Heavy Metal

1981 "A Step Beyond Science Fiction"
6.6| 1h30m| R| en| More Info
Released: 07 August 1981 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: Canada
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.

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Reviews

endofmyrope-00602 Heavy Metal stands the test of time, it's still the fantastic SF flcik it was when I was 9 or 10. Simply put, it is one of the best animated films of all time, and of course it boasts an all star soundtrack as well. Enjoy it, no matter your age.
robert3750 This is a perfect movie to lose myself in on a Saturday night. I love how it transports me to other times, other places with its SF and fantasy storylines. It makes me nostalgic for the 80s. I know some women would say it just plays to male fantasies, but I don't care. The style of animation has a warmth and nostalgia to it that's very appealing.Special mention to the Taarna sequence, with Elmer Bernstein's magnificent, stirring, powerful symphonic score. Taarna herself is an unforgettable character, magnificently beautiful, virtuous, and strong. Whatta woman!
The_Film_Cricket I just don't get it. Maybe it was the fact that so many talented people were involved. Perhaps it was just unusual to have a major release of an animated film with this kind of content. Or maybe it just has something to do with the fact that for the first time an animated film brought about the elements of a bawdy comic book and played it out for the mentality of 13 year-old boys.Whatever the reasons for the success of 'Heavy Metal', I'm afraid I just don't get it. I see the images, I see some original writing in spots, I see the potential for a cult classic. But, for me, 'Heavy Metal' looks dated, silly, disjointed and out of all eight stories I find myself defending only two.I found 'The Legend of Tarrna' (the last one) to be a true original. Sure, it seems sexist and Tarrna is a complete male fantasy but I found it to be strikingly original in its visual imagination. She comes out of the sky riding a giant condor and carrying a sword. She walks into the bar, is hit on by three slobbering goons and you can fill in the rest. This well animated scene owes more than a little to the Clint Eastwood westerns (Did I say a little? She even squints her eyes). I caught myself smiling at this scene, that's why I liked it.I have to admit that 'So Beautiful, So Dangerous' is curiously funny. An alien spacecraft breaks into the Pentagon and kidnaps a secretary. She is kidnapped by a trio of robots, one of whom has an over-inflated libido in it's programming. I wasn't all that keen on this segment as a whole but I have to admit a certain admiration for any scene that opens with a robot and a naked woman in bed after sex and ends with the line: 'Okay, but I want a Jewish wedding'.The rest is pretty routine. I liked where 'Harry Canyan' was going but it seemed to be over before it began. 'Den', a story about a geek who gets turned into a giant blue hulk is little more than a prepubescent fantasy. 'Captain Sternn' had some fun dialogue before disintegrating into predictability. 'B-17' the disturbing story of a plane being taken over by the living dead is a matter of taste (but not mine). The framing material about a sickly green orb that tells these stories to a frightened girl is just plain baffling.'Heavy Metal' is based on a popular behind-the-counter comic book that would make Bob Guiccione blush. The movie isn't anywhere near the graphic level of that book but to fans of this movie that hardly matters. I haven't a clue what makes this film so popular. I find chunk-style movies like this lacking almost by definition. It has it's moments, it fills it's quotient of T&A and graphic violence, but I wasn't all that impressed.Ratings (out of four): 'Soft Landing'- *½; 'Grimandi' - **; 'Harry Canyan' - **½; 'Den' - **; 'Captain Sternn' - **½; 'B-17' - *; 'So Beautiful, So Dangerous' - ***; 'The Legend of Tarrna' - ***.
Pozdnyshev This is an animated movie that's awesome and sucks at the same time. It's awesome because of its spirit of adventure and experimentation. I'd rather see ten weird, experimental, and personal movies like "Heavy Metal" than one boring pander-fest like "500 Days of Summer" which, like a smooth politician, is guaranteed a wide audience because it's engineered to appeal to as many people as possible. What it loses in the process is a human touch, the sense that I'm getting to know a real person's dreams and aspirations, not being manipulated into thinking that it's hip for young women to have borderline personality disorder (as in most popular RomComs like "Juno"), or that grand special effects are more exciting than a good story (as in the Avengers or the Phantom Menace). This is just a guess, but I think these animated stories are very close to the hearts of the people who wrote and designed them, and this movie was made out of love for the stories instead of expecting to get rich off of it. I love it for that alone because even if it's a bad story, someone believed in it enough to not let it get (too) watered down by someone who didn't think it had enough mass appeal. So for better or for worse, it's a window into another person's heart, which makes me feel connected to humanity. You can't buy that with all the special effects and cinematography in the world.So I love this movie for the spirit behind it. But the movie itself - eh. It's a mess. Stunningly detailed background plates vie with very hit-and-miss animation. In fact it's shockingly bad in many places, the battle scene in "Den" is almost as choppy and wooden as in "GI Joe." And it's juvenile -- there's not much going on underneath the boobs, violence, and cool drawings. I want some kind of cohesive message to justify all this eye candy, like making the green orb only destroy people who are evil anyway (the B-52 pilot wasn't necessarily evil). And why is it some busty chick, of all people, who defeats evil? Since this plot device is just plopped in there, it makes me think that the answer to this question is that the filmmakers thought chicks with swords and big boobs just look cool, that's why. I want more reason why it's HER who defeats evil, because I don't think hot Amazonian chicks who dress like pole-dancers defeat evil in real life; they'd create it by frustrating men with their hot and exposed bodies. A more plain- looking woman in a monk's robe would be more believable, but (I know) a lot less cool-looking. That's not to say there aren't some gems here and there that shine on their own. There's a scene towards the beginning of the "Taarna" part where townspeople are turned evil by being immersed in green slime. That part on its own has a strange, resonant power like a story from the Bible, and is worth the entire movie. I think it resonates because of its chilling similarity to Marxist and feminist brainwashing, but that's just my opinion. :PA must-see if you're into the art of animation or just have a taste for strange movies, its heart is in the right place but watching it is like looking through a talented fourteen-year-old boy's sketchpad.