Alive (2002/I)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Tsutomu Takahashi (comic book)
Ryûhei Kitamura (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A life worse than death.

Plot:

After survivng his own execution, Tenshu choses to be subjected to the bizarre experiments of the prison officials.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Temperature | Violence | Cloud | Steak

Cast

Hideo Sakaki	...	Tenshu Yashiro
Ryô	...	Yurika Saegusa
Koyuki	...	Asuka Saegusa
Shun Sugata	...	Matsuda
Erika Oda	...	Misako Hara
Tak Sakaguchi	...	Zeros
Jun Kunimura	...	Kojima
Ryushi Mizukami	...	Warden 1
Keita Kimura	...	Warden 2
Minoru Aoki	...	Warden 3
Boba	...	Hair Cut Guard
Takanori Hamachika	...	Guard 1
Makato Kitami	...	Guard 2
Seki Watanabe	...	Guard 3
Suenari Matsubara	...	Guard 4

Runtime:

Canada:119 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Australia:MA (2006) | New Zealand:R16 | Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Suplex

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Takutake shoots Zeros after he is defeated, you can clearly hear the sound of a shell casing of a pistol hitting the ground. As Takutake is using a revolver, which does not eject spent shells after each shot, this would make no sense.

Movie Connections:

References Versus (2000/II)

Not what I wanted.

Between "Versus" and "Azumi", I was getting around to liking director Kitamura, but after this entry I'm not so sure anymore. It's got all the promise, but never lives up to it.

A man is sent to the electric chair for the murder of his girlfriend's rapist. However, he survives the execution and is subsequently put into an experiment involving seedy government types, fellow prisoners, containment and a rather hostile alien entity trapped in a girl's body. It seems this entity only likes to latch onto the most blood thirsty host it can find, so death row inmates should make good subjects for government research. Oh, what will happen?

Any and everyone who has sat through one or more Japanese sci-fi flicks should be able to predict who the alien will latch onto and what will happen once it does. Giving that is a moot point, the film doesn't get going until it happens. Unfortunately, it takes a LONG time before the story gets moving, before that viewers have to sit through dry, dull dialogue scenes ad nausea.

Once the film finally takes off, it starts to have some fun. Guys with guns, super-powered fights, the works. It's just way too little, way too late to salvage much interest. Most viewers will not sit long enough to see things pick up, which is really too bad, there is some good sci-fi stuff later on.

A note about the ending: I won't ruin anything, but I think watchers should know that like other films by Kitamura, the movie concludes, but the story doesn't have much of an ending. Make of it what you will.

So many good ideas are wasted on dull story telling and limited conception. Worth a view only to hard-core J-film fanatics.

6/10