SYNOPSIS:
Photojournalist
Yuji Nishizaki (Takao Osawa) witnesses the crash of a US aircraft
"Midnight Eagle" and together with fellow journalists
Keiko Arisawa (Yuko Takeuchi) and Shinichiro Ochiai (Hiroshi
Tamaki), they find themselves in the middle of an international
hunt for a secret payload- a warhead that threatens to wipe
out Japan's entire population.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Midnight Eagle is one of the handful films this year
that made me feel like bolting out of the theater before it’s
over. If you had read our dear webmaster’s
review for this movie, it wouldn’t be too hard to
guess who his fidgeting movie partner was. Anyway to be fair
for this DVD review, I sat down and watch this movie all over
again in the comfort of my own home and pace (which might
generate a whole lot of viewing experience).
As
usual, let’s start with the positive aspect of this
film. The cinematography and soundtrack music were the first
two aspect of the film that stood out. Personally as someone
who love the sight of falling snow, this film is packed abundant
of it and frankly did entice me to go mountaineering in the
snowy mountains. The ambient soundtracks slip in every now
and then to set up the mood with the picturesque scenes. If
the cinematography and soundtrack music were disassociated
with the story concept of this long winded movie and judge
purely on those aspects, it would definitely score a 4 stars
rating from me.
However,
the clothes don’t make a man and it stills boil down
to the soul of this film and the fault lies in 1) it dragged
on for too long, 2) lacked the punch that the film thought
it had going and 3) did I mention that it’s too long?
With
a runtime that is more than 2 hours long, this film would
have thrive better with some trimming (even at the comfort
of home viewing). The bit with the protagonist’s sister-in-law’s
(Keiko (Yuko Takeuchi)) investigation into the hush military
matters could have removed and the little discovery that she
made could been included in the main mountain expedition with
the protagonist Yuji (Takao Osawa). Frankly speaking, her
discovery was so minor compared to how the finale was played
out, the omission of her bit could easily be written in to
the main investigation and wouldn’t affect much. Likewise,
the presence Yuji’s son (and his screen time) felt unnecessary
and the only reason that it was included was that folks could
sympathize with the little boy for the weepy finale.
Then
there are the multiple attempts to end the movie, the male
bonding before the finale and pointless introduction to various
military personals that just stretch the runtime even longer
than needed.
Perhaps
the filmmaker felt that all these subplots would create the
dramatic tension in the finale but somehow all these subplots
never really got to gel together for that purpose. There this
hollowness to the emotion that this film tried to muster and
after a while it became rather trying experience to watch.
(Spoiler example starts) For example
a photographer taking picture of his comrade just before they
get napalmed? What’s the point in that since it’s
unlikely that picture will see the light of the day in the
end? (Spoiler example ends). Perhaps it varies from
one person to another but personally to see emptily made subplot
piling up one and another just fuel discontent for this film.
In
the end, the viewing experience of this movie at home was
much less antagonizing than it was in the cinema. Although
the same faults still stood out as per first viewing of Midnight
Eagle, the unhurried pace at home that allows pauses and other
distraction gave more leeway to those problems. Overall, Midnight
Eagle is passable entertainment and recommendable for those
who like forceful tearjerker that keep coming and coming.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This DVD edition of Midnight Eagle comes with a trailer
for this movie. Personally it was a rather spoilerish trailer
that movie aficionado should have no problem in picking up
what will eventually happen. Check out the trailer after watching
the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Although in widescreen format, somehow it felt that this presentation
of Midnight Eagle was wrongly cropped as some scenes had various
characters that are awfully and distinctly cut away from the
scene. Otherwise, everything else is crisp and clear (which
is good to present the fine cinematography) and the Dolby
Digital 2.0 did a fine job in presenting the ever present
background music.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Richard Lim Jr
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