7/6/2023 0 Comments Jp redline![]() Since this is a Madhouse production, Redline looks very, very pretty. You don’t watch this film for its plot, though it’s impossible not to sit there with mouth agape while struggling to make sense of what you’re looking at. To do this, Sweet JP has to: 1) defy his crooked manager Frisbee (Tadanobu Asano, who in real life is both a star of cult films and a pop star, sort of like the Johnny Depp of Japan) 2) defeat racers with names like “Psychoman” and “Machine Head” Tetsuzin and 3) not get killed by Roboworld’s weapons of mass destruction, including an artificially intelligent mushroom cloud called “Funky Boy” as well as “Hyper-disintegrator cannons.” He secretly wants to win the Redline, or so we infer, and he also wants to get the girl. Apart from being a hot-head racer with a pretty funky-looking haircut, Sweet JP’s got a crush on fellow racer “Cherry Boy Hunter” Sonoshee (Yû Aoi). So they’re out and Sweet JP, being too stupid to say no, is in.īut who is this guy anyway, and what does he stand for? As the cliche goes, Sweet JP’s a lover, not a fighter. Nevertheless, two groups of drivers drop out because they don’t want to die at the hands of pissed-off robots from outer space. The fact that this year’s Redline is being held near Roboworld is an act of aggression but by who and for what reasons is unclear. But he gets invited to race at the Redline anyway because this year, the Redline is being hosted near Roboworld, a planet populated by belligerent androids with funny hairstyles. So Sweet JP doesn’t win the Yellowline Race, a contest that would qualify him to race in the ultra-deluxe Redline Race. He’s not a serious competitor but only because he takes bribes to intentionally lose races. He drives a yellow TransAm and strategically uses futuristic Steamlight technology to make his car go really fast. Here’s the scene: Sweet JP (voiced by Takuya Kimura) is an ectomorph with a meter-tall pompadour that could cut glass. But it is novel enough to keep you wondering just what the hell you’re watching. Just remember that this film seems to have been made with the express goal of making you feel like you’re high. If you only see one movie this holiday season that makes your brains leak out your ears in drips and drabs while you babble incoherently like a baby, make it Redline. It’s not going to change any American filmgoers’ preconceived notions about what Japanese anime can do and it’s not going to change the world.īut Redline is a unique, hallucinatory experience that demands to be seen on a big screen if only so you can feel the thunderous approach of futuristic race cars as they vie for rank. ![]() Redline’s pretty ridiculous and may or may not have been strictly designed for mouth-breathers who like to watch flashy things zoom by them. The result is a hyper-kinetic cartoon that looks like it was made by and for people high on adrenaline and maybe some other unknown illicit substances. ![]() The film is a cult filmgoer’s dream: Koike and his team of three screenwriters, including psychedelic cult filmmaker Katsuhito Ishii ( The Taste of Tea, Funky Forest: The First Contact), liberally combine elements of the relatively wholesome Speed Racer and Hanna Barbera’s Wacky Races cartoons with titillating, ultra-violent aspects of the Roger Corman-produced sci-fi satire Death Race 2000 and Heavy Metal comic books, too. ![]() Produced by Madhouse, Inc., the animation studio that designed several films by the late great animator Satoshi Kon ( Paprika, Paranoia Agent), Redline is both gorgeous and very dumb. ![]()
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