Makai Tensho, Spy Sorge/Battle Royale II

[Don Brown]

Just came back from watching the new version of Makai Tensho. Quite 
mediocre despite strong performances from Sato Koichi and Aso Kumiko, and 
an effective prologue featuring a full-on samurai battle faintly 
reminiscent of the Helms Deep sequence in The Two Towers. It was surprising 
how little Kubotsuka Yosuke was in the film, both in terms of screen time 
and presence (and he looked like a weedy Motley Crue impersonator). Some 
dodgy CG work too, about on a par with Onmyoji (although at least that one 
really went over the top). The dead-again undead looked like they were 
disintegrating into a cloud of Dippin' Dots. Overall, the generally 
po-faced treatment of this remake made me nostalgic for the kitschy feel of 
the original.
More memorable were two of the trailers that played before the film. The 
first was for Shinoda Masahiro's Spy Sorge, which for some reason had an 
anachronistic 80's hair metal-esque song playing underneath it (the Alfee 
perhaps?), and the second was a teaser for Battle Royale II, featuring a 
provocative end shot of two skyscrapers collapsing, followed in quick 
succession by several others. A crass attempt at adding a bit of 
'topicality' perhaps? Anything to do with the location shooting in 
Afghanistan I wonder?
Don Brown

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