GARM WARS: The Last Druid (Mamoru Oshii, Lance Henriksen)

[HungFist]

re-post since the topic went missing with the forum crash

Mamoru Oshii's new English language film will premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October.

Director: Mamoru Oshii
Cast: Lance Henriksen, Kevin Durand, Melanie St-Pierre
It’s been 20 years since “Ghost in the Shell” astounded the world. Now, director Mamoru Oshii brings us a new epic feature film, with Hybrid Animation, fusing pioneer CG and live-action technologies.
- http://2014.tiff-jp.net/news/en/?p=7111

Trailer:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/1411900157

Website
- http://garmwars-movie.com/jp/

[Guro Taku]

The fact that this wasn't written by Kazunori Ito (who worked with Oshii on Patlabor, Avalon and Ghost in the Shell) doesn't fill me with confidence. Still holding out hope this won't be another Assault Girls.

[HungFist]

Review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review ... kyo-743570

Some people on twitter have been less kind

"GARM WARS: THE LAST DRUID... Stick a fork in Oshii, he's DONE." - Don Brown

"Do you remember how bad, stupid and ugly are Zack Snyder movies ? Well… Oshii's 'GARM WARS The Last Druid' is that bad." - Uzaigaijin

"Mamoru Oshii's GARM WARS: THE LAST DRUID felt a bit like watching Final Fantasy cut-scenes while really drunk." - James Hadfield

"Just saw GARM WARS. I, um, err... what??" - Matt Schley

Then again, the last guy also goes on to say it'a about the same quality as Oshii's other live action films. Keep in mind he has done some brilliant live action work before, like Stray Dogs, which is a near-masterpiece but unfortunately hated by most Oshii fans who complain it doesn't have enough robots and action and they were bored by it. I think it's the second best thing Oshii has ever made (after Ghost in the Shell).

My fellow Finnish film reviewer, who's a major scifi and genre film specialist, also saw Garm Wars in Tokyo and said it was "pretty awesome".

In other words, looking forward to this!

[Guro Taku]

The review at twitch contains this gem:

A dog joins the group too, Oshii's trademark basset hound, only it's not called a dog, it's called a Gura, and when it does cute doggy tricks like standing on its hind legs, it's considered some kind of mystical blessing. All of this is delivered in the most straight-faced, humourless way imaginable...

I had every intention to avoid this film but now I have to see for myself.

[HungFist]

Oshii's live action Patlabor movie doesn't look that bad. I never bothered with the series as the trailers failed to spark much interest, but this might be worth seeing.

https://youtu.be/4KGWH-aZz7g

I'm much more looking forward to Garm Wars, though. Unfortunately no release date or anything since the TIFF screening.

[HungFist]

UK BD December 7, 2015.
- http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01302GZ5I/

Still no theatrical release in Japan.

Meanwhile, he's got another movie in theaters, Nowhere Girl (Tôkyô Mukokuseki Shôjo) starring Nana Seino.

https://youtu.be/UKZ5ohS389I



Also, the Patlabor movie is set for a second theatrical release in October, a 27 minute longer Director's Cut. I didn't see the original version, so maybe I'll go see this instead.

https://youtu.be/VqRi_uJ3MUw

[Guro Taku]

Looks like the UK BD release has been pushed back a bit to January 18th. The film has, however, been available via various VOD/online rental services since October 2nd.

[HungFist]

The film is finally opening in Japan after 1.5 years... and it seems to have lost 10 minutes and turned into a Japanese language movie in the process. I wonder if there are other differences?

New Japanese Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R2X5WcGnqw

The ad materials all say "Manoru Oshii x Toshio Suzuki", Suzuki being the producer of the "Japanese Version" of Garm Wars. Suzuki also produced almost all Hayao Miyazaki films, and many other Studio Ghibli films.

Not happy about the language change, but I still think this looks really interesting.

[Guro Taku]

It's terrible but not terrible enough to be funny. Mostly it's like watching somebody play a really cliched and boring RPG type videogame. I doubt trimming 10 minutes and dubbing it into Japanese will improve it.

[HungFist]

Considering I liked Assault Girls (seen it not once, but twice, and have it on BD) I guess there's still hope for me. Well, maybe not hope for ME, but for me liking Garm Wars

[HungFist]

Hahaa, I managed to like it!

Garm Wars: The Last Druid (Japan, 2014) [DCP] - 3/5
Mamoru Oshii's live action sci-fi fantasy was quite universally panned upon its release. That wasn't necessarily without a reason, but as usual, I found it quite interesting. Oshii has created an entire fantasy universe with its own mythology, strange creatures, odd technology and confusing terminology. It takes a bit of effort from the viewer to even get a grasp of what's going on. It could be described as cheap CGI fantasy - it is a far cry from the likes of Ghost in the Shell - but it's strangely watchable at the same time. It certainly feels like an Oshii film, Kenji Kawai's score is beautiful as usual. Mélanie St-Pierre, Lance Henriksen and Kevin Durand star - yep, it's an English language movie.

The film is finally opening in Japan after 1.5 years... and it seems to have lost 10 minutes

I think I was mistaken about this. IMDb and some reviews state 102 min as the running time, but I don't think such version actually exists. I think the 92 minute Japanese version is the only version that was ever made. Tokyo Int. Film Fest (where the film premiered in 2014) page also states 92 minutes.

and turned into a Japanese language movie in the process.

I was partly mistaken about this, too. They released both English and Japanese language versions in theatres. I went to see the English version of course.

[Guro Taku]

I didn't feel like it deserves its own thread but I found this short video of Mamoru Oshii visiting the set of the live-action Hollywood remake of GHOST IN THE SHELL amusing. Oshii says the kind of polite things you'd expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmOlBqlpUP0

[HungFist]

I didn't feel like it deserves its own thread but I found this short video of Mamoru Oshii visiting the set of the live-action Hollywood remake of GHOST IN THE SHELL amusing. Oshii says the kind of polite things you'd expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmOlBqlpUP0

The thread is here:
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... 72#p177772