Midnight Eagle: the people speak

Kaiju Shakedown: Variety's Asian film blog

Dec 03 2007

MIDNIGHT EAGLE has been an underperformer for Shochiku, with the box office starting out all soft and soggy and reviews being even softer and soggier. Here's a link to what I could round up:

- "Like GODZILLA 1985, there are a lot of scenes of the Prime Minister of Japan meeting with his chiefs of staff and cabinet in a big conference room and watching the action on a large projection screen."

- "There are many new Japanese movies that deserve a stateside release. Why this hapless mess beat them out is a question that deserves an answer."

- "Gunfire, avalanches, explosions, even napalm... Midnight Eagle has it all."

- "Opening locally on more than 300 screens Nov. 23, misfire is likely to make a significant, if brief, impact on Japan's B.O. Much smaller Stateside release, skedded for December, looks to have minimal impact."

- "Given that its $10 million worth of blizzardly widescreen glory easily looks like 20, it's frustrating that Midnight Eagle is more concerned with puffed-up nationalist pride than logic."

- "...a thoughtful look at both the futility and inevitability of human conflict."

- "The photography is ‘in your face’, and yet alluring, the scenery is stunning, and maybe not the Japan that we in the west are familiar with."

"Everyone is honorable to the point of laughter—our ad hoc heroes call themselves “the self-defense force,” while the prime minister apologizes to the son of a man just sentenced to death. Thrillers are no place for politeness."

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Comments (1) add comment

Jason: I'm just asking.

"Everyone is honorable to the point of laughter—our ad hoc heroes call themselves 'the self-defense force,' while..."
Is Stephen Garrett being sarcastic or is he really so clueless that he's never heard of the JSDF before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces
I'm just asking.

December 04, 2007

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