DVD
Review | Heavy Metal 2000 (Superbit)
Written by: Kage
Alan
Part of what makes up a film's legacy is its
accessibility to an audience.
Way back before VHS became affordable and commonplace, movies like
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Heavy Metal"
enjoyed a cult status playing at midnight showings after their
original theatrical runs. Bootlegs were
profitable and audience expectations were negligible since the films
already
had an established reputation, so what happens when a sequel comes out
19
years later? It's a whole different world out there and
audiences won't be
as forgiving with their expectations.
Instead of a number of interconnecting stories with an overriding
mythology
like the first film, "Heavy Metal 2000" instead focuses on
one specific
story. A long time ago in a galaxy…somewhere else, a race of
beings brought
war and destruction with them wherever they went. The source of
their power
was a chamber that held the waters of immortality and could only be
opened
with a single key. Apparently nobody thought to make a spare.
Anyway, when the race was finally defeated, the chamber was closed and
the key tossed out into space where it remained lost for a very long
time.
Enter Tyler (voice of Michael Ironside, "Spacehunter"), a
space pirate
looking for treasure on an asteroid. What he discovers is a
glowing shard of
sorts and, upon touching it, is driven quite insane. After being
put in
touch with his inner sociopath, Tyler commandeers a large vessel and
heads
off in search of immortality. One of the planets he finally
arrives at has a
small community living there and he proceeds to eliminate them all
after
locating a compound he needs in their biology. He takes a young
woman
prisoner and then leaves in search of his next target.
Not everybody can be dead, right? Sure enough, the young woman's
older
sister is still alive and kicking and wanting revenge. With the
help of one
of Tyler's techs who got left behind, Julie (voice of Julie Strain
Eastman,
"Lingerie Kickboxer") is soon off in hot pursuit. What
follows is a number
of assassination attempts, some anime nudity, a number of fights, some
violence, lots of swearing and, of course, a final showdown.
On its own, "Heavy Metal 2000" isn't a bad film. The
animation is
consistent, colorful and dynamic. As for being part of the
"Heavy Metal"
series, though, it's like a one-calorie diet version. The
strange, violent
and erotic aspects of the first film that made it so memorable feel
like
they've been forced into the script here just so they could tie it in
to the
previous entry. Even the rock music score feels like an
afterthought.
Sony released a previous version of the "Heavy Metal 2000"
with extras, but
this is a new Superbit version, which means MUCH better picture
quality. The
Widescreen transfer here is darn near flawless and the 5.1 Dolby
Digital
audio is pretty spectacular. This is definitely the way to watch
animation!
Unfortunately, because so much additional room on the disc is used to
enhance
the picture quality, there aren't any of the extras from the first DVD
release included.
Those who haven't seen the first "Heavy Metal" will probably
enjoy this one
more than fans of the cult classic. There are moments when the
filmmakers
tip their hats to the style of the first film, but the rest is all
their own.
Even though I found myself wishing for a return to the standard
of the
original, I still enjoyed what this one had to offer and can't help
but
wonder if there will be a third entry. It could be fun.
Film Rating:
B
DVD Special Features: N/A
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