Kite (1998)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film is quite good. It could even be one of the best I've seen,but... I think 50 minutes is too short. Because of it, the love story between Sawa and Oburi looks a little stupid,and after watching it I had a feeling that something was uncompleted. And of course there are lots of logical mistakes. For example: how can a man survive after explosion if he was in epicenter of it? How can he miss the target if he's standing in a meter distance from it? There are also some mistakes with bursting bullets.Nevertheless I can say, that movie is quite good and it's definitely worth seeing. But it's sad to realize that it could be much better. And it's strange that Yasuomi Umetsu still hasn't made the second part.

A famous show master enters the elevator with his girlfriend. Suddenly, she kills him and runs away while an old lady gets a heart attack. The name of the female assassin is Sawa. She is still going to school and works for an vicious criminal, Akai, who is sleeping with her. One day Sawa finds out he killed her parents..------- Even the biggest anime fans will have to admit that this vicious action thriller is an disappointing gore fest. "Kite" has style, but it is still trash. The weird plot about a teenage girl that kills people as an assassin tried to be scary and touching at the same time, only causing the story to fall flat on it's face. One of the highlights is an action sequence in which the good/bad heroine Sawa is falling together with a bodyguard from a building, yet the dramatic structure isn't nearly as good orchestrated and the director Yasoumi Umetsu's weird and grotesque animation of the character's faces is awful. Not only that, the intercourse sequences are just simply creepy.Grade: 3/10

Director and storyboarder Yasuomi Umetsu's high octane visuals hang from KITE's basic, unoriginal storyline, but don't let that put you off this pleasing document.An assassin forced to kill and driven into occasional sexual servitude by perverted bosses is the basic set-up of this excuse for subversion (nothing wrong with that).That the assassin looks twelve (despite her concessionary breasts) is why KITE is questionable material in more conservative circles.The shoot-outs are beautifully realized and the sound effects are sharp and effective. Umetsu has a passion for the domino effect of violence as one grisly atrocity begets another until the Tokyo streets and subways resemble a hellish inferno.The erotic sequences, cut or softened in some versions, are as explicit as you can possibly get and gorgeously drawn.The 2004 Kitty Media DVD (the only one to get) is totally uncut, as is a German disc released a couple of year's ago (sans English subs).KITE is juvenile in spots, slow in others, but it's a good animated co-feature if you're thinking of screening Luc Besson's THE PROFESSIONAL for your comrades.

Well, there's no real plot to speak of, it's just an excuse to show some scenes of extreme violence and gratuitous sex (which can sometimes be fun, too, but it's not in this case). What else can I say about this...? The action, when happening, is inventive and there's a cool scene where two characters are falling from a skyscraper (one that has to be several miles high), but overall there's not much to recommend "Kite". Watch it if you want, but you're not missing much if you skip this one...