Regarding 009 Re:Cyborg

This film was on my radar from the moment it was announced. I've never seen or read the previous Cyborg 009 works (unless 009-1 counts), but the names "Production I.G" and "Kenji Kamiyama" were enough to catch my eye. The bizarre 3D CG animation also caught my eye, but the style grew on me as I watched the film. Should you watch 009 Re:Cyborg?

Fernando Ramos at Otaku USA magazine wrote a review last November that properly summed up my experience with the film: Kenji Kamiyama went overboard with his attempts to emulate Mamoru Oshii. He aped Oshii's usual obsession with Judeo-Christian imagery, but fails to group the references into any substantive thinking. On the surface, 009 Re:Cyborg is about a series of terrorist bombings carried out by people who are hearing "His Voice." Who is He? God, or something pretending to be God and capable of mind-control. The actual answer to the question is so elusive that Fernando Ramos claimed no one else in the theater understood what was going on either. I, unfortunately, understand how confused they really were.

The highlights of this film are to be found in the music and the visuals. Kenji Kawai, who has faithfully worked with Mamoru Oshii for years, lends a hand to Kamiyama's philosophically dumbstruck film and brings some much needed vigor. As per Kawai's rulebook, ominous chorus singers accompanied a dynamic orchestral score. There was also the inclusion of 1980s style guitar, contributing to the heroic "save the world" agenda the movie insists on.

There's no escaping discussion of the unique artwork that went into 009 Re:Cyborg. I've got a serious problem with CG that sticks out like a sore thumb; a movie full of blatant 3D CG is nothing short of intolerable. Without a doubt, the beautifully directed action sequences helped change my attitude. 009, the protagonist, has the ability to move at hypersonic speed, and there are few things cooler than a battle where dodging raindrops is as fascinating as dodging oncoming punches. The other cyborgs are veritable killing machines despite their humanitarian aims: 004 fires bullets from his fingers and stores a missile in his kneecap. 005's a native American with the powers of the Incredible Hulk, and 006 spits fire. The paradoxical heavy armament of peacekeeping cyborgs brings credence to the notion of "peace through war."

If 009 Re:Cyborg lacked the pseudo-intellectualism, it would be a great film. I think Kamiyama needs to clarify his philosophical arguments, or leave such debates to people who are better at weaving them into scripts. I love Kamiyama, but he's no Oshii.