After catching the first minutes of Immortel, I decided to record it and wait in excitement for a spare two hours to watch it. I began playing with anticipation and the first few minutes had it fulfilled, with Horus rising out of his chamber, then exiting the massive pyramid floating above NYC and colliding two nearby helicopters with his brute, god-like power. I was ravenous to see where the rest of the film was headed. Unfortunately, my anticipation and excitement began to disappear significantly as it continued.
Immortel ad vitam is the film adaptation of Enki's graphic novel series, which I never read, and as such, maybe I am seeing it differently than others, but to me, this film was a disappointment to what I was expecting. I really wanted to like this film, I really did. I really liked the premise of an Egyptian God coming to earth in the future and the CGI started off OK. But I knew, personally, I was going to find it hard to like this film as soon as I saw live-action actors mixed with CGI ones, and not only that, some shockingly bad CGI humans. My first question is, "why"? Why is there any need for it? You only time you ever need to integrate CGI characters with real ones is if the specific character is something that cannot be achieved any, or not many, other ways e.g, monsters, supernatural beings, animals. The CGI in this movie is so unnecessary and bad, it did make this film very hard to enjoy.
Furthermore, the plot structure was all over the place, which I am very picky about when it comes to movies. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for strange, weird movies that do take a bit of thinking, they're my favorite kinds of movies. I believe Eraserhead is one of the greatest artistic achievements in cinema history, and that's a weird movie. A movie can still be quirky and complicated while maintaining a nice plot structure. But this Immortel did not. I was really puzzled by the end of the film and still am as to what the whole thing was about. I mean, who was the red shark? And that creepy, black-clad guy? I'm sure it's in there somewhere, but missed it due to the untidy structure of the film.
While there's a lot to criticize about this film, there is definitely something there. Something special. And I intend to watch this film again soon in the near future to find that "something". Also, Horus is an absolute joy to watch and every minute he soaks up the screen is great. While Immortel is not for everyone, I still recommend giving it a shot.
Hamish Kearvell A.K.A Screaming Japan Productions - www.myspace.com/screamingjapanproductions
Immortel ad vitam is the film adaptation of Enki's graphic novel series, which I never read, and as such, maybe I am seeing it differently than others, but to me, this film was a disappointment to what I was expecting. I really wanted to like this film, I really did. I really liked the premise of an Egyptian God coming to earth in the future and the CGI started off OK. But I knew, personally, I was going to find it hard to like this film as soon as I saw live-action actors mixed with CGI ones, and not only that, some shockingly bad CGI humans. My first question is, "why"? Why is there any need for it? You only time you ever need to integrate CGI characters with real ones is if the specific character is something that cannot be achieved any, or not many, other ways e.g, monsters, supernatural beings, animals. The CGI in this movie is so unnecessary and bad, it did make this film very hard to enjoy.
Furthermore, the plot structure was all over the place, which I am very picky about when it comes to movies. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for strange, weird movies that do take a bit of thinking, they're my favorite kinds of movies. I believe Eraserhead is one of the greatest artistic achievements in cinema history, and that's a weird movie. A movie can still be quirky and complicated while maintaining a nice plot structure. But this Immortel did not. I was really puzzled by the end of the film and still am as to what the whole thing was about. I mean, who was the red shark? And that creepy, black-clad guy? I'm sure it's in there somewhere, but missed it due to the untidy structure of the film.
While there's a lot to criticize about this film, there is definitely something there. Something special. And I intend to watch this film again soon in the near future to find that "something". Also, Horus is an absolute joy to watch and every minute he soaks up the screen is great. While Immortel is not for everyone, I still recommend giving it a shot.
Hamish Kearvell A.K.A Screaming Japan Productions - www.myspace.com/screamingjapanproductions