After finishing this movie I had one question for myself...
If this got an R1 DVD Release then would I buy it?
Nope. I honestly thought the movie was very well done, but it focuses on all of the depressing bits of the manga and I prefer my entertainment to have more... emotional balance.
There, I think that sums it up nicely. Now to get to the meat n' potatoes.
Okay, before that I have to rant about something. Twin brothers were hired to play Akira and Ryo... yeah... odd...
The first half hour starts with nothing out of the ordinary. Akira gets beat up at school because he won't hurt a fly. Ryo is batshit ******** insane, particularly for cutting off an artist's fingers.
Akira and Ryo's parents get themselves killed exploring the Antarctic, but this time it is for some energy source.
It didn't work for the group in Aliens vs. Predator... it has even worse consequences in Devilman. Ryo of course puts Akira into a situation where he will become Devilman.
... and he gets to kick a spore spewing monster's a** within a few seconds of transforming. This is where we are introduced to what is probably the neatest thing about the movie. Some of the dramatic hits of this movie have the action reduce in speed and the characters take on something of a more hand animated look for a moment.
We have a slight difference in this version in that Ryo doesn't get hurt and Akira isn't left wondering whether he is dead or alive.
Akira wakes up the next day with no marks on his body and no longer having hair looking like Rufio out of Hook. He is relieved, and since he is a Go Nagai character he still gets a motorcycle as a gift even in live action land:
He goes joyriding with Miki, and to show that there are changes with Akira he easily beats up the punks who beat his a** earlier. Over exaggerated jumping and twisting in the air just doesn't look right without a costume... oh well. That night Silene makes her required appearance. It isn't anything important in the slightest. She shows up, steals Akira away for a bit, talks about herself and Amon, and a throwdown ensues until Ryo tells her to step off. Even if Devilman got his a** beat it was a very nice CG sequence.
Demons start appearing around the world and initiating violence against humans. Our favorite kappa demon eats Akira's artist friend (same one who nearly forever lost his fingers thanks to Ryo) and lasts about five seconds when Devilman actually finds him. No debate on harming those who are trapped on the shell. Nope, we just get "you ate my artist friend, prepare to die, whap!"
Gotta love Bob Sapp as an anchorman... 'cuz you know 350lb guys do anchorman jobs for world news organizations all the time. Miki helps out a girl named Miko from some particularly mean girls. One time Miko gets the sleeve of her coat ripped off and it is revealed that she is a demon. Basically we get into all sorts of anti-demon hysteria within fifty minutes and demon laws are passed that make the Patriot Act look reasonable. Miko ends up getting imprisoned along with a kid who she saved from some demon parents that wanted to gobble him up.
A nest of demons (and I believe some plain old humans that aren't gripped by anti-demon hysteria) are attacked by these new anti-demon forces. Akira and Ryo check it out, and Ryo is determined to stop it. One of the wounded demons refers to Ryo as Satan for the first time, but he shrugs it off and does what Ryo does best...
... stare with jealousy at Miki for getting Akira's love...
... okay, the second best thing that Ryo does. Fire lots of ammo.
Ryo disappears into the house. Akira leaves. Akira has a nice talk with Mr. Mikamura out in the country, but they find some security or police officers opening fire on crowds of people. Akira kicks a little bit of booty, and finds out one of these guys is Ryo. Their conversation is cut short by missiles hitting the cityscape behind them. Japan has been labeled a demon nation, is being attacked, and Japan is counterattacking. Anti-Demon hysteria causing war... great...
Miko and kiddo flee from the prison, and are given sanctuary by the Mikamura family. The Mikamuras have a perverted neighbor who watched Miki constantly, and reports what he sees. The group have a relatively peaceful night. Miki gives Miko some lipstick. Miko and the kiddo take off the next day. Akira and the Mikamura family are rounded up and held at gunpoint.
Akira reveals his demon nature to try to protect the family. He shares one last kiss with Miki before being taken away.
... where he is chained up and shot until he is pronounced dead.
Of course the mob has to think the Mikamura family consists of demons, so they all get brutally murdered that night. >>
Miko and kiddo get sick of being hunted down and Miko kicks some a**.
The missiles really start dropping then though. Humans killing humans makes Bob Sapp cry... get angry... tear his shirt off in a display that would make any Hulkamaniac proud... and grow three heads that either laughing, raging, or crying.
Akira wakes up in a field of people killed innocently and walks back to the Mikamura home. Everyone is dead. Miki's death is shown in a flashback. The required scene of Miki's vertically impaled head is shown. This makes me so sad I'm not even going to screen cap anything related to it. Miki is one of the few anime girls that do not annoy me to no end... she doesn't deserve this... she doesn't deserve to have this happen to her repeatedly. At this point you start to realize this movie is kind of like the X movie. You get a good franchise, but only get to see the parts that suck all joy out of you for two hours straight.
Akira carries Miki's head through the destroyed city to her church.
... where he lays her remains to rest and weeps. Ryo shows up. Words are exchanged. They both transform and battle underground for a short time.
The entire world soon erupts into flames though and columns of bodies rise from the ground. Devilman looks upon Satan and his hordes.
Devilman charges up and is surrounded by a large blue flaming version of himself (which may remind one of the 70s TV Devilman briefly) which wipes out the group while Satan weeps.
Satan rushes Devilman and they each exchange a blow.
Akira and Ryo weep and cough up blood for three minutes on a rock in the middle of the ocean. I imagine not having a pelvis or legs anymore wouldn't be pleasurable.
Miko and her young male companion look around at the devastated city and seem to be the only survivors. They recall their friends and walk away. The credits roll while j-pop plays with lyrics about the usual cliches of love and hope and light.
I feel like a three headed Bob Sapp who is laughing, raging, and crying. This is what this movie has done to me. I'm a strange twisted emotional wreck.
I will give T-Visual props though.
