Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers Live Action Movie

[Thunder Chicken]

Has anyone seen this movie? Has it made it to the US?

 

[Eli13]

I've seen battle scenes from it on Youtube, but never the actual movie.

 

[Napalm42]

I don't think so to be honest.

 

[Ark]

I saw it. Wasn't bad, but fairly cheesy at points.

 

[Spacethingy]

Um, how do you say "She cannae take it cap'n!" in Japanese?

 

[garyscott]

@ 1:20 in first video, i knew there was something decidedly dodgy about Captain BirdsEye! http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=captain+birdseye&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=MmDoTsyoMcPRhAfOtf2yCg&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=899

:lol:

 

[jedidia]

My first thought was "Live action? that cannot possibly work!". Then the no-nonsense CGI convinced me otherwise. Pretty impressive for a non-international movie.

 

[Ark]

My first thought was "Live action? that cannot possibly work!". Then the no-nonsense CGI convinced me otherwise. Pretty impressive for a non-international movie.

I thought the CGI was at least on par with BSG, they didn't really cut any corners. It's also a pretty long movie that covers a lot of ground.

 

[Ghostrider]

I saw it and as a Yamato fan I loved it as a companion piece. However, I'll consider it to be a "parallel universe thing".

Now, my .00002 cents...



--- SPOILERS ---

- They've gone all BSG on it and while it works in helping a 21st Century audience relate to it, it doesn't go enough BSG. The BSG reimagining was above all about believable, not-always-likeable 3d characters. Yamato's characters feel a little flat - more so than the anime versions.

- Turning the humanoid Gamilas into a Zerg-like hiveminded race makes them less threatening. There's also the question of how Iscandar being a part of Gamilas could "split" from the overmind. Having Dessler being the actual name of the race (and the overmind) also removes the "interesting" power mechanics at play in the Gamilas empire.

- Firing the Wave Motion Gun early in the movie de-dramatizes it a lot. The WMG is Yamato's "trump card" and its first use should have felt more cataclysmic. In the series, it took out a whole continent. Shooting down a missile with it feels like Callahan shooting a fly with his Magnum in the first 5 minutes of Dirty Harry.

- Talking guns, why is everybody toting G36s when there are working DEW CosmoGuns available?

- Analyzer taking robot form and kicking ass is nice, but feels rushed.

- The ending is taken from the Arrivederci Yamato movie with the Nishizaki ending, which Leiji Matsumoto opposed and changed in the second Yamato series (which is a retelling of the movie).

- Acting. Uhm... Acting.

That said...

- The production values are great - it feels like a way more expensive movie. I wish they could follow on with a whole series, but I don't think they can afford that. Although they changed the Gamilas race's nature, it's a nice touch when the Dessler entity appears on the Yamato bridge and for a moment its projected humanoid form appears like the Dessler we all know and hate (until the end of Series 2 at least) complete with cloak.

- Yuki Mori as a fighter pilot gives her something more to do other than staring at screens and looking pretty. Doctor Sado turning into a woman did feel a little out of place, however.

- The music! The moment the "Universe spreads into infinity" theme started playing over Captain Okita's ship retreating from Mars it felt like 1974 all over again! I wish they could have had the other classic themes as well, but they would probably have contrasted with the grittier nature of the movie.

Now, I have to get a Yamato uniform. With bell bottoms, of course.