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REVIEW: Redline Blu-Ray

I just know I'm going to love this movie.

I love absolutely ridiculous shit like this. And I love any kind of racing movie as well. As much offense as people may take to this: this movie reminds me of the "new" Speed Racer film. Both are immensly over-the-top, utterly un-realistic, it's obvious that the director(s) loved making every second of it, and both are AWESOME.

One of them, Speed Racer, is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I think Redline is going to be as well.

I can't help but feel hesitant when seeing an over-the-top rating like this (highest I've seen so far on ANN?).

Timeenforceranubis wrote:

Zac wrote: Timeenforceranubis wrote: I feel like the film was just desperately trying to engage me the entire time, through all the wrong methods. I would have been engaged if it bothered to actually do some worldbuilding, but instead it opted to constantly hype its own self up, like the movie presumes its awesomeness is a given, and I'm just the guy who doesn't get it. That's what I mean when I say "it insists upon itself." I get what you're saying, but this isn't a flaw of the film itself - it never set out to create this expansive, hyper-detailed sci-fi world where you know the backstory of every race or whatever. That wasn't the film's goal. It's like criticizing a comedy for not having enough drama in it for you. Everyone has their own taste and they know what they like but it's important to judge a work based on what it *is*, not what you wanted it to be or what you thought it was before you saw it. I think it is a flaw of the film. I'm not asking for the film to be a sci-fi epic, but I don't think it's too much to ask for a little framing to initially engage me in the film's world. It's not like criticizing a comedy for not having enough drama. It's like criticizing a comedy for not framing its jokes correctly.

Bad analogy.

A comedy that doesn't frame its jokes correctly falls apart at a very fundamental level and fails to operate as a comedy.

Redline not giving you whatever sci-fi details you were looking for outside the basic premise doesn't mean it doesn't function as a narrative. I know you didn't like the film, but that simply is not true. You want something that isn't there, but its absence does not dramatically cripple the film's story or make it difficult to understand.

Lack of worldbuilding doesn't make the film not function as a narrative, true. However, I think it would function as a better narrative if, among other things, the film did some worldbuilding. That's the point I'm trying to make. I'm not trying to make this film something it isn't, but I'm not buying this "you can't criticize the film on things it could have done" angle.

World Record is probably the least visually appealing short on the disc. [...] [The main character's] being followed by agents the entire time, of course; agents with spectacularly bad hair. Everyone has gigantic flapping lips that never really come close to matching their speech; I understand anime has difficulty with lip-synch but this short is somewhat ridiculous. The awkward, ugly character designs, constant use of the fisheye lens, and hideous color palette make World Record possibly one of the most aesthetically disgusting anime productions ever made.

Timeenforceranubis wrote:

Lack of worldbuilding doesn't make the film not function as a narrative, true. However, I think it would function as a better narrative if, among other things, the film did some worldbuilding. That's the point I'm trying to make. I'm not trying to make this film something it isn't, but I'm not buying this "you can't criticize the film on things it could have done" angle.

But what, exactly, would world-building add to Redline?

Would more information about Roboworld, the history of the human race, the formation of Redline, or the state of the universe make the relationship between JP and Sonoshee more meaningful or the race itself more exciting? What insight would the viewer gain by this information?

Redline deals with very simple, very universal themes: the pursuit of love and the joy of racing. This isn't a story about humanity's journey into space or the effects of advanced technology on society, where the world itself plays directly into the narrative.

In a very real sense the visual trappings in Redline are just that, trappings. The scifi world, the aliens, the crazy weapons, all that is merely an artistic choice rather than a narrative choice. Redline could just as easily be set in the American southwest with a group of illegal racers from different countries involved in a cross-country rally who accidentally stumble upon a secret government project. The narrative is the same, the characters are largely the same, the themes are the same. Redline is not reliant on place for those elements to work, which is why world-building is not and should not be a priority.

insisting upon itself like it did.

Timeenforceranubis wrote:

insisting upon itself like it did.

First off, stop using this phrase. It is exactly as empty and pretentious as the now powerfully-worthless "comedy" you obviously learned it from was making it out to be. Case in point, it really isn't helping me understand where you're coming from.

What else, at it's most basic level, can a movie entirely and completely about nothing but a huge race in the future, do to immediately engage and absorb its audience into the story...but to immediately thrust them directly into that race with the booming crowds and troves of amazingly creative, colorful aliens and technology and throttling chassis and explosions of nitro and noise andalmost grotesque close-ups of faces quivering from the sheer g-forces created in the expertly captured, mind-melting speed? What would adding a talky prologue add to that?

Insists on itself nothing. Besides the immenent race is tuned into from countelss tv sets across the galaxy, it attracts fans and racers from all walks of intergalactic life, it has its own news station, has enough clout(read; revenue) to coerce several parties and governments to use abject subterfuge to ensure the race goes off with (relatively) few hitches. The film goes to pretty much every appreciably non-expositional length it can to get across that the Redline Grand Prix is a pretty big deal, and the animation and direction has all the vibrancy, sense of speed and virtuosity to reinforce all that thematically. So I'm at a total loss at what exactly it is you feel this film lacks in order to justify its premise.

I feel like the film was just desperately trying to engage me the entire time, through all the wrong methods. I would have been engaged if it bothered to actually do some worldbuilding, but instead it opted to constantly hype its own self up, like the movie presumes its awesomeness is a given, and I'm just the guy who doesn't get it.

SoandSo wrote:

Timeenforceranubis wrote: insisting upon itself like it did. First off, stop using this phrase. It is exactly as empty and pretentious as the now powerfully-worthless "comedy" you obviously learned it from was making it out to be. Case in point, it really isn't helping me understand where you're coming from. What else, at it's most basic level, can a movie entirely and completely about nothing but a huge race in the future, do to immediately engage and absorb its audience into the story...but to immediately thrust them directly into that race with the booming crowds and troves of amazingly creative, colorful aliens and technology and throttling chassis and explosions of nitro and noise andalmost grotesque close-ups of faces quivering from the sheer g-forces created in the expertly captured, mind-melting speed? What would adding a talky prologue add to that? Insists on itself nothing. Besides the immenent race is tuned into from countelss tv sets across the galaxy, it attracts fans and racers from all walks of intergalactic life, it has its own news station, has enough clout(read; revenue) to coerce several parties and governments to use abject subterfuge to ensure the race goes off with (relatively) few hitches. The film goes to pretty much every appreciably non-expositional length it can to get across that the Redline Grand Prix is a pretty big deal, and the animation and direction has all the vibrancy, sense of speed and virtuosity to reinforce all that thematically. So I'm at a total loss at what exactly it is you feel this film lacks in order to justify its premise.

Okay, I'll say the film begs the question. My meaning still stands:

Quote:

I feel like the film was just desperately trying to engage me the entire time, through all the wrong methods. I would have been engaged if it bothered to actually do some worldbuilding, but instead it opted to constantly hype its own self up, like the movie presumes its awesomeness is a given, and I'm just the guy who doesn't get it.

I'm not saying the film has to justify its premise. What I'm saying is that I would have been more engaged in what was going on if there was some exposition going on in the beginning. Without it, the film felt to me like it was just being made-up as it went.

Has Takeshi Koike really made that much more progress in the nine or ten years since then? Or is this one of those situations he's mentioned back on a relatively recent podcast where, were he to look at "World Record" now, he would have a different opinion of it due to his evolving preferences?

I do feel like it lost a lot to the hype machine for me.