Devilman (2004)

So much average

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Having no preconceived ideas about what this movie should be like I count myself fortunate or I would have found myself irritated and frustrated rather than merely confused and disappointed.I have little idea about the actual plot of Devilman but this disjointed jumble of scenes was anything but smooth. While I finally understood the actual storyline by the end I think the only thing that really came across (and by no virtue of the terrible acting) was what my already somewhat fan-girl mind had conjured up at the beginning wasn't far from the mark.With the CGI, scenery, acting and plot coherency the only thing that buoyed this rating up was Susumu, and perhaps the end.

If you admire the animated Devil Man, do yourself a favor,SKIP THIS ONE! I am a fairly tenacious Devil Man enthusiast. I have a few mangas, the TV- Series box, Devil Man OVA Collection and Amon: Devil Man Apocalypse. The animation runs rings around the live-action movie. I had high hopes for this. I had it set in my mind that the quality of this movie would be on par with the live-action treatment of Casshern but it most definitely was not. Here's where the movie fails: flat acting, stiff computer animation, bad make-up and a giant lag in the middle of the movie. Put it this way, I had the Swine Flu and that was allot more fun than Devil Man: Live Action. I hope Go Nagai (Devil Man's creator) finds those responsible for this abomination and urinates all over their mothers. The ONLY saving grace of this movie is that Devil Man model looks pretty cool.

I just received my DVD copy of Devilman along with some other Japanese films (Survive Style 5+, Izo, Zebraman, Vital) I had ordered. I love Japanese cinema, from Kurosawa and Ozu, Fukusaku and Suzuki, to Miike and Ishii. I also love anime. Though I have been aware of the Devilman character, I've never actually watched an episode of the series so I didn't have any preconceived notions of what the film should be. My only expectation was that the movie would be enjoyable if nothing else.Well, Devilman fails remarkably to even entertain. I've heard people compare this movie to Casshern, and beyond the films being based on classic properties and employing a substantial use of CGI, that is where the comparisons end. Devilman is just plain awful. I like a good "bad" movie and Devilman can't even be enjoyed on such a level. The acting by the leads is horrendous, the special effects would be better served in a CGI animated movie, and the narrative is just not involving.The viewer is never drawn into the story. The lead actor who plays Akira does not engender any sympathy as his performance is so flat. Two scenes in particular really display his ineptitude: When his girlfriend's father discovers he is a demon, Akira let's out a wail of anguish that does sound painful, but more like the type of pain accompanied by a rectal examination -- and when Akira discovers the severed head of his girlfriend he again bellows in agony, not once but several times. Rather than being swept up in his loss, the viewer is taken out of the scene because of it's unintentional hilarity.I do have to say there is one really startling sequence in the film. It occurs during the finale when the Earth is engulfed by a massive wave of destruction and there is a depiction of "hell on earth" with bodies intertwined into enormous columns of suffering. That is the only moment in the film where I thought "cool." If there is one small service I can do for mankind it would be this: I implore each and everyone of you who reads this to stay away from this movie. If you really must see it, try to see it for free. Don't be like me who has to learn lessons the hard way. God bless!

I bought the movie without knowing anything but the anime movies. Before I watched it I checked the ratings here in the IMDb, and started to panic after reading some very negative comments and saw the 3.8 rating. I really thought about returning the movie before breaking the seal of the DVD. but I risked my money 25euro, and watched it. And look at that, it is not bad, no it is pretty good. OK the Japanese movie makers somehow still don't get it and use the wrong camera and film equipment, which turns the movie in TV production optics, but beside this Japanese brain problem, the movie is much better then 95% of all US Movies. There are no real big logic mistakes like in US movies. You can see that the fights were reduced radically in terms of length compared to the anime, which sure was a money problem, to expensive effects. the cg graphics are totally up to date, I saw much worse in spiderman the movie, or blade 2, for example. The story changed a lot, but this is not making the movie bad, and if you read the booklet you know that go nagai does this retelling with changing elements of his story already for years. I personally think that this version of devilman is the best. I like it more than the the 2 anime movies released here. If I just focus an violence and fight scenes, than the anime is better, but story and co. is much better in this movie. I don't know the original comics(mangas), but I know this movie is great, and you won't find a US production being so hard, showing the worst side of humans. Somebody complained about the actors, I can only say that there are sure better ones but they are actors and they do their job not so bad. For me the worst is the picture quality, produced by the cameras and film used in this movie. It looks like a cheap TV drama, until the cg graphics come and rule. That is all.