with the actors performing in front of a greenscreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact.

As well as being influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet, director Kazuaki Kiriya states that he drew upon Russian Avant-Garde for visual inspiration[1].

European influences are also shown in the battles and some stage settings that are designed to resemble the World War II Nazis. The first robot battles, however, were less performed by the original cast, and more by the Euro-Japanese duo of stunts and choreographers, Funakoshi Orinosuke (オリノスケ フナコシ) and Motoori Chinatsu (チナツ モトオリ), thus making the feature more influenced by mixed history of European part of the world. The set also features vast number of Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian writings, calling out for peace, hence holding a unified message of people who were devastated with civil wars post WWII.

Accoding to Kiriya, in an interview with Joblo, it took 2 months to shoot the film and a further 6 months of post-production work[1]. The film's look was achieved through a combination of means, from CGI (supervised by Haruhiko Shono), matte paintings to even Kiriya's heavy involvement with the cinematography[1].

The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack (Dolby Digital 5.1 on the PAL Region 2 release[citation needed]) and English subtitles.

The theme song, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", was written and sung by the director's ex-wife, Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada.

Reception

Casshern debuted on April 24, 2004[2] premiering in fifth place with a total gross of US$1,530,216 in 181 theaters. Staying within the top ten for five weeks, the film went on to make under US$ 13 million. The production cost was estimated at US$ 6.6 million.

On Rotten Tomatoes Casshern has acquired an overall approval rating of 68% from 10 reviews by critics[3]. Empire gave it 3 out of possible 5 stars and described it as "flawed and messy, but a hell of a looker"[4] while IGN reviewer, Hock Teh, gave the recent American DVD release 8 out of 10 stating that "without any doubt, Casshern is a compelling piece of filmmaking"[5]. Variety reviewer Derek Elley notes that while not entirely original in its content, its execution and inventiveness are impressive[6].

The DVD received an official Region 1 Release on October 16 2007. The US release is a full 24 minutes shorter than the original. It features both a Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo Japanese soundtrack, as well as English subtitles. The subtitles are almost universally criticized by fans for being enormously incomplete. On several occasions they are lacking entirely; when they do appear they often completely differ from the dialogue or oversimplify it to such a degree that key plot elements and the overall force of the story are diminished. This is a common practice for foreign movies in Japan, though, and is done purposefully by studios to localize the film for the target audience.

Cast

Soundtrack

Note: the soundtrack does not include the Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Beethoven, used throughout the film. OUR LAST DAY -CASSHERN OFFICIAL ALBUM- (April 23, 2004)

Disk 1 Inspired (theme song and songs used in this movie)

  1. Shiina Ringo - "STEM" (茎)
  2. MONDO GROSSO (Shinichi Osawa) - "LIKE NO ONE'S LOOKING" (from LIVE ON THE NEXT WAVE 1)
  3. HYDE - "MASQUERADE" (from 666)
  4. Towa Tei - "ORIGINAL HUMAN"
  5. ACIDMAN - "Suisha" (水写, 6th single)
  6. SS:ST (Shiro SAGISU & Satoshi TOMIIE) - "Pluriel"
  7. Chihiro Onitsuka - "BORDERLINE" (from Sugar High)
  8. The Back Horn - "Requiem" (from Yume no Hana)
  9. GLAY - "from Infinite deja vu ~Peaceful Session~" (無限のdéjà vuから ～Peaceful Session～, Mugen no Dejabū kara ～Peaceful Session～, from The Frustrated)
  10. Utada Hikaru- "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (Theme song of this film)

Disk 2 Music From The Motion Picture (OST)

  1. "The Ruins" (荒廃, Kōhai)
  2. "The Dark Shadow" (暗影, An'ei)
  3. "The Quickening" (胎動, Taidō)
  4. "Vertigo" (眩暈, Memai)
  5. "Divine Will" (神意, Shin'i)
  6. "Orbit" (軌道, Kidō)
  7. "Resurrection" (復活, Fukkatsu)
  8. "Footsteps" (足音, Ashioto)
  9. "Prayer" (祈り, Inori)
  10. "Vision" (幻影, Gen'ei)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c INT: Casshern's director
  2. ^ [1] [dead link‍]
  3. ^ Casshern Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
  4. ^ Empire Reviews Central - Review of Casshern
  5. ^ IGN: Casshern (Director's Cut) Review
  6. ^ Casshern Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie Casshern
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