by planetxleader » Sat Mar 26, 2005 10:54 pm
...And I have to say that Daimajin is an excellent piece of cinema. It's beautiful; I love the scenery, especially that shot of the huge waterfall with Majin resting at the top. This is a 100% serious and dignified kaiju epic, much like Gamera 3. The special effects, barring some rubbery appearances to the Majin and a few bad matte shots, are excellent. It really looks like Majin is stomping through that village. Very, very impressive even by modern day standards.
Considering this is such a mature film I would of liked the samurai battles to be more realistic. People get slashed with swords with no marks left on them. It takes several sword slashes for one character to die. C'mon! I wanted to see the wall get painted red like in Kurosawa's Ran! The battles between the samurai were not very fulfilling in terms of action, but they were very dramatic. I'm not really a fan of samurai flicks, but the story was well-told and interesting. They did a really good job of building up to Majin's knockout appearance.
I am semi-interested in the other two films. Direct sequels would of been nice but apparently all three films are independent of each other. I read a few so-so reviews of the sequels as well. Are they worth buying?
I'd be totally pumped to see a new Daimajin movie, and I hope the rumors about a new one are true. However, I think it would be a big mistake to make it entirely a period piece. If it's just a rehash of the original, what's the point? The SFX are so good that a direct re-telling of the story would be silly (yes, they are that good). If I were to do a new Majin movie, the beginning would be in feudal times, but the majority movie would take place in present day. The story would be like the old films: a ruthless leader pays for his sins under the hand of Daimajin. The story would center around gangsters in modern-day Japan. The story would be serious and mature. Majin would reside in the mountains like in the old movie, and when discovered and awakened, he chases his prey through the woods. When they try to escape to the city, he follows them there and stomps through the streets and alleys of Tokyo. How cool would that be?
EDIT: I couldn't help but notice that the preistess character mentions to the ruthless warlord that if Majin is destroyed an evil god called "Arakatsuma" will be unleashed. This confused me as I never heard about this in reviews. Is the statue that raids the village at the end harboring the spirit of Majin or Arakatsuma?
"Vishnu takes on his multi-armed form, and says, "RAAAAAHHHOOO!!!'"