Review of Redline

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VivisQueen

Adventurer
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2011-11-06Redline image.jpg">

<b>Review of Redline by VivisQueen</b>

Through happy coincidence, I ended up watching <em>Redline </em>the same week as I did Disney's <em>The Princess and the Frog</em>. Both are adamantly hand-drawn throwbacks defying the computer-oriented trends in animation today. And considering my childhood was as much about hand-drawn Disney as it was hand-drawn anime, their simultaneous grasp for a 90s renaissance allows for an interesting retrospective experience. But while both successfully recapture the spirit of a bygone era, only <em>Redline </em>is essentially soulless.

So bad news first. Writer Katsuhito Ishii (<em>Trava</em>) describes his movie as one that 'defies logic' and hopes its force of innovation will leave us 'traumatised' (in a good way). When speaking of the plot, however, the word I'd pick is 'tranquillised'. Harsh perhaps, but Ishii's idea of defying logic is to throw in as many ideas as won't fit, meaning rather than organised chaos, he achieves a thematic mess.

Considering the subject matter, I was expecting <em>no </em>plot. Imagine my surprise when I got three half-baked ones instead. Hero JP's infatuation with sassy heroine Sonoshee and his drive to live up to her standards is the least obscure of the narratives. It characterises him as a dedicated sweetheart and gives him an emotional motive for participating in an otherwise murderous sport; without it, we'd have to assume JP was merely a glory-seeking dunce. But the cheesy execution makes the romance shallower than a Disney sequel. The worst subplot sees the military government of Roboworld trying to kill the Redline racers because their chosen track happens to invade Roboworld territory. The antagonists' roles are so blatantly contrived to guarantee the use of missiles in the final race, that they have no opportunity to make us believe they're serious. I would have much preferred bad guys organically grown from the show's inherent themes. Finally, hovering somewhere between genuine poignancy and total superfluity, we get the tale of Frisbee, JP's best friend who is involved in some trouble with gangsters. All these components are then precariously tacked together by the self-explanatory device of a car race.

Whole narratives aside, the movie would have benefited simply from cutting more scenes. The middle sees plenty of pointless sequences and dialogues that dissipate its momentum faster than you can say 'drag'. Instead of tight, action-packed, <em>essential </em>story, we get distractions like JP trying to figure his way around the interior of a space pod, him shopping in an alien village, and one extended scene at a restaurant that could have been cut in half without losing any value.

I can imagine others plausibly coming to a different conclusion. The plot is discombobulated, they might argue, but this is a virtuous end in itself. Like a Coen brothers movie, chaos only adds to the charisma. The problem is simply that I could never buy this excuse from <em>Redline</em>; at no point could it convince me that it wouldn't be a better movie if it just focused.

The good news for <em>Redline </em>(and it really is great news) is that it looks so damn good that, when it counts, we forget its hollowness. Its 100,000 hand-drawn comic book-style images imbue it with a retro-chic street cred that glassier CG works could only pray for. I especially like the invasive positioning of the 'camera' during races, which gives us the feeling we just might disappear up someone's arse at the next crash. Even better, it emanates a sheer love of its own existence that I haven't seen in a long time. There is love in the mechanical designs, which leak macho potency out of every exhaust pipe, and love in the character designs, which offer an eerie cocktail of alien appendages and 70s outfits, and love in the sumptuous colour tones and warm gloss of the images. We like to talk about dense narratives, but Ishii here delivers some dense imagery. Freeze a frame. There are one hundred things happening for five different reasons.

In terms of technique, <em>Redline </em>represents one of those unlikely once-a-decade events, and its mere existence warrants a sort of exhilarated shock. Let's not forget, the movie is hand-drawn. Honest-to-God drawn by the hands of honest-to-God people who do it because they like giving us cool things to gawp at. These days, if you're not Studio Ghibli, you're probably risking financial ruin for your manual art. Thus, while the movie failed to suck me into an emotional experience, it forced me to stand back mouth agape and admire every corner of its uniquely wondrous construction. Watching the breathtaking first racing sequence, <em>Redline </em>gave me the taste of something I had sorely missed. Sure it's confused, but it's also sexy, painstakingly fashioned, and bold.<br>
<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>

<b>Additional screencaps</b>

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-11-06YES 1.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-11-06YES 2.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-11-06YES 3.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-11-06YES 4.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-11-06YES 5.jpg">
 
Nice review, but I think you've perhaps tried to scrutinise the story a little too much. Redline is good old fashioned over the top fun, the likes of which I haven't seen for a long time. I couldn't keep a grin off my face for five minutes while watching it, and there were times when the audience exploded into laughter at the sheer audacity of it.

At it's heart of course it is a racing film, and one of the most successful at evoking the feelings of tension, adrenaline and sheer joy of speed I've ever seen. Who's heart wouldn't race at that thumping soundtrack, who would be able to resist leaning ever closer to the edge of their seat, digging their fingers into the chair as the outcome of the race hangs in the balance? There's your emotional experience, right there.
 
Hmmm...do I want Redline? On the one hand, I personally prefer more indepth plots. On the other, the animation does look like a once-in-a-life-time thing.

At least this review actually outright says the plot isn't very good, unlike others which just go mad over the animation.
 
Cool Review! The lack of depth in the plot doesn't bother me because that's not the reason i wanna see this movie anyway. A lot of very talented animators i admire and follow worked on this so as a lover of animation this movie is a definite buy for me. Movies like this one i feel really need to be supported otherwise we wont see more of them. The last one i saw being sword of the stranger which i saw and loved for the same reasons i wanna see Redline when it arrives at me doorstep (my first ever preorder :D).
 
I agree that the middle section might need a bit of trimming, I enjoyed it first time but it would probably drag when watching that part again. I think that if that section had been cut it would have lost a lot of the character stuff. You need to spend a bit of time with the characters before the race or you would not care about the outcome of the race.

I love the manic over-the-top-ness of the film.
 
ayase said:
Nice review, but I think you've perhaps tried to scrutinise the story a little too much. Redline is good old fashioned over the top fun, the likes of which I haven't seen for a long time. I couldn't keep a grin off my face for five minutes while watching it, and there were times when the audience exploded into laughter at the sheer audacity of it.

At it's heart of course it is a racing film, and one of the most successful at evoking the feelings of tension, adrenaline and sheer joy of speed I've ever seen. Who's heart wouldn't race at that thumping soundtrack, who would be able to resist leaning ever closer to the edge of their seat, digging their fingers into the chair as the outcome of the race hangs in the balance? There's your emotional experience, right there.
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I'm going to second this because there are some films where you're just watching it to be blown away. When you're watching Wacky Races on speed (original metaphor, do not steal) plot is the last thing you should be thinking about. Redline gave me the bloody good time I expected, so I would give at least an 8/10.
 
Nice review Vivi. However I can't help but agree with this
Nice review, but I think you've perhaps tried to scrutinise the story a little too much
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Indeed, the baddies may just be there to excuse the missile bombardment and some extra quirky designs and humour (all perfectly good reasons in my opinion), yes other aspects of the mish-mash plot can easily be labelled by some as cheesy or shallow or even pointless. The story isn't a hard one to shred apart by one who wishes, but to me that is missing the point of Redline. It should be allowed to simply wash over you, everything joyful, eccentric and pleasingly unpretentious. Despite the chaos that's often on screen Redline never really wants or tries to baffle the viewer-unlike so much anime these days- its simply happy making you happy.

I too came into Redline expecting minimal amounts (if any) story and not a lot more than just action, so oh how pleased I was to find more than simply animation- I found soul. Yes, while you felt these plot strands where merely superfluous and soulless, I felt they were actually soulful. Redline does what it wants and is always extravagant, but to me none of it could be cut without the film losing something special.

To the people who haven't seen Redline yet, I will this: The plot isn't crap. It's old fashioned. Its not thought provoking or particularly intelligent or unique, but as Ayase said it will likely keep an almost permanent smile on your face. And then by the time the movie's climax comes and you too are tweaking and having a similar toe curling, muscle contracting climax of your own (maybe that's due to me seeing it the big screen though?), you won't really care about anything else.

I agree with everything about it being super sexy though.

I would have to give Redline a well deserved 9/10. Its the best piece of new anime I've seen this year (I haven't seen Arietty yet though)
 
Not to slight Arriety, but I got more enjoyment out of Redline.

My own take on the story was more that Redline is a racing movie about racing movies (and sports movies in general), hence leaving any cliche unturned would have simply been an oversight.

Whether that makes it acceptable is another question, but it might explain it some.
 
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