Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)

A violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.

Director:

Gakuryû Ishii (as Sogo Ishii)

Writer:

Gakuryû Ishii (as Sogo Ishii)

Stars:

Yoshiki Arizono, Tadanobu Asano, Masakatsu Funaki

Cast

Credited cast:
Yoshiki Arizono	...	Villain A
Tadanobu Asano	...	Dragon Eye Morrison
Masakatsu Funaki	...	Narrator (voice)
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Thunderbolt Buddha

Storyline

A young boy gets jolted with electricity as he's climbing a tall cable pylon. As he gets older, he experiences intense fits of violence in which bolts of electricity burt from his fists. Elsewhere in Tokyo, there is an electronics wizard who also happens to be a vigilante with a taste for electric weapons. When the pair catch each other's attention, the result is a battle that will light up the city.

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural power | electricity | weapon | violence | light | 

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

7 March 2002 (Germany)

Also Known As:

80.000 voltos elektromos sárkány

Company Credits

Production Co:

Suncent CinemaWorks,Taki Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Quotes

Narrator: The dragon. A mythological creature? No. It exists -- inside us.

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Connections

References Akira (1988)

User Reviews

Doesn't let you go - makes you contemplate, and it's fun too!

Electric Dragon 80.000V is a striking black-and-white raunch through Tokyo, with an extremely simple plot line to accentuate the force of the film. It's about a troubled man who was shocked by high voltage wires when he was young. When his anger rises, he starts releasing electricity uncontrollably. The only thing able to calm him down is his... electric guitar.

The director, Sogo Ishii, is well known for his high-energy pieces, and began his career well before current highly regarded directors such as Takashi Miike and Shinya Tsukamoto, and produced bloody critiques on society even before Shinya reached for his first drill. Most notably, Sogo Ishii worked with Einsturzende Neubauten to produce Half Man, part documentary, part music video, and very good.

Electric Dragon 80.000V doesn't let you go, even when you're following in the footsteps of the main lead as he trawls through endless alleyways with pounding music in the background. Part of that is because of Tadanobu Asano, the relentlessly talented actor who has singlehandedly created a new sort of stardom in Japan, and it's no surprise he is called their Johnny Depp. The mastery over the direction is breathtaking - left deliberately rough to jar your senses, to neither keep you on the edge of the seat nor let you relax, you are driven to contemplate what exactly this is all about. The movie's fun to watch too!

The storyline reaches its conclusion none too soon, and none too late either. At just over 60 minutes, you get the feeling that there's going to be more of these, and you would be right. A sequel was produced which I'm dying to see.