Casshern

Yesterday, I went on war.

Yes, I decided to go all out to fight the Cosmic Power that has been denying my weekly dosage of quality movies.

To ensure my victory, I made a deliberate trip to Orchard Cineleisure at 3pm in the afternoon, to buy the tickets for the midnight show for Casshern - I can't make online or telephone booking cos I dun have a credit card. (but dun let the girls know that)

I arrived back at Orchard Cineleisure at 9.30pm, when I was suppose to meet up with my movie buddy. (it is blog-worthy to note that my movie buddy this time is a guy - its been aeons since I watched a movie with a male homosapien) However, he was caught up with some stuff, plus the lack of parking space in Orchard during Sat nights, and only arrived at 11.30pm.

So meanwhile, I spend 2 hours watching movie trailers repeat themselves tirelessly on the TV screen, with 1 hour belonging to the trailer for the new Stephen Chow movie, Kung Fu Hustle. Looks like another typical Stephen Chow movie, which means I have to watch this movie even if I die in the process!

Anyway, back to Casshern. I went expecting a movie with a very simple plot:

Mutant and human war; Mutant more powerful than human; Super hero (Casshern) comes in and save the world; And everybody lived happily ever after.

What I saw was close, but not exactly. The plot was a lot, and I say again - a lot, more complicated. The mutants were a result of a human experiment gone wrong. As the result, the humans became scared and tried to kill all the mutants. Naturally the mutant seeks revenge. The superhero emerge - also as a result of the experimental accident - as the form of the dead son of the scientist heading the experiment and save mankind.

What is heavy on the mental CPU, and what I like about the movie, is that it seeks to explore those crap questions which have no definite answers to. Like the need for war, meaning of life, right of survival and destiny. It was obvious though, that it did not go well with the general crowd, including my movie buddy who fell asleep towards the end. I think most people, like me, expected something more of a simple kill'em all with several mind-numbing, visually stunning and awe inspiring special effects. Sad to say, there is only one good fighting scene, and it could be downloaded in the trailer. Also, you have to watch the entire movie before you can understand what is actually going on.

Still, I enjoyed the mental rollercoaster. (I had a hard time convincing my movie buddy on this) The (only) fighting scene was superbly done and the whole movie has a very good Manga/ anime atmosphere to it. Just dun watch it during midnight cos it needs a lot of concentration and mental agility. Did I mention it is in Japanese also?

I give it 3.5/ 5 stars.

Casshern is only shown exclusively in Orchard Cineleisure.