This was very disapointing I cannot lie. Having this be an Otomo product I really was expecting a lot out of him. I mean you would expect that the creator, author, and director of Akira would make another amazing product. But unfortunately, the most disappointing things of this film is the story. This has some very textbook narrative problems. The first hour and a half is just build up to the final act. I felt like I was watching a recap at the beginning of an anime, catching you up. It is just so sluggish and boring. In all of that time they spent building up the film, they somehow didn't even build up any of the characters at all. I did not give a crap about any of the characters' motivations or conflicts. The most that I cared about the main character was when his father was said to have died, which then he was kidnapped with the important MacGuffin. This might be a spoiler but this happens within the first 30 minutes but, as soon as the father is claimed to have died, HE COMES BACK! He never even died, he just was turned into some weird steampunk equivalent of a cyborg, whatever that would be called. A "Steamborg"? Steamborg. I am trademarking that. Then the father turns into the main villain of the film instead of the evil corporation that is controlling this steam deathstar or whatever. Also I don't understand the purpose of Stephenson. I understand he was the guy to give the MacGuffin to, but bro is just put in so that the big corporation has someone to fight against. Ray is in this weird neutral ground where he doesn't want either side to have this steam dome MacGuffin, whatever, but his motivations just aren't thoroughly explored, which sucks because this film could've been so much more honestly. This was just sort of wasted potential because of a sloppy story.
The best thing about the film the animation. My god is it beautiful. The world building of the 1800s UK was also very beautiful as well. I loved seeing how the steam deathstar worked with all of its analog valves and pipes. Very neat. But amazing animation can only do so much with such a steamy narrative.
This was very disapointing I cannot lie. Having this be an Otomo product I really was expecting a lot out of him. I mean you would expect that the creator, author, and director of Akira would make another amazing product. But unfortunately, the most disappointing things of this film is the story. This has some very textbook narrative problems. The first hour and a half is just build up to the final act. I felt like I was watching a recap at the beginning of an anime, catching you up. It is just so sluggish and boring. In all of that time they spent building up the film, they somehow didn't even build up any of the characters at all. I did not give a crap about any of the characters' motivations or conflicts. The most that I cared about the main character was when his father was said to have died, which then he was kidnapped with the important MacGuffin. This might be a spoiler but this happens within the first 30 minutes but, as soon as the father is claimed to have died, HE COMES BACK! He never even died, he just was turned into some weird steampunk equivalent of a cyborg, whatever that would be called. A "Steamborg"? Steamborg. I am trademarking that. Then the father turns into the main villain of the film instead of the evil corporation that is controlling this steam deathstar or whatever. Also I don't understand the purpose of Stephenson. I understand he was the guy to give the MacGuffin to, but bro is just put in so that the big corporation has someone to fight against. Ray is in this weird neutral ground where he doesn't want either side to have this steam dome MacGuffin, whatever, but his motivations just aren't thoroughly explored, which sucks because this film could've been so much more honestly. This was just sort of wasted potential because of a sloppy story.
The best thing about the film the animation. My god is it beautiful. The world building of the 1800s UK was also very beautiful as well. I loved seeing how the steam deathstar worked with all of its analog valves and pipes. Very neat. But amazing animation can only do so much with such a steamy narrative.
