Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508090002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Home video is a less formal medium, more open to the untried and unconventional. There, Japanese films and themes are finding a place in the market. Note these new releases.
The best of the bunch is "Wicked City," a wild and woolly animated film that actually played in a few big city art houses. Certain elements of this one are similar to "Species," the current theatrical horror flick about a female alien on the prowl, but the overall tone of the piece is closer to a James Bond movie. In fact, the whole production has a mid-'60s look.
It begins with a young man named Taki who allows himself to be picked up by a sexy woman and immediately regrets his decision when they go back to her place. She's a visitor from the parallel Black World of monsters. He's an agent of the Black Guard, a secret intelligence organization that protects the earth from these supernatural bad guys.
The plot revolves around Guiseppi Mayart, a strange little character who looks (and acts!) like an oversexed E.T., and is the key to a treaty between the two worlds. Taki and his reluctant female partner, Makea, are assigned to guard the debauched diplomat, protecting him from otherworldly assassins and his own inclinations. Unlike so much current Japanese "anime," this story actually makes sense within its loose limits. And though the plot drags in places, the film is a lot of fun for fans who appreciate the glorious excesses of the genre.
Those excesses are even more excessive in two other new releases due out later this year. Both "La Blue Girl" and "Demon Beast Invasion" are serialized stories about grotesque monsters from other dimensions who indulge in unspeakable acts with humans. (Do we sense a pattern here?) These two come from the creators of the "Urotsukdoji" films and are in the same grand guignol tradition.
The sexual element isn't as important in a third series, "Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings." If Stephen King were to turn his hand to the Hardy Boys series he might come up with something like this one. It's about four young brothers with extraordinary powers, and the corrupt, aging zillionaire who's pursuing them.
In all of these, the quality of the art isn't up to the highest standards set by Disney and Warner in this country and such Japanese features as "Akira," but the stories zip right along at the frantic pace of a good comic book. And essentially, these are video comic books.
Shifting to live-action, the scene also shifts from Japan to Africa in "The Last Samurai." It's an uneven adventure thriller with a veteran cast that's better than the script. The story concerns Yasujiro Endo (John Fujioka), a corporate titan who goes into the African wilderness for two reasons. First, he has to check on an arms deal concerning his associate Hakim (John Saxon), but he's also trying to find evidence of an ancestor, a missionary who tried to bring Buddhism to Africa and disappeared there.
Endo's transportation is provided by chopper pilot Johnny Congo (Lance Henriksen), a self-destructive Vietnam vet. After a lengthy (too lengthy) introduction, they find themselves held hostage by a local general (James Ryan).
Director Paul Mayersberg stages the action scenes fairly effectively, but those arrive late and they're interrupted by long stretches of pseudo-philosophical discourses on honor that degenerate into nutty sloganeering. Some good scenery and the usual solid performances by Henriksen and Fujioka are the film's strengths.
"Fatal Past" also attempts to graft a degree of classicism onto an escapist story about reincarnated lovers. In the present, Costello (Costas Mandylor) is a mobster's bodyguard. Jennifer (Kasia Figura) is the mobster's paramour. They had the same relationship in medieval Japan where a feudal lord was the third point in the triangle. Way back when, it ended with ritual suicide and other unpleasantness. Will it be repeated in the present?
Unfortunately, that premise is undone by a static pace and director Clive Fleury's inability to handle action. Instead of showing what a hotshot bodyguard Costello is, Fleury has other characters talk about his abilities. The two leads are attractive and, given the premise, believable enough but they're all this one has going for it.
Next week: "The Wild Bunch" re-released on video!
New releases this week
Nobody's Fool ****
Starring Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Dylan Walsh, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith. Written and directed by Robert Benton. Paramount. 108 min. Rated R for strong language, brief nudity, mild violence.
This may not be an absolutely perfect movie, but it's perfect enough. The key is Newman's superb performance as a 60-year-old ne'er-do-well in snowy upstate New York. Everything fits, from writer-director Robert Benton's adaptation of Richard Russo's novel to John Bailey's photography to Howard Shore's score to David Gropman's production design to a first-rate supporting cast. Structurally, the film is much like Benton's "Places in the Heart," weaving the separate plotlines into a satisfying whole.
Outbreak ***
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Warner Home Video. 123 min. Rated R for subject matter, strong language, some violence.
This timely medical thriller begins with a strong premise and loses credibility about midway through. But by then the story is in overdrive and holds audience interest on the most basic what's-going-to-happen-next? level. As a military doctor fighting a deadly virus, Dustin Hoffman leads a strong cast.
Man of the House *
Starring Chevy Chase, Farrah Fawcett. Buena Vista. Rated PG for mild violence.
Chevy Chase plays Jack Sturges, a U.S. attorney who can stare down the toughest mobsters in Seattle but who wilts under the withering glare of an 11-year-old boy (played by ``Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas) whose mother he hopes to marry. Chase is a simpering weenie constantly upstaged by kids and a bunch of middle-aged men dressed up as Indians. This is an old-fashioned Disney movie only if you see it with a small non-discriminating child.
- Katherine Reed
by CNB