Transportation Movie Reviews

I mean, it had potential. Young girl gets thowrn together with a bunch of hot guys, woo, we've got the next cheap shoujo replacement for FY/Hama Yori Dango.

Instead:

They had to load it with so much cheesy melodramtic unrealistic BS that if anime were food, we'd be looking a giant tower of rotting suger right now.

They made the main character so sickly-sweet and brain dead I could feel IQ points flaking off my head like dandruff just looking at her ( what kind of freak is PERFECTLY fine 2 weeks after her mother dies?!).

The main supporting cast either bland and boring ( Kagura, Sigure, Hatori) , vomit-inducingly annoying like Torhu ( Yuki, Momiji) and sterotypical beyond beleif ( Akito, Kyo).

In short, if you's like to see some air-headed robot-girl act 5 years old and spew endless pathetic Cutesy BS while a sniveling embryonic gir-erm, boy with white hair fights the embodiment of the angsty-catboy cliche over her, then by all means, watch this anime. But please. Spare me the suggestion of watching it myself, I still haven't recovered from a year and a half ago when I stopped at eps. 16 ( I STILL can't beleive I watched that far....what the hell was I thinking?.....just thank god I didn't waste my MONEY on it, of all the things.)

This is one of my favorite anime series. However, I can only rate this DVD as a "3" for two reasons. First, concerning the DVD construction. The main menu begins with a brief clip from the series without any actual menu selections immediately available, which can cause confusion for some users; also, this is the exact same clip used for the main menu in the first DVD of the Robotech series - at least this should have been changed during DVD construction. Secondly, and by far the most significant flaw, this DVD is NOT compatible with the PlayStation2, whereas the first DVD in the series worked flawlessly with the PS2.

For the uninitiated, Robotech was the most popular of the Americanized Japanese anime series to hit American TV waves during the 1970s and 1980s (along with Star Blazers, Voltron, Transor Z, etc.) Known for its cutting edge animation, thrilling battle scenes, futuristic techonology (planes, tanks, motorcyles that transform into robots), cool alien invaders, and realistic and compelling storylines, Robotech swept an entire generation and helped put Japanese Anime forever on the map of American pop culture.

Robotech’s sweeping saga spanned three seasons and weaved together three actual separate storylines based on Japanese anime: The Macross Saga (Season 1), The Robotech Masters (The Southern Cross in Japan) (Season 2), and The New Generation (Mospeada in Japan) (Season 3). The basic story premise is that the earth became forever changed in 1999 when a mysterious alien battleship crashes on earth. The people of the world, now knowing that they are not alone in the universe, end all wars and unite to understand and assimilate the advanced technology and prepare for the inevitable alien invasion that is sure to come. As the story unfolds mankind would go on to battle three separate alien races over the next three seasons. The sweeping intergalactic war saga itself though, merely becomes the backdrop of a deeper “human” saga.

Included on this second volume are these six episodes (7-12):

Episode 7 – Bye Bye Mars: The Battle of Mars. Commander Breetai recruits the ruthless and dangerous Khyron to set a trap on Mars to capture the SD-F1. Meanwhile, heading to Mars brings back Lisa’s memories of her late fiancé Karl Reaver. Also, Rick Hunter, hero!!!

Episode 8 – Sweet Sixteen: In light of his heroics on Mars, Rick Hunter receives an award and a promotion. He is made commander of Vermillion group and is assigned under him Max Sterling and Ben Dixon, just in time to once again battle Khyron!!! Also, Rick searches for the perfect birthday gift for Minmei!!!

Episode 9 – Miss Macross: The (seemingly entire) galaxy tunes in as Minmei enters the Miss Macross pageant. Meanwhile, poor Rick dogfights it out with a reconnaissance group of Zentraedi warriors who believe the broadcast is a new secret weapon!!!

Episode 10 – Blind Game: The Earth Forces finally make contact with Earth. Meanwhile, Khyron sends out a warning shot at the SD-F1 prompting Lisa and Vermillion Group to do a recon mission which leads to a confrontation inside the Zentraedi battleship. Also, Rick’s relationship with Minmei takes a turn as she embarks on a singing career in light of the results of the Miss Macross pageant!!!

Episode 11 – First Contact: Captured by the Zentraedi, Vermillion Group learns of the true awesome (world destroying) power of the Zentraedi. Plus, we finally learn the real reason behind their need to retake the SD-F1. What is Protoculture? Plus, Minmei’s singing debut!!!

Episode 12 – The Big Escape: Vermillion Group makes its daring escape from the Zentraedi. Breetai is relieved of command!!! Plus, Ace Zentraedi Pilot Miriam delivers an infiltrating payload to the SD-F1.

In addition to these episodes the DVD also contains trailer ads for other anime series coming out on DVD from ADV.

Here’s my assessment of the DVD itself:

Great: ROBOTECH ON DVD!!! ‘Nuff said.

Good: Awesome production. The design, navigation, video and audio are all top-notch. ....

Okay: The trailers for the other DVD anime series from ADV were well done, but of course are just shameless plugs…

Incidentally, these volumes DO NOT have special DVD features. While on its own this may be considered a crime, not to fear. If you purchase the boxed set collections, each boxed set collection will come with an “Extra: Elements of Robotechnology” DVD special which will contain all the DVD special features you could want on DVD: interviews, trailers, specs, etc... So by all means, get the boxed set if you are planning on buying.

Personally, I’m very happy that ADV and Harmony Gold have finally released this series on DVD. This is BY FAR one of my favorite cartoons from childhood. If you’ve never seen Robotech, simply put YOU MUST. It is the series that forever set the standard for Japanese anime. If you did grow up with Robotech, give these a watch again. They’re great for a trip down memory lane. Watching these episodes again now, I can honestly say that they are better than I remember. Give this (and all the other volumes, current and future releases) a watch. You won’t be disappointed.

Highest Recommendation possible.

Monotonous and bland, Reggio's camera has agonizingly long shots that move from third world human misery to more human misery. He's preaching here, and in this mode it does not work. Glass' sounds track is little better, sounding much like the score from Koyannisqatsi with a tracks of children singing and bong drums over top.

Essentially, Powaqqatsi is just more of the same from Koyannisqatsi, but all the interesting and beautiful shots are removed. It's now only the parts they called "People Moving Slowly" form the first one. At times this worked in the first movie because it showed the juxtaposition of the inhuman technology and the very human faces. Now it's just miserable people in slums or people working in conditions that look like slave labour. No juxtaposition, just more sadness.

If you want to see a great movie of a similar vein that does what Powaqqatsi should have done, buy Baraka. Baraka is everything that Powaqqatsi should have been. It's directed by the same cinematographer and so offers much of the same as Koyannisqatsi, minus the technology. It shows interesting things in the third world, people with dignity, other civilizations, not just muddy, miserable souls. Baraka has the interesting sequences, different perspectives, striking photography and original fantastic moments. It's all I had hoped for in Powaqqatsi but did not see.

So do yourself a favor, forget about Powaqqatsi and get Baraka

The filmmakers also have decided to focus solely on the grim side of culture, and there are so few smiling faces here that it makes you wonder if two-thirds of the people in the world live each day with grim, depressed looks on their faces. By using slow motion so much, they tend to pull the dynamic side of life completely out of the picture, and it grows old very quickly. Where are the playing children? And as another reviewer said, they left out the abominable side of the third world, such as beatings and executions, and they've also left out the graft and corruption that make it difficult for anyone to help people in these countries.

I felt all along that I was being manipulated, forced to watch images of their choice so that my worldview would become what they desired my worldview to be. As a film, this is much better watched in segments, music piece by music piece, perhaps, as it does grow old after half an hour or so. All in all, this is a beautiful effort, but beauty, of course, does not make for substance and depth (or even cohesion), which are elements that this film is lacking.

POWA (Powaqqatsi) focuses on life for people mainly in the southern hemisphere. Please also view my review of KOYA (Koyaanisqatsi), which I will complete shortly after submitting this. I plan to soon purchase NAQO (Naqoyqatsi) and will review that as well (obviously I found the film concept entertaining).

KOYA focuses on the northern hemisphere's lifestyles of living with technology in all aspecfts of their lives while POWA shows life that is more driven by manual labor. Yet as the movie progresses, you see more and more hints of the introduction of technology, which will inevitably wind up permeating and consuming the current culture. Watch for the placement of a SEIKO billboard, which really stuck in my mind.

It can be difficult not to feel some sense of pain for the people's lifestyles, but please stay open- minded to an understanding that perhaps the lifestyle that DP's Graham Berry and Leonidas Zourdoumis documented is what the subjects being filmed are most comfortable with. Watching POWA first, however, may take the whole trilogy out of order and context for you. That's why I suggest that you purchase the two- DVD set. And I'm sure that plans have been in the works to release the trilogy as a boxed set.

Make certain also to watch director Godfrey Reggio's comments (highlighted with composer Philip Glass). They give insight into filming and Reggio also addresses viewer/critic feedback. One sharp criticism I wanted to note was that Glass used some of the music in this film years later for the runaway hit "Truman Show" (Jim Carrey, 1998). How silly and petty to reuse a score in a completely different movie, which I feel should be a Cardinal sin. I had to try tuning out Truman in my mind while watching POWA, and I scold Glass for recycling his music. That was an absolutely pathetic decision for him to make.

The transfer from the film to DVD (MGM/UA 1003767) was sweet. The colors seemed stunning and saturated. Make certain, however to try having your monitor calibrated to get the full impact of the hues, colors and tones.

Tech specs: 1988, color, 97 minutes, 1.85:1 screen aspect ratio; optional French and Spanish subtitles for English text (there is absolutely NO dialogue in POWA), which is used at the end of the film to give description of term "Powaqqatsi" (and also for any prominent text on some billboards or televisions).

A postscript: Baraka (filmed by Ron Fricke, 1992) isn't related to the trilogy, but should be in your collection if you enjoy any of these. However watch Baraka last, because to me it is the benchmark in this type of filmmaking. You may feel a slight letdown KOYA and POWA if Baraka is viewed first. Chronos (1985), another by Fricke, is an alternate choice, but the weakest of these.