This film is a real pity. Ridley's book "Those Who Walk in Darkness" is a very disturbing view of what might happen in a society in which superheroes are so commonplace that they have been legislated against and exiled from America.
The story takes the point of view of a female law enforcement officer joining a unit which specialises in hunting down superheroes who are illegally remaining in the US. The book makes no bones about the fact that these units are essentially assassination squads and provides some chilling parallels between this future society's law enforcement and the Nazi Einsatzgruppe. The novel dwells in some detail on the character's attitude to those she hunts and the way society has become intolerant, making her appear relatively normal. The book even draws some sympathy for her for the way she is treated by her superiors.
Unfortunately this film is so poorly and amateurishly animated and voiced that absolutely none of the ambiguity of the book (making a hero of someone most people would think of as being morally wrong) and renders this a sort of children's cartoon with an adult rating, thus guaranteeing that no-one will enjoy it. What comes across is an "in your face" portrayal of why it's OK to go round killing people because they're very different, and thus appears very racist / (specist?). The book brings out a very different message and clearly questions whether this is right.
I can understand that good animation costs a lot of money and that a topic like this one must be difficult to gets funds for. I think in this case though it would have been best left as a book.
I really can't recommend this to anyone. The book however is worth reading.
The story takes the point of view of a female law enforcement officer joining a unit which specialises in hunting down superheroes who are illegally remaining in the US. The book makes no bones about the fact that these units are essentially assassination squads and provides some chilling parallels between this future society's law enforcement and the Nazi Einsatzgruppe. The novel dwells in some detail on the character's attitude to those she hunts and the way society has become intolerant, making her appear relatively normal. The book even draws some sympathy for her for the way she is treated by her superiors.
Unfortunately this film is so poorly and amateurishly animated and voiced that absolutely none of the ambiguity of the book (making a hero of someone most people would think of as being morally wrong) and renders this a sort of children's cartoon with an adult rating, thus guaranteeing that no-one will enjoy it. What comes across is an "in your face" portrayal of why it's OK to go round killing people because they're very different, and thus appears very racist / (specist?). The book brings out a very different message and clearly questions whether this is right.
I can understand that good animation costs a lot of money and that a topic like this one must be difficult to gets funds for. I think in this case though it would have been best left as a book.
I really can't recommend this to anyone. The book however is worth reading.