Redline |
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Japan • 2009 • 102m •
  • Directed by: Takeshi Koike. • Starring: Takuya Kimura, Yû Aoi, Tadanobu Asano, Akemi, Mark Allen Jr., Takeshi Aono, JB Blanc, Christine Marie Cabanos, Doug Erholtz, Michael Forest, Cutter Garcia, Tatsuya Gashûin, Erika Harlacher. • Music by: James Shimoji.      Redline is the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car - all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee - but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?
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An illegal and absurdly violent drag race occurs once every five years, each time on a different planet. This may be for reasons of secrecy, or just because the old planet is rendered unusable. The main hero, J.P., is a racer who tends to explode and wipe out before the finish, but feels destined to win the big one. Things go fast, crash into each other and go up like the Hindenburg.
In this world, men are men; women are women; squishy purple aliens are purple and squishy; and everything is blown completely out of proportion. If you want to see what animation can do better than live film, Redline is a good start. Michael Bay and his lesser followers can use all the CG and shaky-cams they want, but no live-action movie will ever be able to whap the viewer in the face with unhinged chaos that buckles the frame and yet stays somehow comprehensible. It's been attempted, and has usually led to legendary failures like Speed Racer. A pack of nerdy Asians with paintbrushes do Hollywood like punks, and all the render farms in the world wilt and run barren.
The movie opens with a race that is merely impossible, and introduces J.P., who almost wins it until a Mafia bomb takes out his front wheel. The crown goes to Sonoshee, his childhood crush and next best racer. They are just two of the weird characters who qualify for the ultimate landscape-altering contest. This year, the Redline race committee feels that equipping the cars with rockets and grenades doesn't make for nearly enough mayhem, and decides to hold the race on Roboworld -' a planet run by Nazi cyborg generals who are willing to do absolutely anything to avoid the honor. Roboworld appears completely barren except for some of the most destructive weaponry in the known universe, and by golly, is the government ever determined to use it all.
The movie would be hilarious without even trying for humor, simply because it's so preposterous; however, it does try in its odd way, and pulls it off. The base camp for the final race lies on a refugee world. The place is just as anarchic and badly-managed as one would expect; upon arrival, JP is accosted by a gang of knee-tall aliens who look like Tweety's sketchy, mutated fugee cousins. He runs into inconceivably bad service at the money-changing window, and gets ripped off in an ungodly way while buying cigarettes. Complaints don't help.
Soon, the tobacco troubles are forgotten, as it's time for the big race. Words can't describe it, so you'll have to see it for yourself. If you need any further motivation, it somehow involves a "bio-weapon" called Funky Boy that could give Akira himself a couple of pointers in indiscriminate destruction.
Redline is pure lizard-brain pleasure. The remarkable thing is that, at the same time, it isn't offensively and painfully stupid like, say, Armageddon. If you like cars, spaceships, guns and explosions, watch it as soon as you can.
Review by proterozoic
from the Internet Movie Database.
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