A new, big budget adaptation of the long running, hugely popular horror/action anime created in 1972 by Go Nagai. A sprawling, apocalyptic and violent tale of battling demons that has a considerable cult following, any attempt to transfer "Devilman" to the live action medium was always going to be an uphill struggle. It involves the accidental release of a demonic species from Antarctica, whose numbers spread via an infection, which corrupts and transforms normal people. This leads to an apocalyptic war, in which humanity's only hope is Akira (Hisato Izaki, from Japanese boy band 'Flame'), a weedy teen who merges with a demonic entity to become Devilman, a powerful, yet conscientious beast that fights both monsters and the fascist and brutal human forces trying to wipe out the new species. Akira is opposed by his former best friend, the somewhat psychotic Ryo (Yusuke Izaki, twin brother of Hisato, and fellow 'Flame' member), who becomes an equally powerful demon, and a host of other creatures that pop in and out of the story before it all conveniently finishes up with a climatic showdown. Based on Gô Nagai's manga, about mild-mannered teenager Akira Fudô, who merges with a demon to fight other demons. Having no preconceived ideas about what this movie should be like I count myself fortunate or I would have found myself irritated and frustrated rather than merely confused and disappointed.<br/><br/>I have little idea about the actual plot of Devilman but this disjointed jumble of scenes was anything but smooth. While I finally understood the actual storyline by the end I think the only thing that really came across (and by no virtue of the terrible acting) was what my already somewhat fan-girl mind had conjured up at the beginning wasn't far from the mark.<br/><br/>With the CGI, scenery, acting and plot coherency the only thing that buoyed this rating up was Susumu, and perhaps the end. This is a very poor adaptation of one of the most famous creations of the manga artist Go Nagai, "Devilman", which is often considered one of the most influential mangas of all time, and also has some animated adaptations, each one of them much better done and more entertaining than this movie.<br/><br/>"Devilman" is a dark, violent and bleak story which was way too ahead of its time, and sadly this terrible adaptation doesn't make any kind of justice to the source material: Not only the special effects are terrible (The combination of CGI with live-action actors it's pretty weak, personally I think that I would have been much effective to make the whole movie using computer animation) but also the performances were pretty bad as well, making some of the most dramatic parts of the story into a big, bad joke that isn't even funny to watch.<br/><br/>It almost feels like a parody of the original story.It lacked of the impact and emotional strength of the manga and the anime versions, being almost laughable at moments.<br/><br/>In what concerns to the violence and intensity, it pales in comparison with the source material, being way too tamed and banal, unlike the manga.<br/><br/>This movie is a huge disappointment like most all the live action versions of animated shows and video games. The Devilman OAV and "Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman" are much better than this.
Hedwanto replied
321 weeks ago