Spriggan (1998)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Hirotsugu Kawasaki

Writers:

Yasutaka Itô (writer)
Hirotsugu Kawasaki (writer)

Release Date:

12 October 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

They were looking for a sign. What they found was a warning.

Plot:

An elite superhuman agent must stop a foreign military unit from seizing control of an ancient artifact that holds the key to ultimate power.

Plot Keywords:

Power | Artifact | Noah's Ark | Turkey | Roof

Cast

J.D. Hawkins	...	ARCAM Guard 2
Chris Patton	...	Yu Ominae (voice) (as Christopher Patton)
Kevin Corn	...	Colonel MacDougall (voice)
Ted Pfister	...	Dr. Meisel (voice)
Andy McAvin	...	Jean-Jacques Mondo (voice)
Kelly Manison	...	Margaret (voice)
Mike Kleinhenz	...	Fattman (voice)
Spike Spencer	...	Little Boy (voice)
John Paul Shephard	...	Yamamoto (voice)
John Swasey	...	Mr. Smith (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
C. Markham Anderson	...	ARCAM Explorer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Ross Bautsch	...	COSMOS Yu (voice: English version)
Bob Biggerstaff	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Victor Carsrud	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kevin Charles	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jason Douglas	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer K. Earhart	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Ralph Ehntholt	...	Pentagon Black Ops, ARCAM Explorer (voice: English version)
Bob Elliot	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Foley Gang	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tiffany Grant	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Matt Greenfield	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Todd Greenfield	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Gremillion	...	Intelligence Officer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Hilary Haag	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jay Hickman	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Junie Hoang	...	Additional Voices
Don'l Johnson	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Kaiser	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Andrew Klimko	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mark Laskowski	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jason Lee	...	Additional Voices
James Marshall	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Vic Mignogna	...	Arcam Security 1, Additional Voices (English version) (voice)
Rob Mungle	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Customs Inspector (voice: English version)
Frank Page	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Phil Ross	...	ARCAM Explorer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Paul Sidello	...	Turkish ARCAM Agent (voice: English version)
Randy Sparks	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Greg Stanley	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Kurt Stoll	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Adam Taylor	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kira Vincent-Davis	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Brett Weaver	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Amanda Winn Lee	...	Additional Voices (as Amanda Winn)

Also Known As:

Spriggan (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

France:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 (video rating) (2005) | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Bandai Visual Company

Trivia:

Fatman and Little Boy are the names of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the fight with Colonel MacDougal Ominae's arm was broken in multiple places and left hanging limp. However, when he was falling with Jean after escaping the Ark he used the broken arm to shoot his grappling hook and hung from it, then after landing was using his 'broken' arm as if it weren't injured at all.

Movie Connections:

References Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

raiders of the lost arc on drugs with akira

Yu is a member of the group ARCAM; a organization set to hide and stop people from uncovering ancient artifacts. Yu is also a Spriggan, an elite fighting machine. He's strong, fast, agile and extremely deadly. When one of Yu's friend commits suicide with the message that Noah will be your grave, Yu starts to investigate. Colonel MacDougall, a psychic experiment kid, has found Noah's Ark and intends to use it to start a new world.

Spriggan is a visually amazing animation that puts you right into the action. The action sequences are fast paced and intensely violent. The inter film moves at a lightning pace, it doesn't stop to take a breath. So in that respect it isn't boring. But the draw back is the script. At times it seems heavy handed and doesn't explain everything. It doesn't have much depth to it, but its a very interesting topic to use. The action does pick up the flaws of the script, but action cant always save a film from bad writing.

Taking it ques from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Akira, its a wild and extremely fun ride, it just could have been a lot more.