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Hirotsugu Kawasaki,
Hirotsugu Kawasaki
see all cast/crew...
: 
: A.D.V. Films
: Anime, Anime Feature Films, Animation, Cel
: 90 min.
: English, Japanese
: English
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This title is currently out of print.
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Animator of the groundbreaking animé classic Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo was the executive producer for this two-fisted Raiders of the Lost Ark-like animated action-adventure flick, based on a manga by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa. The film opens with members of the secret organization Arkam rooting around on Mt. Ararat -- the supposed landing spot of Noah's Arc. They not only find the Arc, they also discover death in the guise of a powerful magnetic beam that blasts them to nothing and takes out three U.S. satellites along the way. Six months later, Arkam member and high school student Yu Ominae almost gets blown up himself when a classmate wired with explosives goes off in the schoolyard. He also gets the cryptic message that "Noah will be your grave." Someone is out for Yu's head, and he wants to know why. After venturing to Turkey, he braves dangerous trap after bloody ambush. When he finally does reach Mt. Ararat, he learns that his organization Arkam has a rival in its effort to learn the secrets of the Arc, and that group is a U.S. government-sponsored special force which includes a massive powerhouse of a man called Fightman, and a whey-faced trickster named Little Boy. While Arkam is devoted to protecting humanity from the terrible power of the Arc, Fightman and his cronies are bent on using the ancient object for their own twisted ends. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Special Features:
- ADR DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY
- VIDEO PORTFOLIOS
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| Things Blowed Up Real Good
by Calafragious
September 20, 2004 - 8:04 PM PDT
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3 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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| This splendidly animated film presents what feels like one episode out of a very long manga story. The beginning and end of the film are both rather abrupt, the setup and basic premise are hinted at more than stated, and there is no character development to speak of. If you can swallow all that, and enjoy lots and lots of violent gun battles and scenes of things "blowing up real good," Spriggan will make for a pleasant evening's entertainment. I found the first half better than the second, which (as another reviewer noted) feels very much like an Akira knock off, especially after the stereotype crazy kid in a baseball cap with superpowers, starts lecturing everybody about Judgement day and God knows what. Don't waste too much thought on it. |
| Had potential but........
by OKhan1
January 19, 2004 - 12:40 AM PST
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3 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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Spriggan is one those anime properties which should have been given the OAV treatment to really tell the story. Compressing a sizable manga to an hour and a half movie was a mistake.
If anything, the movie felt incredibly rushed, nor do we really get to know the main character well enough to really care. Spriggan does have an ambitious plot with high production values...just not enough time to really tell us the story as it was written for the manga. |
| Like Indiana Jones meets Akira
by hneline1
December 15, 2003 - 11:48 PM PST
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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Spriggan starts as a rollicking, action adventure movie ala Indiana Jones. Yu Ominae is a combat trained high school student (Full Metal Panic, anyone?) who travels the world like a hotshot mercenary soldier and fights bad guys attacking archeological digs. The shootouts and chases are nicely crafted with detailed animation and dynamic camerawork, and this film boasts a much better production value than a made-for-TV anime. This first half is definitely about guns and combat and it was pretty fun.
Then the movie morphs into something like Akira with the appearance of Colonel MacDougal, an evil little psychic boy with computer cables hanging out of his head and the maniacal goal of destroying the human race. Personally, I'm not into evil little psychic boys so I lost interest right there. But if you don't mind crazy blue boys in baggie jeans and a backwards baseball cap who act big while tossing people around with their telekinetic powers, you'll probably like the ending.
Unfortunately, the DVD itself had some problems with the sound being uneven and some of the visuals being grainy. Also, the audio commentary is by the director and the engineer for the English language dub, not by the Japanese creators. That's great if you want insight into the dubbing and release process but not too helpful if you want to know more about the film production itself.
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.67)
109 Votes
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