SUMMER WARS
A Movie I came across while searching through one of my favoured streaming sites.
OVERVIEW - Summer Wars follows the same kind of idea as the 1983 movie "Wargames" starring Mathew Broderick. It features an online-world called "Oz" in which almost all the people, governments and companies of the world hold accounts, in order to shop, do business and socialise etc, its security system is claimed to be the best in the world and unbreakable. (dun dun DUUUNN.. foreshadowmuch?) and follows a young teen called Kenji Koiso and his interaction with his "sempai's" family, Oz and a crisis. When not set in Oz itself, the film is set in a "real world" scenario it has a few "cartoon" moments, like turning bright red when blushing, comidic over-reactions in places but they're rarely used. Its style is a "slice of life", in so much as that the characters are just plain, normal people (for the most part) in an every day situation, that twists as the story unfolds.
REVIEW -The story takes place across two worlds as such, the real world and the cyber world of Oz, which while explained as part of the internet in the movie, basically serves the same purpose as the entire internet does for us, with a person's avatar holding the same level of authority as the person, in so much as it is said that the president of the US could possibly even launch nukes from his Oz account. The real world story follows Kenji, as he offers to help his "sempai" (senior or upperclassman for those not familiar with the term) Natsuki, in a part time job at her family home in the country as the whole family is arriving for her grandmother's 90th birthday. Upon arrival however it turns out she wasnt after an "able hand" but for someone to pretend to be her boyfriend. Kenji's obvious attraction to her shows here. We're introduced to the Clan as the film goes on, an old noble family who's fortune was lost a few generations back, the various members hold all kinds of jobs ranging from police officers to doctors to working with the JSDF. Natsuki's lies about Kenji are generally accepted and the family shares a loud, friendly meal, disrupted by the arrival of a long-missing relative, Wabisuke, hated for selling the last of the clan's land and vanishing to america with the money.
That night Kenji, who was earlier revealed to be exceptional at maths, almost able to represent japan in a "maths olympics", is sent a message via Oz, with a massive numeric code in it, asking him to solve it. He does, replies and gets a prank thank you. thinking nothing else of it he goes to sleep, to be woken the next day by the children who've seen his picture on TV, marking him as the person behind chaos that has errupted in Oz overnight. Kenji and his friend from school Takashi try and work out whats going on, finding that a "hacking A.I." called Love Machine is behind all the troubles.
Natsuki's lies about Kenji, and the fact that he's wanting by the police for questioning over the trouble in Oz all come out, and Kenji ends up being arrested by one of the police who is a member of the clan. However Love Machine gains access to the infrastructure systems controlled through Oz and causes chaos across the entire country, blocking the roads and forcing Kenji to return to the clan home. The grandmother steps up and uses her connections to influential people across Japan to help keep the situation calm, and Kenji breaks the code locking the Oz admins out, allowing some of the chaos to be brought back under control. During dinner that night, as the clan discuss the day Wabisuke reveals he was the person who created Love Machine, with the money from the sale of the land, but had sold it to the US military. The grandmother threatens to kill Wabisuke, attacking him with a spear and he leaves.
That night Kenji, who was earlier revealed to be exceptional at maths, almost able to represent japan in a "maths olympics", is sent a message via Oz, with a massive numeric code in it, asking him to solve it. He does, replies and gets a prank thank you. thinking nothing else of it he goes to sleep, to be woken the next day by the children who've seen his picture on TV, marking him as the person behind chaos that has errupted in Oz overnight. Kenji and his friend from school Takashi try and work out whats going on, finding that a "hacking A.I." called Love Machine is behind all the troubles.
Natsuki's lies about Kenji, and the fact that he's wanting by the police for questioning over the trouble in Oz all come out, and Kenji ends up being arrested by one of the police who is a member of the clan. However Love Machine gains access to the infrastructure systems controlled through Oz and causes chaos across the entire country, blocking the roads and forcing Kenji to return to the clan home. The grandmother steps up and uses her connections to influential people across Japan to help keep the situation calm, and Kenji breaks the code locking the Oz admins out, allowing some of the chaos to be brought back under control. During dinner that night, as the clan discuss the day Wabisuke reveals he was the person who created Love Machine, with the money from the sale of the land, but had sold it to the US military. The grandmother threatens to kill Wabisuke, attacking him with a spear and he leaves.
That night, the grandmother dies, something that may have been prevented if not for the chaos in Oz, which splits the clan, the women are preparing for the funeral and the men decide to strike back, shutting down Love Machine so no-one else gets hurt or dies. The clan uses its various jobs and resources to put together a powerful system and devises a trap to shut Love Machine away in, one that ultimately fails due to the interferance of one of the clan members who wasnt exactly computer savvy. Love Machine now controls over 100 million avatars in Oz, and reveals that it is going to crash a solar-probe from orbit into a nuclear power plant.
The clan decides to fight back, using Love Machine's love of playing games, and in order to reclaim the stolen account that controls the probe challenges it to a game called "koi-koi", with Natsuki leading the charge, wagering all the clan's remaining accounts. She wins, pulling back hundreds of accounts but makes a mistake and loses most of them, falling below the amount needed for a minimal bet. Just as things seem desperate, a single boy from Germany offers her the use of his account, to help, then thousands more follow, allowing Natsuki to play at increasingly high stakes. Eventually she wins enough to leave Love Machine with only two accounts, but as the clan celebrates Love Machine displays that the two accounts remaining includes the one to control the probe, which is now targetting the clan's home.
Kenji works out that they can alter the probe's course by changing the data sent by GPS to it, but as they try and access that, Love Machine blocks them with a numeric code. Kenji quickly works this out and they gain access, but Love Machine changes it again, with literall minutes to spare Kenji once again cracks the code, only for it to be changed again, as Kenji begins to work this out in his head, to the amazement of the clan, Wabisuke reveals he's altered Love Machines code to "set his defence value to zero", allowing one of the members of the clan to attack, preventing Love Machine from changing the code one last time as Kenji breaks the code, alters the landing data and causes the probe to land a short distance away, saving the lives of the whole clan.
The film ends with the Clan celebrating the grandmother's birthday, along with holding a wake for her. Natsuki reveals her respect and love for Kenji, who is fully accepted by all the Clan and encourages the two to date for real.
In many respects, the basic premise is the same as Wargames, the Mathew Broderick film I previously mentioned, student saving the world from nuclear distaster by beating a computer in a simple game, with "koi-koi" replacing tic-tac-toe/noughts and crosses. Its also an interesting look into the how the old feudal social structures evolve into the current social structure in Japan, with the various clan members holding so many positions of authority and the Grandmother having friendships with an awful lot of high-ranking officials and businessmen in the country. There's also the slow realisation of Natsuki of both Kenji's skills, bravery and quiet determination, something he's lacked the confidence to show before.
well shot, and making use of the "obvious CGI is obvious" factor by only using it to show Oz, the films story is well paced, well written and presented in a manner that draws the viewer in. The heavy reliance on Japanese culture would make the film hard for a lot of non-japanese to follow in places, I for one had to research Koi-koi to work out what the hell was going on and why they would choose it for such a film. (Koi-koi is somewhat like snap, or mahjong, with the basic object being to match sets of cards) the answer being its a well known game, like tic-tac-toe is in the west, and its actually referanced in many Animes, including naruto. Oz itself is very similar in look to many of the "kids TV" show representations of a digital world, notably Digimon.
As long as you understand or can look past the differences in culture between Japan and the West, and can just sit back and enjoy the story, I think most people will find this a great film.
The clan decides to fight back, using Love Machine's love of playing games, and in order to reclaim the stolen account that controls the probe challenges it to a game called "koi-koi", with Natsuki leading the charge, wagering all the clan's remaining accounts. She wins, pulling back hundreds of accounts but makes a mistake and loses most of them, falling below the amount needed for a minimal bet. Just as things seem desperate, a single boy from Germany offers her the use of his account, to help, then thousands more follow, allowing Natsuki to play at increasingly high stakes. Eventually she wins enough to leave Love Machine with only two accounts, but as the clan celebrates Love Machine displays that the two accounts remaining includes the one to control the probe, which is now targetting the clan's home.
Kenji works out that they can alter the probe's course by changing the data sent by GPS to it, but as they try and access that, Love Machine blocks them with a numeric code. Kenji quickly works this out and they gain access, but Love Machine changes it again, with literall minutes to spare Kenji once again cracks the code, only for it to be changed again, as Kenji begins to work this out in his head, to the amazement of the clan, Wabisuke reveals he's altered Love Machines code to "set his defence value to zero", allowing one of the members of the clan to attack, preventing Love Machine from changing the code one last time as Kenji breaks the code, alters the landing data and causes the probe to land a short distance away, saving the lives of the whole clan.
The film ends with the Clan celebrating the grandmother's birthday, along with holding a wake for her. Natsuki reveals her respect and love for Kenji, who is fully accepted by all the Clan and encourages the two to date for real.
In many respects, the basic premise is the same as Wargames, the Mathew Broderick film I previously mentioned, student saving the world from nuclear distaster by beating a computer in a simple game, with "koi-koi" replacing tic-tac-toe/noughts and crosses. Its also an interesting look into the how the old feudal social structures evolve into the current social structure in Japan, with the various clan members holding so many positions of authority and the Grandmother having friendships with an awful lot of high-ranking officials and businessmen in the country. There's also the slow realisation of Natsuki of both Kenji's skills, bravery and quiet determination, something he's lacked the confidence to show before.
well shot, and making use of the "obvious CGI is obvious" factor by only using it to show Oz, the films story is well paced, well written and presented in a manner that draws the viewer in. The heavy reliance on Japanese culture would make the film hard for a lot of non-japanese to follow in places, I for one had to research Koi-koi to work out what the hell was going on and why they would choose it for such a film. (Koi-koi is somewhat like snap, or mahjong, with the basic object being to match sets of cards) the answer being its a well known game, like tic-tac-toe is in the west, and its actually referanced in many Animes, including naruto. Oz itself is very similar in look to many of the "kids TV" show representations of a digital world, notably Digimon.
As long as you understand or can look past the differences in culture between Japan and the West, and can just sit back and enjoy the story, I think most people will find this a great film.
SUMMARY -
Story - Very well written, with easy to understand and relate to characters, while a lot of movies dont really allow for in-depth character growth due to limit of time, in this film they do, most notably Kenji and Natsuki. The story is well paced, and does a great job of introducing the concept and capabilities of the Oz world it creates, while grounding the real world in actual contemporary Japan. While the reach and power of the clan seems a little unrealistic at times, its still feasable that families such as that do exist, and this fact is noted in the film too. Heavy on the Japanese culture side, but not overpowering or forcing the viewer to be extremely knowledgable beforehand its a great "slice of life/action" movie. 9/10
Story - Very well written, with easy to understand and relate to characters, while a lot of movies dont really allow for in-depth character growth due to limit of time, in this film they do, most notably Kenji and Natsuki. The story is well paced, and does a great job of introducing the concept and capabilities of the Oz world it creates, while grounding the real world in actual contemporary Japan. While the reach and power of the clan seems a little unrealistic at times, its still feasable that families such as that do exist, and this fact is noted in the film too. Heavy on the Japanese culture side, but not overpowering or forcing the viewer to be extremely knowledgable beforehand its a great "slice of life/action" movie. 9/10
Production - Massively impressive, the film is produced by Madhouse, a major animation studio with 40 years of experience across series and films. continnuty of form is kept across all the scenes, with no odd-shaped bodies or sudden changes in height etc, the CGI of Oz is smooth and fluent, exceptionally well done and has a very different feel to the hand-drawn real world animation, quite possibly by design. each character is vocally distinct, by both tone and mannerisms, and the interactions between the people are very true to life and minutely reproduced. (watch the meal scenes closely and you'll notice that no-one apart from Wabisuke ever pours themselves a drink, a custom of politeness but often overlooked). The cinematography is equally impressive, with many shots produced as if a live-action film, while also allowing for "cartoon humour/physics" on occasion. One of the most striking moments is the scrolling shot showing the grieving family in semi-silhouette set to a beautiful blue sky. While set in a low-key way, a real life production like this would run into millions in cost. 10/10
Music - While nothing instantly jumps out as a "hit", the focus of the film isnt on music, so its used subtly but with great effect, both in its prescence and in its lack. the score is perfect for a cinematic offering and impressively used. the slightly lower score i'm giving here is because while the music is used perfectly, its honestly has nothing to stand out and in all honesty a good film's musical score should be this way, quietly adding to the emotional impact without taking away from the actual action. 6/10
Music - While nothing instantly jumps out as a "hit", the focus of the film isnt on music, so its used subtly but with great effect, both in its prescence and in its lack. the score is perfect for a cinematic offering and impressively used. the slightly lower score i'm giving here is because while the music is used perfectly, its honestly has nothing to stand out and in all honesty a good film's musical score should be this way, quietly adding to the emotional impact without taking away from the actual action. 6/10
Accessability -This is a Japanese film, set in japan, for japan. There's almost nothing outside of the fictional world of Oz that isnt pure japanese culture, from the very get go. Most of the film takes place in a traditional Japanese house/mansion, filled with artifacts of Japanese history, the proud history of the clan is one synonymous with Japanese history and every little detail of the family life, from the mother cheering on her baseball playing son to the relationships with powerful people kept by the grandmother right through to the climactic and defining final confrontation using a very traditional Japanese game. The wonderful thing is, with the exception of the whole world seemingly knowing how to play koi-koi in the final battle, its shown as proudly Japanese, and doesnt really create a situation where someone without a reasonable understanding of the culture would be totally lost. A little confused maybe, but not unable to follow the story. 5/10
Overall Impression -A great film, giving a marvelous insight into some parts of the culture while still presenting drama, conflict and an epic battle of order vs chaos, even the "villain" Love Machine isnt portrayed as "evil" just out of control, following its desire for knowledge that was programmed into it. funny, touching and moving with a few gripping moments especially towards the end, it also has a great little coming-of-age style love story and the theme of how family can come together in a crisis to overcome almost any challenge. Its nothing "EPIC!" and certainly wouldnt pass as a hollywood blockbuster movie, not enough guns/drugs/sex/explosions/micheal bay in it for that, but exceptionally entertaining and very much worth a look by all. 9/10
Final Score - 39/50
Final Score - 39/50
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please Excuse the Security, but automated Spam is a problem! thanks for understanding!