The Trailer:
Cast: India Eisley, Callan McAuliffe, &Samuel L. Jackson
Synopsis: A few years after witnessing her parents' murder, Sawa (India Eisley) and her father's cop partner Karl (Samuel L. Jackson) take justice into their own hands in an attempt to avenge her parents' death.
Apparently this movie is based on the original Japanese anime by the same title, which is some kind of cult classic anime. I have never seen nor heard of the anime, but I can only imagine that this movie did it NO justice. First and foremost, the title of the movie is a wonder to me due to it never really being explained. Sure there is a moment when Sawa looks out her apartment window and sees a kite and another scene we are shown a flashback of Sawa and her friend, Oburi (Callan McAuliffe) playing with a kite when they were children and that's it, folks. Side note: the kite Sawa sees out her window, isn't really there; we later see Karl look out the same window and he doesn't see the kite. Perhaps the symbolism of the kite is explained in the anime series, but in the movie the title is lost on me. Anyways, on to other matters. The plot of the story... Oh man. So this a revenge tale, somewhere along the lines of Kill Bill, but not executed nearly as masterfully. For one thing, Sawa is a teenage girl with no training in hand to hand combat or anything of the sort, as far as we can see, yet we're expected to believe that she can take down all these men and women who are gang members and mafia type people. What? No way! Though, I could look past that. I can stretch my suspension of disbelief to believe that, no problem. But then there's the drug: amp. According to the movie, amp can erase a persons memory during the high. Sawa is basically addicted to this drug and repeatedly mentions that she can't remember her parents, well not really. So why does she have such conviction in her mission to avenge them? It just doesn't make sense to me. Also, another ridiculous thing to me are Sawa's earrings. They are mentioned and shown frequently throughout the film, even as a way to identify Sawa when she is later captured by the Emir (a gang Sawa thinks killed her parents), though they look like a pair of earrings you can buy at the store. While yes, for Sawa they trigger a memory of her parents, but as a way to identify her? That's just silly. Again, maybe this is a component that is better explained in the anime. What I did like, though, about this movie is the location. This movie is filmed in South Africa, so it looks gritty but also bright with neon colors against stark backgrounds that really make the settings pop. I think the film makers also used the negative connotations associated with South Africa to their advantage; they made it seem as though the authorities couldn't handle the crime that was being committed and rather than try to fight it, they protected only certain areas. Also, it is mentioned that most of the cops and/or detectives were dirty and sold weapons to gangs. But even this aspect is a little troublesome, because if this is based on a Japanese anime, why not film the movie in Japan? This movie just feels uninspired, like it let itself become so grounded in other revenge-tale movies that it did nothing to set itself apart. There's nothing new or creative about this movie.
While I think the casting was awesome, I think the actual characters were written so lusterless that the actors didn't have much to work with. Therefore made for a lusterless movie. And the whole time I kept wondering how they got Samuel L. Jackson on board with this? This is way below his level of skill. Oh, well. I'm not implying you shouldn't watch it. It's still an okay movie, just don't expect anything grand from it.
Would I watch it again? Ehh, maybe.
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