Goemon

I got this movie couple days ago on Blu-ray, and I must say it is so amazing. Excellent mix of CG animation. There are also my favorite Japanese actors in this movie, it was great. I've got feeling like playing some samurai video games while I was watching it. Also, the soundtrack of the movie is just great! I don't know why people talk bad things about this movie! Action scenes are awesome. There is also K-1 fighter Choi from Korea in this movie.....If you like ninja and samurai movies, I think you will be satisfied. To me this is great mix of fantasy and action. And one of my favorite fantasy movies of 2009. 10/10

It was the same with Casshern and it will be the same with Goemon. At this moment, the film hasn't gotten as much exposure in the West but needless to say, when it does, the film community will be awash with disappointment and confusion. Why? I think it has a lot to do with the role of CGI in film today. Being largely the domain of larger Hollywood studios, the technology has been used as a means of replacing reality, emulating it to the point of near transparency. Jurrassic Park was one the first films to show that such a goal was even possible and effects have progressed so much further since then.

It therefore are that a Hollywood films attempt to use CGI for enhancing reality or making an entirely new reality of their own. Sin City was made outside of the studio system and perhaps that is why it was made at all. 300 was a valiant attempt as well at using CGI to create the actual fantastical. On the other side of the coin, Lord of the Rings, though amazing for its depiction of monsters and creatures of the imagination, ultimately had the purpose of bring THEM into OUR world.

GOEMON, like Casshern, is an attempt to bring us into another world, similar to our own but in so many ways, different. The effects and design serve the purpose of creating an unreality of enhanced surreality, mimicking the pages of comic books and the frames of animation. Visually, it was never intended to fool the eye or make the fantastical 'real'. Like its predecessor, it had loftier, more artistic goals. The question is, did the film reach them? In many ways it did, but in many, it fell short. In the running time of story, there is certainly no lack of sumptuous composition and stunning colour. The action is hyperactive and generally defies the rules of the real world, though they make total sense in the scheme of Goemon's. The sheer audacity of the large scale battles, especially in the last quarter, makes the viewer simultaneously bewildered and amazed. You have never seen this before outside of the imagination and the boundless universe of pen and paper. No Hollywood film would dare do it.

And that is the film's dual strength and weakness. What it does is alien to a majority of film fans bred on Hollywood's particular brand. They have been fed so much in the way of safe challenges and formulaic product, that their first instinct is to rebel against any films cutting against the grain. The beauty of GOEMON is that it isn't a Hollywood picture and therefore doesn't need to apply itself to pleasing a conservative demographic who are otherwise unable to accept what the film ultimately creates.

That is not to say that it doesn't follow clichés and formulas of its own origin, but the presentation is fresh and eccentric enough to counter them. The whole is entirely a product of Japan. It reflects the culture's own eclectic, modern tastes while also preserving a filtered rendition of the old. It both revises and reinforces its subject matter, forming it into something that is Japan and at the same time, is not. It doesn't matter that most of the story never really happened. The vitality of the film is its lust for a life of its own and, its characters, while largely archetypal, serve the mythic aspects the story perfectly, because that is what myths are made of.

GOEMON is a film that shouldn't be weighed against standards set outside its context. It is a film trying to shed the limitations forced upon it by a conservative industry and consuming public. It is a myth, a comic book, a video game, an animation, and an epic drama; it is a lush and inspirational 'other world' and doesn't need to be constrained by our own. Films should not need to succumb to our ingrained demand for adherence to our reality. Go into the film with this in mind, and your imagination will be enriched by it. Be unable to let those strictures go, and I think that sadly, you will miss out.

I saw the movie in a private preview so it might have technically gotten even better since then or the web trailers.

Actually, I am glad that the web trailer is nothing revealing. Let the people get the real thing where they should get it: in the cinemas. I rather hate those movies that pack the trailer with best they have and then there's nothing left than those 30 seconds of glory.

A pity I can't talk about the story to avoid spoilers, at this time I would just explain why it was excellent for me:

*the way Kiriya re-wrote this little piece of history and made a great thing out of it and one worth watching in a movie.

*it has anything that a blockbuster shall have but keeps a pure and decent heart and yes, done at an extremely low budget under one million $.

*the CG is (in my opinion) not intended to look like Iron Man Hollywood stuff but rather like Final Fantasy and I really hope people not being snobs about this because this is not the point. Besides, I never felt that the CG isn't good or not good enough, I didn't even feel it was a CG because the story moves on so fast and takes you in its stream, you don't have the time or need to think twice.

*there are no gaps and goofs or illogical actions in the story line

*the style is very solid: the mix of Asian/Western costume design or architecture is continuous through the entire movie and nothing looks like a mistake or an accident or bad taste. The mix of true historical elements and modern elements (dance, etc) keeps things real while traditional elements (like the firefly) constantly remind us it's also a fairy tale that we are watching.

*you will get to see all martial arts you would dream of and better than that though you will not get tired with repetitive & unnecessary war/fight scenes.

*the cinematography is amazing at all times thanks to the elaborate costumes and architecture but the way that camera moves is one of the best new things too.

*all actors match their roles, great casting and especially the lead actor Eguchi Yosuke is so universally good, he could stand right next to Johny Depp in let's say Pirates of the Caribbean and be as good at it. By not looking extremely Asian, he could be a Latino, European, someone rather easy to identify with for the rest of the world besides the Japanese viewers. Hirosue Ryoko is also a wise choice and quite familiar to us from her earlier international hit Wasabi or the recent Academy Awards winning "Departure"(Okuribito)

Last I shall say, I'm not that much into (Japanese) directors trying rather desperately to impress the (Western) world through their forced/artsy/bloody/cruel/avant-garde/decadent/sexual stuff, I think a nicely shot good story is what we all badly need and this is the hardest part of it to get a thing that will improve human race. I am convinced that Goemon will do.

Like I was, maybe you aren't expecting much more than a flashy fantasy action flick to dazzle a few brain cells for 2 hours. Certainly the DVD cover, the IMDb description, and the first 15-20 minutes of the film fulfills that expectation: we get a lot of action sequences following our hero Goemon, the legendary 16th century Japanese Robin Hood character, as he performs rapid fire feats of martial arts & agility that would make Superman turn in his cape. (Aside: we'll talk about the controversial cgi in a minute, let's focus on story first.)

But what begins as a seemingly predictable comic book tale of good vs evil becomes a much more complex epic saga, as characters' loyalties and motivations change, as secrets are revealed, and as the characters themselves evolve and question their own actions, showing us that this is far more than a mindless good vs. evil tale. I won't ruin who's-who, but I'll say by far my favorite character dynamic is the complex relationship between Goemon and his antagonist Saizo. At first it seems like a straightforward hunt to the death, but buckle your seatbelt because it has a lot of unexpected twists & turns, culminating in an awesome, climactic scene.

Similarly, as the story twists & turns, the it takes on the air of a political thriller where the answers aren't as simple as you'd expected. Don't worry if you're not up to speed on 16th century feudal Japanese politics: the power struggle is frighteningly familiar and applicable today, 500 years later. Of course don't let the political angle scare you off, because it's still rooted in action/fantasy with plenty of eye candy visuals if that's all you want.

Which leads us to the controversial use of cgi... Yes, there's tons of cgi, and yes the film was made in 2009 when cgi wasn't very realistic looking. So you might find yourself distracted by the video game look of the action scenes. But I think the video game look is exactly what the filmmakers were going for. But in this film's defense, it was a bold stylistic choice in league with other heavy-cgi flicks like "Sky Captain" (2004), "Sin City" (2005), or the French flick "Immortal" (2004), which were the first films to depart entirely from traditional location filmmaking techniques in favor of green screen and post production. Here in "Goemon" we have a similar hyper-stylized look that's not necessarily supposed to seem realistic, and that could be a plus or a minus depending on how you like your flicks.

The bottom line is that the story and character development, not the look, is what really impressed me about "Goemon". It raised this seemingly simple action romp to an epic scale. In that respect (not visually) I would compare it to Zhang Yimou's "Hero" (2002) another surprisingly complex story proceeding from the simple premise of an assassin sent to kill a ruthless Emperor.

This fantastic tale of Goemon, a master-less shinobi turned master-thief, is a compelling action drama, with some genuinely funny light-hearted moments.

Like a mixture of Batman and Robin Hood, Goemon is a man unto himself, and a national hero. He lives by his own rules until his self-proclaimed freedom meets his past, and one robbery starts a chain of events set to turn his life upside down.

It's a great story of vengeance and betrayal, and if you add that to some great acting by the leads Yôsuke Eguchi (Goemon), and Takao Osawa (Saizo), and put it all through the beautifully shot stylings of Japanese cinema, you get this enthralling piece.

Only a couple of clichés in plot development and editing stop me from scoring the film higher, but with such minor faults, I couldn't recommend it more!