Venus Wars (1989)
The new frontier of Venus has degenerated into a dystopia ravaged by the civil war between Ishtar and Aphrodia. Bubbly reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capitol of Aphrodia just before it's captured by Ishtar. She falls in with a bunch of teen-agers who live for a sort of motorcycle version of Roller Derby. Daredevil rider Hiro and his friends reluctantly join the struggle to free Aphrodia from the invaders. Not surprisingly, Hiro proves an ace at piloting the mono-cycles that are the Aphrodians' secret weapon in the key battle.
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Why so much hype?
Sadly Over-hyped
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
The animation is good for 1989, but the plot is nothing more than an idealized war story with kids. And it is all happening on Venus of all places. The heroes are a bunch of motorcycle kids who want to save their city from the invaders. They are not even alien invaders, just a bunch of other people. They get some weapons, mount a rebellion which amounts to little, but in the process they get the attention of the army proper and they are conscripted. The day is saved.The problem with the characters is that they are all teens. However annoying they may be, they are acting according to their role. Damn unsympathetic, though. The glory of war pop music on the background was also irritating. Bottom line: lame story, but good animation.
When he wrote this adaptation of his own manga Yoshikazu Yasuhiko was already renowned as a manga creator, illustrator, character designer and director. Joe Hisaishi wrote the stirring score, and he had worked musical magic for Studio Ghibli on My Neighbor Totoro (1988) the previous year. The rest of the senior staff brought solid reputations and worked in top form to make Venus Wars a glossily produced, well-designed, exciting piece of science-fiction. The mecha designs are excellent and the moody, deep-toned backdrop paintings set the tone for a bleak war story where youthful passion runs into reality with devastating consequences.
One of my personal favorites... can't beat the classics, eh? This film is hard to come by these days but it is a definite "gotta-see-it." Apparently an icy comet hit Venus around about now and made the planet habitable. The planet contains a population of relatively disillusioned human beings who, when not complaining or uni-bike racing, raise armies to try and control the planet. Bleak, eh? Our heroes are a bunch of hot-shot biker punks who team up with some rebels to fight the evil warlords... Good stuff. The animation is fluid and lovingly rendered... the sort of quality that made "Akira" so popular. Occasionally, live-action shots of what I assume are Arizona are incorporated into the backgrounds to give the whole film a "real feel." Do not miss this film. Get it get it get it. There's next to nil in the way of flesh, but that's not important. Great plot, great action, great characters... not to mention some hilarious lines here and there for fun. This film makes a powerful statement about human nature.
It's 2089 and Venus is a thriving Earth colony, but it strives for independance and wars with Earth breaks out. Venus is split into two parts, and we follow a group of friends living on one side of the divide who before the war spent their time racing motor bikes, but they end up fighting in the war. A young reporter from Earth follows them around and eventually becomes part of the Venusian resistance.Nice animation, well developed characters and plenty of love loss and struggle ,makes for a great film, worth watching if you're an anime fan :)