After the disappointing let down that was the original Heavy Metal film, i stumbled upon this sequel. Hell of a lot better than the first Heavy Metal movie, which was an inconsistent mess of a show. However, its awesome animation was thrown together with a less than intriguing storyline, making the overall product a huge waste.
First of all, the title did not make any sense. Why call it "Heavy Metal"??? The only thing "Heavy Metal" about it was the few metal rock songs that played at certain parts of the movie. Whats more, the heavy metal songs never fit in with the scenes that they accompanied; coming across like they were thrown into those scenes as an afterthought.
Moving swiftly along to the story......Never in my life have i seen a Story so simple, bland and full of clichés, that tries to pass itself off as complex and compelling. Standard good vs Evil story coupled with a outer space chase/revenge story. A miner named Tyler gets "possessed" by some ancient shard of evil and goes on a quest for immortality after hijacking a ship. On his way to a planet which has a legendary fountain of immortality, stops by a planet who's inhabitants carry some immortality "essence" in their bodies. Tyler and gang massacres the whole colony and takes prisoners, leaving the main character, Julie, behind. Julie vows to avenge her family and kill Tyler before he reaches the fountain of immortality
Straight forward and with little twists. Even a 10 year old can understand it. Which brings me to my next point, in that a 10 year old should not be allowed to watch it. It is definitely a film for adults with its numerous cursing, bloody violence and nudity. Thats something i've rarely seen in animation; and its taken to new heights in Heavy Metal 2000 without feeling excessive.
All the characters are written with little depth or dimension. The stellar acting, however, redeems the otherwise uninteresting characters. Tyler(expertly played by Hollywood actor Michael Ironside)is among my favorite animated villains of all time. His voice is spot on and Ironside delivers his every line with such menacing enthusiasm that he actually sounds like he enjoyed his role a lot.
If one can just ignore the less than interesting storyline and one dimensional characters, this movie as some of the most breathtaking animation ever seen in a long while. It is on par with big budget productions like Titan A.E and Steamboy. THe frame rate is exceedingly high leading to exceptionally smooth, lifelike movements. The CGI blends well with the 2D animation for the most part. What really blew me away was the level of detail in both the CGI and the 2D art. THe 2D art actually had blended shadows! A huge rarity in animation. Basically, for most animation, shadows are just a flat darker shade. In this case, shadows increase in darkness intensity as it goes further from the light source, just like in live action.
I give 10/10 for animation but 4/10 for story. Round it up to a even 7/10 in total.
Honestly, such revolutionary animation, an entertaining script, flawless acting, and intense bloody action was utterly wasted on the watered down excuse of a story.
First of all, the title did not make any sense. Why call it "Heavy Metal"??? The only thing "Heavy Metal" about it was the few metal rock songs that played at certain parts of the movie. Whats more, the heavy metal songs never fit in with the scenes that they accompanied; coming across like they were thrown into those scenes as an afterthought.
Moving swiftly along to the story......Never in my life have i seen a Story so simple, bland and full of clichés, that tries to pass itself off as complex and compelling. Standard good vs Evil story coupled with a outer space chase/revenge story. A miner named Tyler gets "possessed" by some ancient shard of evil and goes on a quest for immortality after hijacking a ship. On his way to a planet which has a legendary fountain of immortality, stops by a planet who's inhabitants carry some immortality "essence" in their bodies. Tyler and gang massacres the whole colony and takes prisoners, leaving the main character, Julie, behind. Julie vows to avenge her family and kill Tyler before he reaches the fountain of immortality
Straight forward and with little twists. Even a 10 year old can understand it. Which brings me to my next point, in that a 10 year old should not be allowed to watch it. It is definitely a film for adults with its numerous cursing, bloody violence and nudity. Thats something i've rarely seen in animation; and its taken to new heights in Heavy Metal 2000 without feeling excessive.
All the characters are written with little depth or dimension. The stellar acting, however, redeems the otherwise uninteresting characters. Tyler(expertly played by Hollywood actor Michael Ironside)is among my favorite animated villains of all time. His voice is spot on and Ironside delivers his every line with such menacing enthusiasm that he actually sounds like he enjoyed his role a lot.
If one can just ignore the less than interesting storyline and one dimensional characters, this movie as some of the most breathtaking animation ever seen in a long while. It is on par with big budget productions like Titan A.E and Steamboy. THe frame rate is exceedingly high leading to exceptionally smooth, lifelike movements. The CGI blends well with the 2D animation for the most part. What really blew me away was the level of detail in both the CGI and the 2D art. THe 2D art actually had blended shadows! A huge rarity in animation. Basically, for most animation, shadows are just a flat darker shade. In this case, shadows increase in darkness intensity as it goes further from the light source, just like in live action.
I give 10/10 for animation but 4/10 for story. Round it up to a even 7/10 in total.
Honestly, such revolutionary animation, an entertaining script, flawless acting, and intense bloody action was utterly wasted on the watered down excuse of a story.