Search - Big Wars on DVD

Well...this sure ain't a classic....

Bjorn R. Buer | Northern California | 10/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Anime is a wonderful thing. Until recently, really imaginitive stories simply could not be shot as live action because the cost was prohibitive. Anime, which is cheap in comparion, has brought us such amazingly imaginitive worlds as Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and so many more.

WHy do I bring all this up? Because Big Wars is a imaginitive idea that only works on anime. And...unfortunetly, it doesn't even work well there.

Big Wars is set on Mars where humans have run headlong into the amrs of the Gods...a strange and ill explained race of angelic women who kick the stuffing out of every human they meet. The main weapon of the humans is the Land Ship, a counter grav drab green battleship that uses guns and missiles in an age when space travel and terra forming are common place. Supporting these massive ships are fighters that, during the entire movie never manage to do anything but die, and armored soldiers who, when set against the elfin Gods, fall with alarming speed. So up went my eyebrow when the human leaders claimed victory at any point.

The main antagonist is the generically named Hell, a massive stealth carrier that wipes out everything that gets close to it and is surrounded by a permanent sandstorm. Our hero in the movie, who's name I do not remember, gets the newest ship to go out and kill Hell. "gasp"

References aside, there is no biblical message here, no deeper meaning to naming these things after various religeous items. I would suspect translation error was it not for the producing company being american. Further, this movie has a number unexplained and totally left field themes that the writers make no effort to explain and do not bother to ground them in science, science fiction or even fantasy. They lie somwhere in the mushed middle ground of the affore mentioned genre.

But I am giving it three stars. Why you ask, after I have attacked with suck venom? Because its just fun to watch the onscreen fights. Push aside the gretuitous sex, needless plot lines and totally braindead character development and one finds a fun and exciting war flick that has plenty of on-screen pyrotechnics and death. The land ships, as unbelievable as they are for modern warfare, look great with their turrets turning and launchers spewing missiles. The fighters, even though they really seem to suck, look great. The alien tech, which is more amorphious and unorigional, include flying saucers and weird walking things with guns. Even so, its worth a few bucks to watch them rip through the human forces like (insert timeless metaphore here). And, when the end of the movie comes, you won't feel fufilled...you won't be any smarter...but maybe your bloodlust will be abated for the short walk to your computer and whatever your playing on it."

An impulse buy, makes me want to stop impulse buying...

orionvc | South Africa | 05/01/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The animation was cool, but the storyline lacked a whole lot of substance. This movie needs a lot more background information for it to be interesting. Also, remember the speeder chase through the forest in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? Well, expect to hear those very sound bytes for the alien fighters in this movie..."

I liked it, but its not as good as it looked

noah oskow | Plymouth, MN United States | 03/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, it was good. I enjoyed it, but it was not the best plot and the characters had 2-D personalitys.. The worst thing, though, was how abruptly it ended. Other than that it had that great Japanese animation, and it was pretty fun to watch."

It's an... "okay" movie...

noah oskow | 08/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was a pretty good anime, but still, there are only a couple of things that I did not like about it.1: The sex... I can stand some sex in anime things, well I can withstand a lot, but... Forget it.2: The only other thing is the music... it's kind of depressing. I know nobody cares, but... Forget it.Overall, it's a pretty good anime, but I give it 4 stars... bah humbug!... Forget it!"