What characters mean to me and 5 Amazing Action movies and 1 Anime Series with complex and powerful narratives and great characters Reviewed
I recently got a request to recommend some action films. The request was from @durzo
,You know what I seek in a film, action of course but also compelling characters ,there not that mindset good & evil not black and white ,what drives them ,what are they fighting for .Will they sacrife for their goal. A cunning main-character there is no bad or good for hiM/her only an objective to complete .
Me..... like Mamoru Oshii consider characters to be one of the least important aspects of a movie. Oshii has stated his approach to directing is in direct contrast to what he perceives to be the Hollywood formula, i.e. he regards the visuals as the most important aspect, followed by the story and the characters come last. He also notes that his main motivation in making films is to "create worlds different from our own."
To me it's mainly about themes/ philosophy/ sheer impact/ intensity and then comes the sublime or jaw dropping or explosive visuals and then comes characters. The result of this is developing pretty much a fetish for certain specific types of characters such as Force of Nature characters, Calm and follow the best course of action characters and the ones who just play God. Here are few of my all time favorite characters in existence in no particular order.
- Makishima Shougo
- Motoko Kusanagi
- Kamui Kirito
- Kaizuka Inaho
- Neo
- Joker
- Johan Liebert
- Chie Hori (Tokyo Ghoul)
- Gendo Ikari
- Count of Monte Cristo (From Gankutsuou)
- Artemisia (300: Rise of an Empire)
- Aizen
- The Doctor
- Sherlock
- Mycroft
- Moriarty
- Eurus Holmes
- Charles Augustus Magnussen (Basically Sherlock is the greatest thing EVER happened to Television)
If I just try to take some dragged down to Earth characters from some action movies/anime I think I could Make a good list of recommendation to fit the above stated description. So here we go.
God of War (2017)
I just saw this trailer accidentally and I was impressed. I kept it in mind and I suddenly saw that it was released on Netflix. The movie stars Vincent Zhao as General Qi and a bunch of other legends like Sammo Hung and Yasuaki Kurata (from the Japanese side). A bunch of samurais employ pirates to do their bidding in the Chinese lands and General Qi is given orders to end this menace from the dumb bureaucratic government bodies. General Qi convinces his leader to allow him to train a new army and gathers up a bunch of brave villagers and build an army to fight the war.
He was a really likable character and a great strategist. He's and excellent combination of raw power and maverick. There are so many battle scattered over including a one in the backstory where General Qi wins by firing 3 arrows at the right target at the right time. The film was so well constructed that I initially thought it was based on real events. Everything was that well grounded. There was actually a great victorious battle that was just glossed over with few texts and it ended up building the world and realism even more.
I could summarize the plot in a nutshell and why I love it in this single quote. The movie is a very humanized illustration of the following quote from the movie itself.
"That's the amazing thing about Qi. He made them believe they could become stronger. The strength of an Army will change just like water will change its form. He who can prevail in chaos is regarded as a god."
Time to blow some minds here with the greatest thing ever produced with Zombies in it H.O.T.D.(2010)
This isn't for the PC/SJW idiots or for the people who cannot enjoy life or for the people who cannot read deep subtexts it an action heavy plot. Highschool of the Dead is the single best story ever told involving Zombies and it still manages to make Michael Bay look like the director of The Godfather. H.O.T.D. starts out like a generic zombie thingy and the first episode was just "different". But in the next few episodes the anime explores every single aspects of a zombie apocalypse on a global scale involving Air Force One and High Altitude Nuclear Explosions while always keep things grounded to a group of teenagers.
Just think World War Z and Dawn of the Dead put together and made better, gripping, more impactful, psychological while having some dark Black Mirror-esque aspects and then have it showered with guns, babes, tits, carnage and heavy action set pieces with unique characters who knows to get stuff done.
The best thing is that the "Team" is really a team. There are no real in-fighting. They are all helpful and competent in their own ways. It's directed by Tetsurō Araki (Death Note, Attack on Titan, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress). Unfortunately Daisuke Satō (Author) passed away and we only have 7 manga volumes and 12 episodes + OVA
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
The trailer is an old original one and hence the low quality. If it seemed odd or weird that's pretty accurate. It was written by Mamoru Oshii with Production I.G and it's a part of a franchise. But it's also an excellent stand alone with amazing world building and very convoluted political plot with so many twists and turns and subtexts you wouldn't expect. You can spend so much with a character and know so much and still know not nothing but know misinformation. That's Jin-Roh. Blade Runner or The Shining would seem pretty cut & dry movies in comparison and none of them have this great and iconic action.
If I had to put one tag to describe the story that would be: A Gambit Pileup
A Gambit Pileup involves two or more people with completely separate agendas each hatching complicated plans. The storyline is thrown into chaos and even the most savvy fans can't predict how it will all end. Be prepared to make a flow diagram to keep up with everyone's scheme.
Source
Finally after you watch the anime you can watch the Following Analysis. It totally spoils the story and it wn't be much fun if you watch it before the movie. But I'll leave it here.
Serbuan Maut + Berandal
The Deadly Raid is one of the greatest short films ever made regarding criminal underworld and police forces. It has an intimate and high stakes story and a powerful villain who is just clever and enjoy what he is doing. It's a multi-dimensional plot that set up the sequel as a crime drama in a very organic way. Entire scenes get summarized in few sentences. There is family, betrayal, deception, violence and pure raw struggle. It all gets further explored in the full blown sequel Berandal which means "Thugs" or "Gangsters" which presents a multi-lingual convoluted plot which is also sort of a Gambit Pileup where so many different factors having their own angle in things. Imagine Jin-Roh turned into a criminal underworld story like Martin Scorsese's The Departed but waaay better with more complexity and less pandering and hand holding with the audience. That is Berandal.
Also did I mentioned that the short film gets over an hour of intense kick ass action that just looks like they were made with the sole purpose of of taking a massive dump on every other martial art movie in existence? Did I also mentioned that the second movie spends the final our with even larger amounts of far better fights??
The 2 movies which were internatinally released as The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2: Berandal makes up 2 of the 3 best movies that heavily utilize Purely Action Driven Narrative Storytelling. The other one is MAD MAX: FURY ROAD which is a total masterpiece and I don't even like "Wasteland " settings like Fallout and the 3 other Mad Max movies.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
This was easily the Action Movie of the year and it was also my favorite Hollywood movie of 2015. It's just 2 hours of non-stop action with a powerful story. It even got 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. You don't have to watch the other 3 movies. They are important movies. But they didn't really kept me hooked. Fury Road just blew me away. It's packed with environmental and atmospheric story telling and when I was a clip on YouTube I thought it was the climax. It was at that level. When I watched the movie, it was the first chase.
Had to go through a bunch trailers to pick the best. Let me leave you with this clip to show you the level of narrative building of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD.
What a great list! ,I will take my time reviewing it . I remember H.O.T.D. it was quite enoyable to watch.I will start will mad max fury and work my way up .
Headshot was great if you like the Raid movies. It shares some of the cast. I think it was on Netflix.
Not as good as Raid but better than most. Man of Tai Chi was amazing when it comes to the story.
I will give it a try ,
Nice to meet you BTW
Nice to meet you too :)
I thought that anime will be psycho-pass, but H.O.T.D. is good as well haha!
I actually wanted to see Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It has such a massive depth while being fun and bombastic. Everything about it is so good. Kamina is also one of the coolest characters ever!
Well said , the character development was amazing
Everything about it was amazing. The best way to watch it is watch the series. Wait few months and then watch the 2 movies. The movie ending was truly crazy epic. It was meta and inspirational.
Wait what , it there a movies about gurren lagann .Did I live is some cave or so .Shame on me ,I need to watch it asap . At the beginning of the anime I thought Kamina would be the lead figure obviously and Simon would be his sidekick , Oh boy what was I wrong .It was a sight to be hold how Simon transformed through out the anime .I really need to rewatch it .I have only rewatched code geass twice , steinsgate also twice and shana no shakugan twice. If you haven't watched steinsgate ,I would say watch it ,One of the best time traveller series it's well made .
Steins;Gate is one of the best anime I've seen. It's easily the greatest time travel story ever told. I haven't tried Shakugan no Shana.
Gurren Lagann first movie has bit of backstory for Lordgenome and it ends with last 3 of Lordgenome's four generals at once after the death of Kamina. (Runtime issues) The second movie is also mostly just the anime but with the last battle made hugely better.
Gurren Lagann The Movie: Childhood's End
Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurren_Lagann
You just missed the most grand anime final fight. The ending scale of the series seem puny compared to the movie The Lights in the Sky are Stars. It takes the anime fight to the next level.(Yes they really take it even higher)
it is good(one of my fav anime), but for someone that doesn't watch anime I think it is a bit too weird
I got into anime because it was unique. If I'm already getting my fix elsewhere, why bother with anime. Anime had the balls to do many things that other industries won't dream of. Hollywood can't even do DBZ and DBZ is nothing compared to Gurren Lagann in audacity and inspiration. Nothing can top this:
Nice to meet you BTW :)
Well, yes. But I think Gurren Laggan would be better as a second or third anime you watch maybe, idk. Still a great show nonetheless!
Same here :)
I am very well aware that all these places exist in the infinite Universe, telepathically received by artists, as telepathy is not brain to brain but Heart to Heart to brain, as the energy of our every thought depends on our own Heart connection. Thoughts are operating on the Quantum level, hence they are not confined to Time and Space. So every thought, interest or idea has its source and depends on our Heart-connections to the Universe as a result of our past and future history within the Time-Space continuum.
Yet most often, the final version is kind of an Earth-friendly short-cut narrowed down to a version the Human mind is capable of grasping, each with the artists special touch which might be more exaggerated or less.
This topic has been one of those bringing about the deepest "wake up" within myself. But I won't go more into detail because it would take weeks!
Funnily enough I just shared an interesting dream message to Tom T Moore, a renowned author who is very much on the same page with me and on a similar path in this respect. You probably know "Frieza" from DBZ, he is a space pirate and he is only one of a whole planetary species. What I received crystal clearly was that some of his species are incarnated on Earth right now, and the place where most of them are incarnated is Tijuana, Mexico. Quite interesting that most of them, irrespective of their total number, are incarnated in one city alone.
Anyways, I just felt you gave me the perfect assist for this info. Take it for what you will ;)
Some mental attachment is probably the case.
Thanks for adding your thoughts :-)
Anime is my favorite, so far I have watched 125 anime’s. I binge so much I finish a season in less than a day. So far monogatari series, Noragami, berserk and rezero are some of my favorites. Good post.
Sweet list, gonna check out HOTD
All are good. special my favorite movie 'The RAID' .
That movie is so well made! Highly underrated
Well this is a deleted scene:
Most movies would die to have this on their runtime.
high school of the dead was good, reminds me of when I used to have Netflix.
H.O.T.D. is better
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