Casshern (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region 1

A fifty-year war has left Mother Earth a beaten-up wasteland. Mankind and its vast arsenal of weapons are to blame, and there's a price: many suffer from synthetic diseases. The answer to their problems: more technology, specifically the "neo cell" project from Professor Azuma (Akira Terao). Basically, the old coot is creating a big genetic swimming pool to manufacture replacement body parts. But the neo cell project spawns mutants who crawl out of the genetic sludge and declare war on their creators. Led by the white-haired Burai (Toshiaki Karasawa), these "Neo Sapiens" decide to cleanse the earth of human beings, and manufacture an army of CG robots to do it. But there's still hope: Tetsuya Azuma (Yusuke Iseya), son of Professor Azuma. Tetsuya bought it in the war, but thanks to even more technology, he gets to live again. With a suit of white battle armor and newly acquired superhuman skills, Tetsuya can now fight for mankind as Casshern! Cue CG rumbles galore.

The immediate problem: it's not clear what Tetsuya is fighting for. There are severe emotional, social, political, and probably philosophical reasons for Tetsuya's struggle. Basically, he wasn't too keen on returning from the dead, because while he was a soldier he engaged in ethnic cleansing and the mass slaughter of innocents. Mankind isn't the good guy in this film; in fact, man is portrayed as a misguided, selfish bunch who should get a smackdown for their apocalypse-bringing ways. Rooting for Tetsuya is automatic because he looks so damn cool, but given the circumstances, rooting for the Neo Sapiens isn't such a bad idea, either.

But Tetsuya fights for simpler reasons: the Neo Sapiens have kidnapped his mother, and his true love Luna (Kumiko Asou) is pretty depressed. Even worse, his father shows up and Tetsuya isn't happy to see him. Director Kazuaki Kiriya assaults his audience with both personal and existential, and isn't shy about using voiceover, sudden monologuing, or copious montage to get the message across. The material is potent, but also very dense. Kiriya is a music video director, so getting messages out in flashy, disjointed style is business as usual. But in a 140-minute movie, MTV-style jumps and lightning-quick interludes can prove tiring.

Still, anyone who watches anime is used to dense philosophical storytelling - and they may like it too. Casshern is cut from the same cloth as existential anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, and is so unapologetic about its emotional and thematic excess that it might as well be beating you over the head with a giant plastic Pikachu. So don't think; just sit back and geek out. You can dissect the murky depths of Casshern, or you can let your eyeballs do all the work. Above all else, Casshern is visually astounding. The set designs, lurid cinematography, and impressive CG all add up to one deliriously dazzling package that should delight everyone who owns an X-Box - and also a lot of people who don't. It's questionable if everyone who catches Casshern will dig through the glorious exterior to decipher its densely-packed inner core, but it's all good anyway. Chances are that the abundance of top-notch eye candy will satiate even the most ADD-afflicted. Casshern succeeds on more than one level - especially the superficial one.

By Ross Chen - LoveHKFilm.com