*** (out of ****)
Starring Tadanobu Asano and Masatoshi Nagase
Directed & written by Sogo Ishii, with cinematography by Norimichi Kasamatsu
2001
55 minutes NR (should be PG or PG13)
You can’t make a movie called “Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts”—about a Tokyo lizard-hunter who has superpowers because he was struck by lightning as a boy and who does battle with a guy who wears a Buddha half-mask—and play it straight. Luckily, “Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts” sees the ludicrousity inherent in itself and does not play straight. Rather, it plays with a gleeful deadpan, wallowing in black-and-white wide-angle shots, screaming narration, endless guitar solos, and just general weirdness for its 55 minute runtime, which is about as long as it needs.
Perhaps the best way to write about “Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts” is with the Caps-Lock key down.
IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE DRAGON EYE MORRISON: BOXER, GUITAR HERO, AND PROFESSIONAL LIZARD HUNTER!! STRUCK BY LIGHTNING AS A BOY, HE IS CURSED WITH THE POWER TO HARNESS ELECTRICITY, AND CAN ONLY FIND SOLACE FROM HIS MADNESS IN THE LOUD STRAINS OF HIS ELECTRIC GUITAR!! IN THE OTHER CORNER WE HAVE THUNDERBOLT BUDDHA, HIS DERANGED NEMESIS, WANDERING TOKYO, READING MINDS, AND THINKING FIENDISH THOUGHTS FROM THE SAFETY OF HIS STEEL LAIR!! WILL DRAGON EYE MORRISON VANQUISH THUNDERBOLT BUDDHA AND MAKE THE STREETS OF TOKYO SAFE AGAIN?!? OR WILL THUNDERBOLT BUDDHA SQUASH DRAGON EYE LIKE A BUG AND CONTINUE HIS REIGN OF TERROR?!?
Okay, that hurts my throat. Anyway, the whole thing is pretty silly, even if everyone keeps a straight face. Dragon Eye (Tadanobu Asano) is a walking archetype of the fashionably-dressed vexed young man, Thunderbolt Buddha (Masatoshi Nagase) is creepy, and when they fight, it’s like live-action anime, which is even funnier than you’d expect it to be. The black-and-white cinematography by Norimichi Kasamatsu is some of the most beautiful cloudy skies and cityscapes this side of a Michael Mann film. A narrator (uncredited by IMDb) does most of the talking for the two fellahs and is not above screaming at the top of his lungs in Japanese, and writer-director Sogo Ishii is not above using every trick in the book, from different camera speeds, shutter speeds, and keeping his camera only a few inches from the ground. Clearly Ishii’s goal is not to tell a story but to create an atmosphere, and he does so masterfully. True cinephiles have grown past that stage where they think every movie has to function like a novel, and recognize that some films should be appreciated more like music.
“Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts” is a bunch of crazy crap, for certain, but it’s well-made and fun, which is refreshing after movies like “Underworld,” which take crazy premises and play them as flat and dull as possible. Any description of “Electric Dragon” will probably involve frequent use of the phrase “or something,” but I seem to have avoided it. Good for me. GUITAR!!!
Finished March 25th, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Friday & Saturday Night
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