Classic animation, with a hard rockin soundtrack
I can't believe the number of negative reviews this movie has gotten! I bet these people don't like James Bond movies, either.
To fully appreciate Heavy Metal, one has to understand the era it came out in. At the time, most animation, at least what was seen in the US, was frequently of the "family entertainment" variety seen in Saturday morning cartoons and TV commercials. Apart from Ralph Bakshi, most animators were basically shackled by the need to present something that was "rated G". Heavy Metal took the exact opposite route. It was a liberating experience for the animators working on the film to be allowed to draw things they usually weren't allowed. And they got paid to do it, too!
After the opening Soft Landing sequence, we're introduced to the Loc-Nar, a glowing green orb responsible for all the evil that has plagued the universe (or at least, that which has plagued the human race). The various stories contained in the film are told by the Loc-Nar to...
Cult Classic HEAVY METAL Not a Clunker
Some critics and film historians have labeled 1981's HEAVY METAL as the last film to genuinely reflect the mishmash sensibilities of the post-hippy 1970s counter-culture, and stylistically and thematically this appears to be true. Based on the adult counter-culture cult comic of the same name, HEAVY METAL definitely is a sort of spacey concatenation of disparate visual aesthetics and heterogeneous science-fiction/fantasy narratives. But despite being a hodgepodge as a whole, the film still manages to offer a very entertaining way to kill 90 minutes.
As with the magazine, the film is basically aimed at horny male adolescents, offering plenty of nude, amply bosomed women running around in the midst of stylized violence and gore; lots of rock music (though these ditties from popular metal bands of the late '70s may not appeal to the current generation of horny male adolescents); and references to the drug-oriented sub-culture (definitely not a cartoon for the pre-teen crowd). Each...
The DVD greatly improves upon the original movie
This is one of those great DVDs with so many Special Features, you could spend days viewing them all. Most interesting is a feature-length 'rough cut' of the entire film with running commentary throughout. The rough-cut -- a combination of rough pencil animation and rare sketches -- even contains some deleted scenes. Best of all, there is a Heavy Metal Magazine cover (and back cover) gallery. In addition to being a nice showcase for some beautiful artwork, this section will really bring back memories for anyone who grew up with the magazine in the late 70s and 80s. Of course, the film itself never looked or sounded better than on DVD. The film itself was a nice attempt at capturing the spirit of the magazine -- it isn't a complete success, but a very noble effort in animation considering it was released in 1981!
Click to Editorial Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment