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Lost: Sundown (2010)
An amazing achievement
'Sundown' was truly an awesome ride from start to finish and an insanely cool turning point in the season.
Everything within this episode was handled so well - the pacing, the plot, the dialogue, the camera work, the music - it all came together, even the flash sideways was very satisfying this week, and opens new doors for future flash sideways.
A lot of the time good pacing is just felt rather than being too obvious. This episode's pacing was a leap up from everything else so far this season; in essence, the creative team cuts right to the chase with each scene rather than wandering off as other episodes have proved to do. A sense of dreaded urgency is present throughout the episode, particularly after Sayid meets 'evil incarnate' and learns of his mission. That scene is positively brilliant, from the sounds of the smoke monster and the image of John Locke appearing before Sayid, to both of their reactions after the stabbing, to the idea that Nadia could be brought back. It's fantastic acting by these two this whole episode.
I also have to add that the fight scene between Sayid and Dogan was damn cool. It was great to see Sayid go up against an even better fighter than he, and I was nearly shouting at the screen to egg him on.
The flash sideways was very good I thought, showing us an alternate relationship with Nadia. Sayid's reasoning that he doesn't deserve Nadia makes perfect sense and only emphasises the tragic nature of his character. In terms of random characters showing up, I'm so glad they chose Keamy, as it completely came from left field and it was great to see him still being the evil type. Jin appearing at the end was interesting more than the usual response I give to other characters cropping up which is, 'Ugh'. I'm keen to see what he's been up to.
Naveen Andrews was fantastic all around this episode. His character is going through two very different arcs on the island and in LA X, and is fun to see. One can only imagine the road he will take after this episode, in particular after killing both Dogan and Lennon in cold blood. Quite the shock.
Lastly, the final sequence of the episode. While Lost usually gives us intrigue, mystery, tension and adventure, this sequence was pure 100% entertainment and I welcomed it with outstretched arms. Although Ilanna & co. appearing out of nowhere was a little weird, it didn't spoil the Man in Black's all-out assault on the Temple, something I'd been anxiously awaiting since the beginning of the season. And if it wasn't enough, the very last scene where Kate, Claire and Sayid are walking through the devastated Temple grounds and outside in slo-mo, with Claire's eerie song over the top was so...I can only say amazing, the whole scene was, even the final shot.
While previous episodes have made me think, "Hm, that was interesting," this episode filled me with genuine awe and reminded me how great Lost can be. I cannot wait until next week!
24: Day 8: 1:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m. (2010)
I wanted to like this episode, but...
So I was actually quite looking forward to this episode in the hope that the plot might start to pick up now there's a definite threat in New York. And it does, but unfortunately not in any way that I was satisfied with.
Despite Tarran and Kayla's characters just being thrown into the story without knowing much about them, I quite enjoyed the plan to free Tarran and its execution. I'm really hoping the writers don't pull a rug out and have Tarran turn out to be bad, because I could learn to like him as a character, that is if they decide to keep him around long enough.
It was also cool to see Hastings get back at Rob Weiss, despite how cheesy it was. I hope to see Hasting's character progress further before the end of the day.
OK, now for one of the most contrived bits of TV I've seen - Farhad can't take the stress any longer and decides to make a run for it from the shooter tracking him. Instantly he's shot twice and literally TWO SECONDS later CTU turns up. Hilariously contrived!
I was willing to forgive them when Jack explains his plan to lure the terrorists to finish Farhad off, and it set up some great drama and/or action to follow. Unfortunately, we get a guy from an elite government agency who looks like he should be waiting tables rather than protecting his country with lethal force. He's a field agent who's nervous to the point of Jack having to tell him it'll be alright. I remember Jack saying this to a civilian in Season 7, but now CTU agents are so incapable that he has to comfort them as well...and this guy was the ranking officer after Cole...wow...
OK, so the big setup with Farhad's body is...(and this is a government agency that is signing off on this, mind you, so imagine the outcry if this went wrong) to lure a terrorist inside a hospital wearing an ARMED BOMB. WHAT?! I threw my arms up in exasperation. This completely ruined the episode for me. Sure there are things in 24 that aren't likely, but this enters a whole new skewed reality. The terrorist is holding the detonator in his hand! Judging by how jumpy both he and the CTU agent look, any false move would blow them and any innocent patients & doctors to smithereens.
My other major gripe with this sequence is CTU's technology, and their reliance on technology as a whole. Instantly they can access facial recognition software, and it seems unless they got lucky, which they did, they could have spent hours going through every person at the hospital and seeing if they match with Hassan's IRK member list. Then, it's all up to Chloe, who didn't know her way around anything several hours before, to find what sort of bomb the guy's carrying and Arlo then has to remotely defuse it. It seems so illogical to lean against technology to this extent, when really all they needed was a competent field officer who could simply disarm the terrorist of the detonator at the hospital entrance and problem solved, without any risk of killing civilians!
I would LOVE to see 24 return to being able to be exciting AND intelligent, but this season truly seems to be the worst case of writing it as they go along. They wasted Bazhaev, they wasted his son, now they've wasted Farhad and the bad guy now is just some low-level terrorist whose name I can't recall, that's if he has one!
24: Day 8: 12:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. (2010)
I can't believe it...
I wasn't planning to write a review for this episode, but after last week's return to form, this massive filler episode really let me down again and I felt I should explain why.
Last week pretty much wrapped up Sergei Bazhaev's story, with the rods now in his son's possession. The son's character really was a wasted opportunity to have some great continuing family tension and drama. I guess bad guys can't turn good and expect to live much longer.
My expectations of where the story was going last week were high. I believed we were going to have some great sequences of Jack leading a team out to catch the son, possibly with father in tow. With Renee back at CTU, it would have been great to see Jack and Cole team up again and really bring the action to Bazhaev's son and Farhad. THAT would have been exciting!
Instead, Jack travels to CTU for a good while (sure its more realistic, but when does 24 care?) and when he gets there, he acts like a bird acting crazily over-protective of its hatchlings. When Jack went rogue in earlier seasons, it felt cool and original. Now, it seems horribly cliché of Jack to punch a random security guy and throttle a stranger against a wall. Why even have a security guard if he's only going to be placed there for comedic value? Surely that was meant to be funny, right? "Hey, Mr Bauer, you can't go in-whoooaa! Oof!" You just need a 'KA-POW!' from the old Batman series to feel just right.
As a side note, I think another wasted opportunity was not having any dialogue between Jack and Bazhaev in the car - it would have been a great chance to develop Bazhaev further, as the writers must have kept him alive for a reason.
Finally, we get some closure with the Jenny/Kevin storyline, and to be honest, it ended the only way it could have. They both died. Wow. Really came out of left field with that one. Everything about that entire last scene was predictable right down to Kevin shouting Jenny's name to save her from his idiot friend. I punched my fist in the air when Kevin was stabbed by the way - quite cold hearted, but I don't imagine many people holding a soft spot for him anyway. Really, I was so overjoyed they both died, brought down by the fact that this story really did lead absolutely nowhere. Maybe Jenny and Cole won't get married now! Oh no, because we've developed such a sympathy for Jenny/Dana! I HOPE that Cole sees sense and gets as far away as he can, but of course he won't. *Sigh*
One last thing to mention is the nuclear rods...they can't take them home, so they'll use them against America! Hmm, Season 5 anyone? Cue several episodes of searching for a detonator, maybe Jack can go undercover as Rossler again and give them fake detonation codes! I was waiting several episodes ago for this to happen, I mean, the rods by themselves aren't that dangerous, so it was inevitable that a bomb was going to come around. Hearing about Farhad's contact in New York sounded interesting, as though it might be someone we already know - that's really the only thing I'm looking forward to next week, if he's even brought up again. Maybe it was just a lie?
Usually 24's episodes have a central storyline, usually Jack, although its been through Renee quite a bit this season - for example Season 2, Ep9: Jack and Nina fend off commandos after their plane has been shot down, S3, Ep9: Jack and the Salazars have to outbid a recently revealed Nina to secure the virus, S7 Ep9: Jack and Renee place Marika undercover to get to Dubaku. This episode had no central story, once again filled with subplots and predictable filler. I really hope the writers have something special up their sleeve for the double episode next week.
The Shield: Tar Baby (2005)
Fantastic episodes just keep coming!
'Tar Baby' is an outstanding episode. In previous episodes, characters were built up by interacting with each other, whereas by now these characters have been built and molded enough to interact within a solid plot, and it makes for some fantastic entertainment.
One thing I really noticed in this episode was quick and intelligent writing throughout. The witty dialogue between characters is something I as a writer myself would aspire to. Of course, the dialogue is only worth as much as the acting and with Michael Chiklis and Glen Close, you can't go wrong. Even Dutch gets a great line in - his description to Claudette of a suspect as "old and stubborn, looking for a fight," and getting the feeling the same description applies to her is fantastic and hilarious.
This episode really works well because its story lines are so strong. Sure, there's a drug bust, something that happens every other week, but the owners of the drug house are connected to Antwon, and so also to Shane, who tries to tip Antwon off but is pulled in too late to call. The result is that Antown is naturally pretty angry and gives Shane and his buddy a little payback in an intense scene at the end. That scene is what brought my rating up from an 8 to a 9 - we finally see Antwon's darker side and what he's willing to do to protect himself. Shane is obviously far to cocky to see what he's getting himself into.
Dutch and Claudette's story this week was also very good - Claudette's suspicion's of a deal with the DA's office land on Dutch. What makes their scenes so good is that they're both usually right, but just take different perspectives, such as their heated argument about Dutch's deal. They're both two of my favourite characters and I love seeing them catching bad guys (or girls, as in this episode).
Finally, this episode shows some great humour. There are usually one or two funny moments in an episode, but here there are many and still work well combined with intense scenes such as the drug bust. Vic as usual gets the most; to Aceveda, "Press conference hasn't started yet. Still got plenty of time to figure out how to take credit for all this." Of course, the line only works within the context of the episode. Lastly, a guy tells Dutch and Claudette that he had a gun stolen months ago, and only now after another break in and murder is he reporting it. His reaction, "Probably a mistake, wasn't it?" and the detectives' reactions are priceless.
I didn't think Antwon and his crew would be one of the main focuses this season, but now that I realise he is, I'm glad as he's a very interesting character and I'm keen to see where his and Shane's 'friendship' goes from here.
24: Day 8: 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. (2010)
A definite improvement
Episode 8 of 24 thankfully moves the plot forward a little faster this week.
No matter how many times you've seen Jack Bauer in the same situation, it's ALWAYS good fun to see him in them anyway, because you just know Bauer-ness will ensue. And it does. Jack's having a tough day as usual but he's GOT to be getting worn out from two torture sessions in less than six hours plus a stab wound in the gut! This guy is able to take a direct fist in the face and not show an ounce of injury! I guess that's just Jack Bauer...
All the plot lines moved a strong step forward I think - except perhaps for Hassan. Dana's story wasn't so awful and in fact was a little interesting as we see Arlo and Cole being pulled into her secrets. All the elements are now in place for a showdown between 'Jenny' and Kevin next week (at least hopefully). I'm sorry but I can't see this connecting in any way to the main story like others have suggested - it's just too different and completely unrelated.
While this episode was entertaining and definitely a step up from the previous one, it still felt predictable at times, and if not unpredictable then unsurprising. In a lot of ways, it felt like the episode simply ran its course, as though it wrote itself, rather than feeling very original. It was amusing to see how Jack's torture scene mirrored that of Season 2 and the end scene with Cole discovering the empty truck mirroring the CTU team at the shipping container not finding the Sentox in Season 5. Raise your hand if you guessed the rods wouldn't be in the truck...
One last thing is that I found the product placement in this episode hilarious and unbearable at the same time. Never have I noticed it this blatantly until now. Jack essentially shows the audience what his awesome phone can do! He can scroll pictures! He can flip pages with his thumb! And Dana has the exact same phone!
Thanks to Bazhaev's son, we should look forward to more of Jack doing his thing in search of the rods, as well as an increase in the pace. I'm not one of those that think 24 should be action and action only. I'm all for drama, intrigue and suspense...when its given to us! This episode used all the right ingredients but just not in a very original way. I'm hoping Renee will be released (or maybe 'unleashed'?) from CTU at some point to give Jack a hand mutilating people!
The Shield: Bang (2005)
Why The Shield's characters are so important
This episode I think really reinforces how important continuing character arcs and interpersonal relationships are within The Shield. While the actual plot of the episode is a standard gang war, with Vic and co. attempting to stem the violence, what's much more interesting is how the characters react and relate to each other, and I don't just mean the main cast - even the minor characters such as the evicted mother and her dysfunctional family have important roles to the plot and that tie themselves to each other.
Two great examples of this: Dani tells Monica how grateful she is to be working her new shift, only to hear that she got the gig due to Vic's recommendation. In any other police drama, her reaction would have had little to no meaning, but because of their shared conflicted past, her reaction is a perfect portrayal of what she'd be thinking. It's all about the layers!
The same goes for when the evicted mother leaves the station after harassing Monica, who appears shaken from the woman's emotion. The camera zooms in on Claudette standing nearby, who looks smug! Without knowing Claudette's background and opinions of Monica getting the captaincy over her, her reaction would seem very out of place. But by building on previous seasons, the writers are able to create really dynamic scenes using characters we've known and followed.
We see a little more into the mind of Monica Rawling this episode and it does not disappoint. It's nice to see the writers humanising her when the evicted mother shouts her down and Monica appears visibly shaken by it, even to the point of doubting her own methods of seizing property bought with drug money. What's even better, though, is the fact that she is able to take stock, let people know that she doesn't want to appear to be similar to Aceveda, and so sticks to her guns in a great twist at the end.
Although light on action so far this season, the writers are more than making up for it with great drama, which I think only makes The Shield that much better to watch. I've been waiting for The Shield to get to this point, where they really utilise character interaction based on current and past events. Now, if they only create an overarching storyline like Season 2, then this might become the best season of The Shield yet.
The Shield: Grave (2005)
Another strong episode to follow up the premiere
I had a feeling that after what I thought was probably the best season premiere for The Shield that the second episode wouldn't be able to live up to it. I was quite wrong.
This episode really throws a lot at the audience all at once, which is a fantastic way to keep the pace nice and taut, while still leaving room for character development, something which I found at times to be missing in previous seasons. Just the opening sequence alone is a real shocker - Ben Gilroy has been found dead; just seeing Vic react to his dirty appearance and hearing how he ungraciously died is very good.
The episode continues to expand and develop Glen Close's character, Monica Rawling - someone who seems vastly different compared to Aceveda. She appears quite easy going as she begins making changes in the Barn, finally getting the men's toilets fixed after a funny little scene with Dutch. It'll be very interesting to see what other changes she'll make over the course of the season and whether she'll be able to handle just what the Barn throws at her.
Aceveda leaves the Barn still outwardly appearing to be an a-hole but deep down we see he's been deeply scarred and disturbed. Hopefully his wife won't find the video tape he stole...Something also tells me this won't be the last we see of Aceveda - I think he'll still pop up from time to time to be a pain in the neck to Vic and now maybe even Monica.
The way we see Shane acting at the end of the episode gives me the impression that unless Vic intervenes, he'll end up aggravating the wrong dude and will go down for it. Season 4 is now off to a fantastic start!
The Shield: The Cure (2005)
Strongest premiere of The Shield so far
This episode serves as a great introduction to Season 4.
We're reintroduced to Vic and Ronnie, now the sole 'survivors' of the now-disbanded Strike Team, now working on sting operations based on surveillance footage from inside rental cars, a story that began midway last season. Just the look of the former Strike Team room shows us how much has changed - dart boards and couches replaced by wall-to-wall shelves of video tapes. The beloved 'STRIKE TEAM ONLY' marker message on the door has also sadly been painted over.
Glen Close is introduced immediately into the show, who'll be taking over from Aceveda as captain. Immediately there's an interesting chemistry between her character and Vic, and it'll surely only get better as it develops. It's nice to see that Vic gets to have somewhat of a fresh start with a new boss, as Aceveda knew or at least suspected the type of cop Vic was.
What I found most interesting about this episode is how the two former members of the Strike Team, Lem and Shane, are reworked into the story. They're now both on their own, and at least Lem appears to miss the Strike Team somewhat. Shane on the other hand seems to have followed quite a dark path during the time spent away and is now become a character even Vic doesn't know what to make of.
Probably the strongest premiere episode of The Shield so far, mostly due to the characters and how they're interacting. It also provides the most questions, such as if and how Lem and Shane will come back to the team. I hope the writers can keep the characters and stories just as interesting all season.
The Shield: On Tilt (2004)
What will happen to the Strike Team?
Season 3's final episode is another brilliant ending, although not quite as satisfying as the previous two.
This episode hopefully will see the end of the money train storyline as it is wrapped up nicely, albeit a little to easily. However, its only really wrapped up on the Armenian side, so there is the possibility that any investigation might continue into the fourth season.
Claudette's demotion wasn't much of a surprise considering how much she values her morals over her job - she almost seemed to accept that she might lose her job, just as long as she didn't claim moral bankruptcy. It was interesting to see Dutch's adoption of one of the homeless kitties - something tells me that kitty will face a grizzly end. This weird angle on Dutch is one of the most interesting subplots in terms of where it'll end up.
Finally, once again, the writers pull off a great confrontation between the members of the Strike Team at the end. I loved it how it all seems like it'll go back to normal, but Shane had to open his big mouth and screws things up again! Everyone's performance was 110%, especially between Shane and Vic at the end.
Although it ended a bit abruptly, I think its a great place to end the season and definitely makes me wanna start Season 4 right away. What will happen to the Strike Team?
The Shield: All In (2004)
Lem reaches his breaking point
This was a fantastic episode that really allowed Kenny Johnson to show off his character and the role he plays within the Strike Team. It's not often that it happens but when it does it's just brilliant.
It seems to becoming the tradition on The Shield to really amp things up towards the finale, and this season is no different. While this season hasn't been as exciting or groundbreaking as the second glorious season, it has had its moments, the strings of which are tied into this penultimate episode: Lem and Vic seeing Tavon about the fight, Acevada warning Claudette about her future captaincy, the Money Train investigation amping up.
The episode really kicks into gear in the second half and its great to see the effects of the Money Train investigation on the Strike Team, especially Vic and Lem. We see how far Vic is willing to go to get the information he needs. The rising body count, and the latest being an innocent girl, is what finally breaks Lem and pushes him to do the extreme.
The final scene is unforgettable and simply amazing - you think absolutely anything could happen. I even knew what was going to happen and STILL the scene floored me. Now, how will the season finale compare?
Lost: What Kate Does (2010)
What did Kate do again?
I can compare going straight from the amazing double-header LA X to What Kate Does to when Michael drove his car straight into a dumpster against a concrete wall. The plot slows down to a crawl, but is it any wonder being a Kate-centric episode?
What was unfortunate about this episode is that the flash-sideways had more plot than the island story. Problem was that the island story took up twice as much time and neither stories were really interesting!
What Kate 'does' is have a few conversations here and there after beating on some generic Other dudes. I have a bad feeling that the creators are going to squeeze in as many old characters in the flash-sideways as possible, such as Ethan who is now looking after Claire. What? Really? I guess I should be used to this by now as they did it with the old flash-backs, but it made me go 'Ugh, I should have expected this' rather than 'Cool!' Also, as everyone else knows, Kate just isn't an interesting character anymore.
What was great about this episode was Josh Holloway in a fantastic emotional scene in which he blames himself for Juliet's death. Sawyer's attitude now has in a way come full circle as he now believes he really is and should be a loner.
Back at the temple, what do we learn? We do learn about Sayid's infection, which I'm assuming is the sickness that took over Rousseau's scientists, which is going to be interesting. Is this the Man in Black's way of pulling Sayid to the 'dark' side? What else? The Japanese dude was 'brought' here. Wow, informative! It seems the island over time breeds a certain type of bad guy so that they're always intentionally mysterious to the point of a conversation descending into nothingness. An example:
Jack: Who are you? Bad Guy: You'll find out.
Jack: What is this place? Bad Guy: It's not important.
Jack: What did you eat for breakfast? Bad Guy: You're not ready for that yet.
Jack: Did you fart or something? Bad Guy turns and walks away mysteriously...
And to top it off, considering Kate was helping Claire in the alt-LA, it was absolutely no surprise to see Claire at the end of the episode. Now where's Locke!
24: Day 8: 10:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. (2010)
One of the worst episodes of 24
This is the first time I've ever written a review about an episode of 24. Unfortunately, what drove me to do this was not how good this episode was, but how poor it was.
Let me just start this review by saying it was one of the worst episodes in 24's history. I love 24, so episodes like this get to me more than just a casual viewer.
The number one reason this episode was terrible was it's plot and its pointlessness in the season. The story involving Jack and Renee had Jack sitting in a room for the better part of the hour so you barely even see him, or Renee for that matter, who sits around Vladimir who is making phone calls.
Their story finally picks up at the end, when *SPOILER* Renee stabs Vlad as well as Jack! Now that was awesome scene, and Jack getting stabbed was one of the biggest "Holy crap!" moments in 24 - however, after the ad break he just gets back up and starts running around! I know Jack is tough but wouldn't it have been more dramatic if it was actually realistic??
So everyone else's story this hour was so terribly boring - I just didn't care about any of them. Jenny/Dana's country hick boyfriend gets WAY too much screen time, they get as much as Jack! By the way, was it any surprise that they would just HANG AROUND for half an hour by which convenient time a cop comes along, well duh! They were even told this but they're just THAT STUPID. Why should I care about people that stupid? The ploy with the water pistol? That's just ridiculous. I really hope this story goes away, but now that they beat up a cop, I can tell the writers are gonna milk it for all its worth.
President Hassan's story is slightly interesting - it's interesting to see what's happening to him psychologically, where he's become paranoid of everyone around him, I really didn't care for the story of the agent who is (surprise! not) in love with his daughter and now in deep trouble. Who is this guy? Why should I care about him?
Finally, the scenes with the Russians I felt were only there so the characters could actually be in the episode.
What it comes down to is this: every time we watch a side story, we're sacrificing time from Jack and Renee, who have actual developed & believable characters and a decent story. This is the perfect example of side stories taking over an episode, and/or where the writers couldn't think of anything for Jack/Renee to do. In all seriousness, their story could have been squeezed into the first half hour to bring in more from the next episode - the writers feel like they're really stretching this story out just to cover more episodes.
Casshern (2004)
This was one of the most painful movies I've ever watched
First off, I've never seen the anime series nor do I think I should have to to understand this movie. However, maybe I need to in order to actually understand a few things, which is ridiculous. The only explanation we get for the creation of the neo-sapians is a massive solid lightning bolt embedded in the lab and some emotionally swelling music. The scene where the neo-sapians rise up from the pool is cool to an extent, and that extent is where everyone is wondering, "Where the hell did these guys come from?" And the idea that the random assortment of limbs and appendages just swimming about in the pool would somehow join together (and join together to form ordinary-looking people, what's more), is just absurd. To create a science-fiction film, you have to actually create some science behind it, otherwise it just doesn't work. Imagine if in 'Jurassic Park', they'd gone to the island with dinosaurs roaming about, with the simple explanation that their creation was, "simply a miracle" and the explanation was left at that. Or a lightning bolt hit the island, solidified and dinosaurs suddenly came out of the lakes and plains? Lame. And this pool that holds the extra limbs also seems to bring people back from the dead? Apart from that, there are some very emotionally contrived moments, like Midori crying over one of the mutants as though it were her son, screaming, "Don't die!" And the emotionally-charged music never seems to stop, to let the audience relax for a moment. One piece of music that lasted around seven minutes was just a 20 second loop of the same music and became nearly unbearable. Various pieces of classical music appear very out of place in conversations when nothing that is being said relates to the music. The director must have thought the more emotional music, the more emotional the film will be. I think the film's dialogue scenes would have been much more effective without melodramatic music. I winced whenever a new cheesy rock song played in the background of a fight scene it felt like someone had compiled some anime fight scenes, picked a random Disturbed track and stuck it on Youtube.
Another thing robot army-making facility in the middle of nowhere? How did they even get to the middle of nowhere? Now, I know bad guys are supposed to be bad in some way, but I guess there's nothing better than to go all out and have the antagonist's main goal as, "to eliminate mankind". If you want a bad guy, just make him a stereotypical megalomaniac. Oh, and then to make him a bit more complex, have his character completely flip over by the end of the film by having him say stuff like, "I see it now!" Most of the characters have unclear motives let alone reasons behind these motives. Luna just seems to be there just to have a love interest and to provide someone who cries a lot and not much else. The mutant with the drooling, moaning and eyes popping out of its head was the most annoying character in history and I couldn't wait for him to get the chop. When Luna actually goes to help him, I completely lost interest in her why does she do it? There is nothing redeeming about him. The only character I found mildly interesting was Professor Azuma because it was his project that started the whole thing.
The plot becomes way too bogged down in its philosophical themes and ideals, especially towards the end. I know many sci-fi's show philosophical themes, like Blade Runner for example, but what marks Blade Runner's brilliance is its subtlety in which it treats its themes. You can still watch Blade Runner and think you're only watching a sci-fi/noir. Casshern tells us over and over again what the themes are by plainly telling us, "We hurt others by our very existence.", "hate is bad", etc. Blade Runner shows us themes, Casshern tells us. These monologues are not what I go to the movies to see, particularly when that movie is a highly-stylised sci-fi/action film.
Truth be told, I may have watched Casshern with another movie in mind. The action elements might be on the sidelines with ideals about war, forgiveness and truth taking the helm, but that does not excuse beating us over the head with its themes, poor characters and some terrible dialogue. Of course, that may be just the translation, but why do two fight scenes begin with trashy rock music and the words, "Who are you?"