| Perhaps I have just been having
bad luck with my choices, but I simply don't
understand how OAVs (Original Animated Videos)
continue to be successful in Japan. By in
large, these direct-to-video movies have miniscule
running times that don't afford the staff
to do much with their intended story. Baoh,
at only 50 minutes, is especially susceptible
to this. For what its worth, the 1989 film
does display some nice, if not incredibly
short, fight sequences. However, the story
itself is dumbed down far too much in order
to fit the running time, while too many elements
are introduced and then never explained. The
voice acting and the musical score are also
nothing to tout here, while the well constructed
animation is all but overshadowed by the problems
with the final product.
In a nutshell, the movie's
plot sees Hasizawa Ikuroo, who was experimented
on with a parasite dubbed Baoh, escape from
the Doress foundation thanks to the interference
of a young girl named Sumire. Fearful of Baoh
being discovered, the organization sends out
a series of assassins to kill the boy, but
each is killed thanks to the new powers bestowed
on Ikuroo by the parasite. Desperate, the
company kidnaps Sumire, forcing Ikuroo to
travel to their labs for a final showdown.
As expected, the storyline
is incredibly simple, taking the concept of
minimal setup to an entirely new level. The
very brisk running time of around 50 minutes
doesn't help either, and the final product
ends up being mostly a combination of short
fight sequences aided by excessive gore. The
film does have a cult following, however small
it might be, and I would assume that it's
the ample supply of gore that is the hook
for many. To the movie's credit, it does depict
this very well, with eyes popping out and
flesh melting among other things; however,
I could have done without the Tiger's brains
spilling out of its head during a particular
scene. Unfortunately, the film has some pretty
brief transitions between sequences, and contains
very little foreshadowing beyond Walken appearing
earlier in the movie with his cup of coffee.
In fact, the android assassin Dordo comes
out of left field due to the fact that he
appears human up until his face is damaged,
while his origins are never explored. This
only causes for senseless confusion from the
viewer, and the android aspect of the character
was entirely unneeded considering his entire
role is to fly off with Sumire and then be
shot down from a helicopter. He also diverts
the attention away from the true climax: the
battle between Baoh and Walken, the “most
powerful psychic in the world” whose
Native American roots are emphasized despite
never coming into play in any way.
This leads into the film’s
character development as a whole, which, as
expected, is pretty poor. In total there are
three characters worth mentioning, which include
Ikuroo, Sumire, and Doctor Kasuminome, head
of the Baoh project. As the movie’s
lead, Ikuroo is the only one to have his back
story explored, as there is a brief flashback
to explain how his parents died in a car crash.
However, beyond this Ikuroo is completely
hollow and doesn’t give a great deal
of emotion in relation to the events that
are transpiring around him. Sumire, taken
from an orphanage by Doress on account of
her psychic abilities, is even worse, and
her friendship with Ikuroo doesn’t end
up being credible as the movie refuses to
allow it any screen time. This causes huge
problems as the audience doesn’t really
follow Ikuroo’s desire to save her,
nor is any emotion had when she is accidentally
shot in the neck by cannon fire near the end.
In fact, the whole point of her character
seems specifically based around giving Ikuroo
a reason to attack the lab. Personally speaking,
I found it fairly disappointing not to see
her powers, after they were shown at the beginning
of the film, be used in any significant way
later on too. I was sure that her ability
to crack number combinations would have somehow
made her useful during the lab raid, yet it
never happened. It’s also disappointing
that her pet, the genetic creation Sonny-Steffan
Nottsuo (thankfully only referred to as Nottsuo
during the movie), never does anything at
all and is never explained as its genetic
origin is only referenced in the manga the
film was based on. The creature could, and
should, have been cut, as the cute nature
of Nottsuo seems to play an awkward counterbalance
to the gore being displayed.
Anyway, the last of the important
characters is Kasuminome, the film’s antagonist.
To be honest I’m not entirely sure what
director Hiroyuki Hori had intended for the character.
The viewer certainly doesn’t loath him,
despite his attempts to hire assassins to take
care of Baoh. The character’s sole directive
is to please his superiors as well, who appear
midway through the film in three theatrical masks
only to never be brought up again. Kasuminome
also appears to gain some sort of attachment to
his creation, to the point where he gives advice
to Baoh in his confrontation with Walken. Unfortunately,
this only ends up confusing the audience more
as to how they are supposed to feel in relation
to the character, while there is no feeling of
vindication at all when he does finally meet his
demise.
As for the voice acting that inhabits
the characters, well it’s pretty unimpressive
across the board. In fact, most of the cast sounds
fairly uninterested, especially the lead character
Ikuroo played by Hiroyuki Hori. Noriko Hidaka,
who portrays Sumire, also deserves a bit of scorn
for sounding nothing like the nine year old girl
she is supposed to be playing. Not all of the
cast shows a lack of enthusiasm in their lines,
though. Unfortunately, the exceptions are mostly
on account of people overacting, with Yusaku Yara,
who plays the Walken character, being the best
example. He is not given much to say, but Yara
seems to give the same flat, almost shouting,
delivery of his lines, even when he is doing something
simple like warming his coffee, which actually
accounts for some unintentional laughs in that
scene. Of course, it also doesn’t help matters
that a lot of the dialogue in the movie is pretty
cheesy, in particular when the Kasuminome character
states that releasing Baoh is like "setting
off an atomic bomb" or some of the far out
metaphors that are used for popping heads, like
bursting them as if they were “watermelons”
or “balloons filled with blood” (and
yes, those are two separate examples).
In regards to Baoh's music,
it’s fairly forgettable to say the least.
In fact, most of the cues are unnoticeable, as
well as extremely short in length. The only exceptions
would be the repetitious theme for when Ikuroo
first escapes and the cue played for the assault
team, which has a very distinct 1980’s feel
to it.
To end on a positive note, and
really the only praise that the film deserves
without also pointing out something negative,
is the fantastic animation. By all accounts, it
looks very fluid and detailed, with loads of shading.
In fact, it’s a huge improvement over what
was the norm back during its release.
Overall, though, Baoh
is a very unmemorable endeavor. Even fans of the
buckets of gore will likely get bored with the
flat characters and lack of plot, while the motivation
to watch the movie more than once is simply nonexistent.
|
(1.5/5)