X
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
Feb. 23, 2004

From its description, "X" sounded like it would be a very interesting story. The Dragons of the Earth want to wipe mankind off the face of the planet while the Dragons of the Heavens fight to preserve it. A boy named Kamui is at the center of all this. He must decide whether or not to fight for the Dragons of the Heavens and save humankind.

This was an extremely dark movie, figuratively as well as concretely. Appropriately, as the story teeters on the brink of an Armageddon. Among the darker images were these incredibly long, drawn out dream sequences. True they were vital to the story, but the pace they played at slowed down the movie to a halt.

The biggest problem of this movie was that there was no real character development. Sure we learn the history between Kamui, Fuma and Kotori, but there was no connection between them and the audience. The other characters were briefly introduced, but none of them truly developed. Whenever someone died, I didn't care. There was no emotion bond with the viewers.

A melting shield in X

The action sequences looked like they were going to be absolutely fantastic. Members on each side all had cool looking super powers. Unfortunately, the fights were extremely brief and we were only allowed a small taste of what potentially could have been an awesome battle. Often times, one of the fighters would die for no reason. One of the dragons had an ability to use fire and she died while trying to stop a train from running her over, even though it looked as if she had plenty of time to move.

I talked with several people after the movie and they told me that it's easier to enjoy the movie if you had read the manga before hand. The thing I feel about movies is that, movies are telling a story. When I go to watch a movie, I don't expect to have seen or read anything beforehand (unless it's like a sequel to another movie). "X" does a bad job at telling its story. The pace of the movie always seemed to feel either rushed or dragged on. There were several points where I did feel that I was getting into the movie, but then it comes to a screeching halt.

I don't really see how people could enjoy this movie. The animation was good and it seemed like a good premise for a movie, but that's it. A confusing story that takes a while to start explaining itself, "X" was simply not good. The manga was later readapted into a TV series in Japan. It's supposed the same story, but spread out over the course of 25 episodes. I've heard mixed reviews, so watch it at your own risk.

Joe gives "X":

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for asiaXpress.com. You can reach Joe at joe@asiaxpress.com.

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