bobby bobingtonson This is one of my favourite films ever. When I first started watching it, I thought it was rubbish, I was shocked by how bad the GCI and everything looked. Just in terms of how unrealistic it looked like its using really old technology. For the first 30 minutes or so of the film I thought it was just going to be a completely rubbish film. However gradually I started to appreciate some of the truly beautiful moments of the film, the way the GCI and everything is used is very artistic, there are some more abstract messages in the film, there is a lot of symbolism and beautiful messages portrayed in an artistic way. By the end of the film I thought it was so beautiful. It is definitely worth watching to the end.

kvatter In a nutshell--don't waste your precious time. There's plenty of interesting imagery in this movie but little else. More like watching a very long video game. The film goes from super fast anime style action with editing so rapid that you can't even be sure of what you are seeing(complete with speed lines flowing from the fast moving characters) to long meaningless speeches where characters face off verbally in cavernous rooms. There are robot armies that look as though they were borrowed from the George Pal Puppetoon screwball armies. The symbol used by the one faction calling themselves "neo-sapiens" is a cross between a swastika and a 45 RPM record spindle adapter. The one army uses Nazi style helmets and uniforms. There's a touch of Jesus and the three wise men imagery tossed in, as well. It's a hodge podge of images combined to trigger various emotions within you but when you actually examine the story, you realize there's nothing to examine but a collection of interesting pictures.

otaking241 Casshern is a hyper-stylized science fiction with some very strong action elements. If you realize that director Kiriya, who also penned the screenplay, is primarily known for directing music videos you'll have a good understanding of where he's coming from in making this film. Indeed, Casshern is at its best when the on screen action is complimented by the energetic music of veteran composer Shirou Sagisu. Several of the film's strongest segments are montage-like action sequences, yet action is not its primary focus, and action fans may feel a bit let down.Sci-fi fans, on the other hand, will have much to love. The film's retro-futuristic steampunk aesthetic is appealing and completely realized. The story, while plainly told, is interesting and has that rare mystical quality that leaves you wanting to know more. This film can be described as thoughtful, though this aspect of it seems a bit forced at times. The catastrophic ending with resolution is so common in Japanese film as to be trite, and it appears here as well, is less odious for some reason than it could have been.A note on subtitles: the American DVD released by Dreamworks comes with subtitles that are grossly inaccurate. Yet at the same time they do a better job of explaining the story than a strict "hard" may have done. Whether this is a positive thing or not comes down to whether your philosophy favors a completely faithful translation or one that better conveys the spirit of the film with clarity. As a proponent of the former, I was a bit disappointed in the subtitles, but those with no understanding of Japanese will not be led astray.In all, I found Casshern to be an enjoyable film, but may not please viewers who expect more of it than they should.

peter-leah I'm astounded by some of the low scores for this movie. I watched in awe as a quasi-fascist future was brilliantly brought to life in a highly stylised manner. I was taken in by the visuals from the off and found the story constantly gripping and well considered. The ideas regarding the origins of humanity are even more disturbing than the "battery" idea from the Matrix!! I found the action sequences were superbly done, but by no means were these the be-all and end-all of this movie experience, indeed most of the film is given over to monologues and evocative imagery, rather than the high octane thrill provided by Hollywood. Maybe this is the reason for the low score, it doesn't necessarily do what it says on the tin...but blame the marketing men for that, rather than detracting from a stunning movie experience.