|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
Review by
Brandon Tenold
Film:8
BD:8
|
 |
| "A
shadow shall fall over the universe, and evil will grow in its
path, and death will come from the skies..." |
|
Based on the American
fantasy magazine of the same name (which was itself based on the
French magazine Metal Hurlant, literally "Howling Metal")
Heavy Metal, much like Ralph Bakshi's
Fritz the Cat, is a movie very near
and dear to the hearts of adult animation fans. Although licensing
issues with its soundtrack kept it off home video until 1996,
the movie was a staple of late night cable and midnight movie
showings for years after its release, virtually guaranteeing cult
status. Much like the magazine itself, the movie comes across
as something like the ultimate adolescent male fantasy, featuring
trippy animation, gratuitous sex and violence, and of course,
a rockin' soundtrack featuring such hard rock luminaries as Black
Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult and Sammy Hagar —
and Devo, for some reason. Produced by Ivan Reitman of Ghostbusters
fame, the movie also features the voices of many veterans of Canadian
sketch comedy show SCTV, such as John Candy, Eugene Levy,
Joe Flaherty and Harold Raimis. |
|
The tone for the movie
is set right from the very beginning. After the ominous narration
quoted above, we see a space shuttle gliding through space. Its
bay doors open, and out comes an astronaut driving a 1960 corvette
through Earth's atmosphere while Rigg's "Radar Rider" blasts from
the soundtrack! After touching down on our planet the astronaut
drives up to his home, where he is meet by his daughter. He then
reveals to her that he has brought something back with him: a
malevolent glowing green orb which proceeds to horribly melt the
astronaut (never mind why he would even have an evil green orb,
how he obtained it or why he thought it would be a good idea to
show it to his daughter, as it's ultimately not important). The
orb is called the Loc-Nar (voiced by Percy Rodriguez), and it
tells the astronaut's daughter that it is "the sum of all evils"
before showing her various ways it has affected people throughout
time and space. This serves as a very loose framing story for
six segments based on stories from the magazine: |
|
Harry
Canyon: Set in a futuristic New York, a cynical cab
driver*
named Harry Canyon (Richard Romanus) witnesses a murder outside
of a museum and rescues the victim's buxom redheaded daughter.
The girl says that some shady businessmen are after her father's
latest discovery, namely the Loc-Nar. She wants to sell the Loc-Nar
and agrees to share the money with Harry... but is she all that
she seems? |
|
Den:
A geeky teenager (John Candy) finds the Loc-Nar in his backyard,
and thinking it's a meteorite he takes it inside and puts it in
his room. Later, during a lightning storm, the orb suddenly trasports
the boy across space and transforms him into a bald, muscle-bound
warrior called Den. Den awakens in a strange land called Neverwhere,
which looks like something Robert E. Howard would've thought up
after a couple hits of acid. After rescuing a well-endowed blonde
woman from being sacrificed by an equally well-endowed evil queen,
Den finds himself caught up in a power struggle between two factions
who each want the Loc-Nar's power for themselves. |
|
Captain
Sternn: Aboard a huge orbiting platform, space ace
Captain Sternn (Eugene Levy) is on trial for various crimes (the
charges include rape, murder, theft and one moving violation).
He's paid off a small, meek man named Hanover Fiste to be a character
witness, but the Loc-Nar has some unforseen effects on Fiste and
Sternn's plans. |
|
B-17:
During World War II, a B-17 bomber completes a mission over hostile
territory, with all of the crew except the pilot and co-pilot
killed in the process. Going back to assess the damage, the co-pilot
sees the Loc-Nar trailing the plane, and after attaching itself
to the inside, it proceeds to transform the dead crewmembers into
bloodthirsty zombies. |
|
So
Beautiful & So Dangerous: At the Pentagon, a scientist
reassures various Washington officials that a wave of mysterious
mutations are not being caused by extraterrestrial forces. Suddenly,
he is distracted by the Loc-Nar, which is being worn as a pendant
by the busty secretary (noticing a pattern with the women in this
movie?) and tries to grab it from her. Just then, the scientist
and secretary are abducted by a huge spaceship piloted by two
stoner aliens (Eugene Levy and Harold Raimis) and a horny robot
(John Candy), who proceed to go on a wild ride across the universe
(watch for a heavily damaged Starship Enterprise during this sequence). |
|
Taarna:
In the last and by far longest sequence, the Loc-Nar crashes into
a mountain, causing a volcanic eruption which engulfs a band of
humans and turns them into a murderous horde of barbarian warriors.
After the barbarians attack and ravage a peaceful city, the city
elders try and summon their only hope —
a beautiful, silver-haired
warrior named Taarna (do I even need to mention her chest size?),
who is supposedly the last of a warrior race known as the Taarakians.
This last sequence ties into the framing story, wrapping up the
film. |
|
Coming in the middle
of the of the sci-fi/fantasy boom of the late '70s and early '80s,
Heavy Metal comes off like the wet
dream of a Star Wars/Dungeons
& Dragons-obsessed teenager: violent sci-fi/fantasy adventures
where the men are tough as nails and the women big-chested beauties
who shed their clothes at the drop of a hat, all set to a hard
rockin' soundtrack. These things are of course all part of the
movie's appeal. The animation isn't exactly state of the art,
even for 1981, but the film's combination of psychedelic vistas
and rotoscoped characters have a unique style that effectively
recreates the look of the original artwork. Technical flaws and
all, no movie looks quite like Heavy Metal.
The soundtrack is another strong point. The songs are very much
of their time and many of them are served with a generous helping
of cheese, but just try and get tunes like Cheap Trick's "Reach
Out" or Don Felder's "Takin' a Ride" out of your head once you
hear them. All these elements add up to a highly enjoyable film.
While it may be juvenile, vulgar and dated (as hell), it's also
a blast to watch. So pop it in and indulge your inner 15-year-old
boy. He'll thank you for it. |
|
*
Hmmm. I wonder if the guys who made The
Fifth Element were fans of this movie...
|
|
|
| After
a few months as a Best Buy exclusive, Heavy
Metal comes to Blu-ray courtesy of Sony, who offer up a
1080p transfer of the film in its proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
As I said before, Heavy Metal isn't
exactly the most technically flawless movie ever, and this BD
has some color errors, noise and various spots and specks in places,
so don't expect it to serve as a showcase for your big-screen
TV the way, say, a Pixar animated movie would be. Having said
that, this is probably the best the film has looked since its
theatrical release back in 1981, and most of the flaws are the
result of the original source rather than the transfer. Audio
is in DTS-HD 5.1 for both the original English as well as a French
dub, and the track is appropriately loud and bombastic, with energetic
use of the Surround Sound channels, although a few of the songs
on the soundtrack seem a bit muddy. Not the most subtle audio
track ever, but that suits the film's style just fine. |
|
Extras include a full-length "rough cut" of the film
with optional commentary from author and Heavy
Metal expert Carl Macek. Macek's commentary is informative
and interesting, but the rough cut of the film, which has incomplete
animation and no music or dialogue, is definitely something only
hardcore fans will watch all the way through. Also included is
the deleted "Neverwhere Land" sequence, which would
have taken place after the Captain Sternn segment and shown the
Loc-Nar`s effect on earth over millions of years, leading directly
into the B-17 sequence. The real meat in the extras is a 35-minute
documentary called Imagining Heavy Metal, which goes over
the film's development, themes and animation processes and features
interviews with various people who worked on the film. This is
a fantastic documentary that is worth the price of the disc alone
(and a must-watch for fans). |
|
While not the pinnacle of hi-def home entertainment
by any means, it's still a great Blu-ray debut for this animated
cult classic. 6/10/11 |
|
HOME
| REVIEWS
| TOP
|
