Redline (2010)

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nRedline (2010)

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nDirector: Takeshi Koike

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nOne of the short films that impressed me the most from thenanime anthology Neo Tokyo (1987) was the one called ‘The Running Man’, ansegment about a race featuring a bunch of cool looking futuristic racing cars;nit had a feeling of speed, a style and kinetic energy about it that I loved. Itnwas also dark and gritty, sort of like Blade Runner (1982), but within a racentrack? It was an awesome short, highly recommend checking it out. Redline (2009),nthe film I’ll be talking about today takes a similar premise (that of the futuristicnracing circuit) and stretches it into a full length film. But instead of darknand gritty, Redline is ultra colorful and bright! This abundance of shinny,nbright colors brought to mind the Wachowski’s Speed Racer (2008). Redline also featuresnoutlandish and crazy cool racing cars that defy logic, gravity and realism. Innthis way, Redline functions as pure escapism, so outlandish, that it willntransport you to a whole other world. Don’t look for logic here; just look for thencool and the stylish! Welcome to the world of Redline.

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nRedline immediately throws us into the racing world bynstarting the movie off right smack in the middle of a race called ‘Yellow Line’.nThis race takes place in a planet called ‘Dorothy’, which by the way is anplanet inhabited by humanoid dogs that also race cars! So anyhow, through this blazing,nspeedy introduction we first meet the characters we’ll be seeing throughout thenrest of the film, the racers. The principal characters are a racer called JP; anguy who lives and breathes racing and loves to look cool. He’s all about thenleather jacket, the cigs, the hair and the switchblade knife that doubles as anhair comb. Then we have Sonoshee, a girl who is equally passionate aboutnracing, in fact, so much so she has no place left for love in her life. Or doesnshe? So anyhow, both JP and Sonoshee grew up together and have a crush on eachnother, yet they end up being enemies on this huge race called ‘The Red Line’,nwhich will be taking place in Roboworld, a planet ruled by a Nazi like race ofnandroids. I know that all sounds totally bonkers, but such is the nature of thisnfilm and this is what makes it such an interesting watch.

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nThis is an extremely stylish film; it places its emphasis onncool. The main character, JP, dresses like a rocker from the 50’s, with his leathernjacket and greasy hair. JP doesn’t just drive a motorcycle; he drives thisnawesome looking hover bike, which looks like a futuristic Harley. Some of the racingncars look like spaceships; their designs are very diverse. Point is this isnmore of a visual trip than anything else. Redline  is not a deep or profound film, but boy is itna fun movie to watch. Part of the fun comes from the animation, which utilizesnthese odd angles and exaggerated designs. I loved how they placed the camera innthe strangest of places, it made things more interesting.  In fact, this movie is so interesting visuallynthat you’ll probably want to watch it a couple of times over. If you’re annanime fan, you’ll immediately want to own it and place right next to your copynof Ninja Scroll (1993). Speaking of Ninja Scroll (1993), this movie wasnproduced by Mad House Studios, the same guys who brought us that very same Ninjanclassic. So you can expect the same level of excellence in the animation.

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nThe crazy angles in Redline reminded me of Afro Samurai (2007),nan anime film which featured that same style, which places the camera in oddnspaces and stretches images out, it’s very unique. While doing research fornthis review I discovered that my comparisons were right on the dot becauseTakeshinKoike, the director for Redline, served as a key animator for Afro Samurai, sonthat explains the similarities in style. The stretched out angles are obviouslynpart of Koike’s style. By the way, this was Takeshi Koike first full lengthnanime film and it’s an impressive debut. Obviously, he put to good use all thatnexperience as key animator in films like Ninja Scroll (1993), Vampire Hunter D:nBloodlust (2000) and Memories (1995), not to mention his work in series likenSamurai Champloo. The result was this impressive break out film for TakeshinKoike.

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nRedline reminded me of various films, but ultimately, whatnit felt like was a mash up between the pod racing scenes in Star Wars Episode I:nThe Phantom Menace (1999), the premise for Death Race 2000 (1975) and finally,nthe crazy kinetic nonstop chase sequences you’d find in a Mad Max film. Redlinenfeels like you took all the crazy racers from the pod race in Episode I andnexpanded on them, gave them background stories and made a whole film aroundnthat world. There’s an awesome race in the beginning of the film, a couple ofnraces in the middle and the grand finale, The Red Line race. Of course, the twonbook end races are the show stoppers of the film, but in between we get a bitnof political intrigue (Roboworld’s government doesn’t’ support the RedlinenRace) and even a bit of romance between JP and Sonoshee. This movie is so nutsnthat suddenly it’s the racers vs. the tyrannical government who’s trying tonstop the race! This movie is so crazy, so outlandish, that there’s even spacenfor giant Kaiju in this film! I literally couldn’t believe they managed to squeezenin giant monsters into this movie! I mean, this movie is about race cars! Butnsuddenly, there I was, watching giant monsters destroy stuff.  

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nVisually, you’ll never be bored because the Redline Race isna no holds barred type of deal where anything goes, there are no rules, so itngets to a point where cars are shooting missiles at each other, the governmentnis shooting lasers from space to stop the race while the racers are feverishlyntrying to make it to the finish line! There’s this moment where one of thenracers transforms into a giant robot car! There are many visual surprises innstore for those who decide to give this visually stunning film a shot. Redline is an experience you’ll want to watch and re-watch over andnover again.

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nRating: 4 out of 5

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