Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)

Simply Perfect

Fantastic!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The entire point of comic books was that their art was ragged, untrimmed, spontaneous; artists were usually paid by the page, worked for daily strips, or monthly publications, Superman and Batman were launched in this way. As with the very means, a comic was about a gripping story quicky sketched. So the Hollywood craze with superheroes, bulky, sprawling films shooting for months while a small army of SFX experts are tinkering away at the designs, has directly negated what was so vital about these things in the first place. The apogee of this is the latest Batman films, no longer a product of pulp fiction, but of the most serious aesthetic and drama. This beats with that primitive heart of comic-books; the DIY ethos, here especially channeled through a scrapyard punk rock aesthetic, and so like punk, the fast, hard-edged rhythms, the stripped-down instrumentation. The teenage energy.If all this recalls Shunya Tsukamoto, it's because Sogo Ishii was the inspiration. He fathered the No Wave we find in Tetsuo.Story-wise it's about these two man-technology hybrids, Dragon Eye Morrison and Thunderbolt Buddha, battling for control of the neon skies of Tokyo, for the privilege of harnessing the energies into seeing.Dragon Eye is unbridled animal desire, pure violent instinct awakened by childhood abuse. Every night he sits down on his bed for shock treatment. He channels the energies back into the world with his electric guitar. The other guy is more intriguing, with the all-encompassing eye of the Buddha that permeates the veils of existence recast as a contemporary, technological eye that eavesdrops everywhere. Wired with industrial gadgetry, he monitors everything from his rooftop. His face is an amazing two-face design; half human, half a metal mask of the Buddha.When they clash the movie erupts in white-hot blistering chaos, convulsing from the sheer power of the energies unleashed. Anime, punk rock, New Wave cinema, cold cityscapes, the anarchic edge of youth; at 55 minutes it's barely a full movie, but it's a melting pot of awesome.

Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts is a frenetic rock and roll fever dream come to life. The narrative is fairly simple, but the action is intense. It's a loud film: the music is guitar freakout aggressive punk noise.The characters are developed via compressed time quick cuts and long takes that show their idiosyncratic behaviors. There's almost a meditative quality to the longer shots, especially when viewed in the unique cinematography style. For those who are interested in one-off visual styles, this film would merit repeated viewing. I highly recommend the making-of features on the DVD.If you like punk music and wuxia films, this may be the best use of an hour you've had in weeks.

it rarely happens that I want to walk out of a movie theatre in the middle of a film, but this time it was very close. I was hoping for a second movie after this 55 minute one, that's why I stayed. this movie is a movie experience gone totally nuts. extremely loud (my ears still hurt) and extremely bad guitar music to fast cut scenes of a man faking to play guitar in the wildest possible moves (he discharges the electric energy in him into the the guitar, electric network, etc.). I am a Manga fan, but this movie (btw it is not an animation movie) has nothing to do with good manga films (Mononoke Hime etc.). Is there anything good I could say about this movie? Nope....

This is an aggressive Tour de Force in the vein of the early works of Shinya Tsukamoto, while nor sharing the intense body horror of those films or the extreme stand toward sexuality. Two electrified superheros battle for domination in this short (55 min) b/w feature film by Sogo Ishii. Electric Dragon Eye who was superempowered by an accident is capable of communicating with reptiles and releases his amphetamine stridden electronic energy by playing electric guitar on the streets. He is provoked by another stud the Thunderbold Buddha that is wearing a split mask over his head. Superfast cut Comic action combined with the sound of Ishiis own band Mach.167 culminates in a furious battle on the rooftop of a japanese megalopolis. Its Cyberpunk and definitely related to digital hardcore music or Alec Empire.