X (1996) Movie Review

An old Japanese Anime pic gets new life (and English dialogue) in time for its rerelease in the states. Anime fans will no doubt be thrilled by the movie, but many of my fellow moviegoers will likely echo my overall opinion about X: It just doesn't make any sense.

From what I can put together, the story is this. The world is ending, and one man must destroy one of the Dragons that are warring over the world. Should he destroy the Dragons of the Earth or the Dragons of the Heaven? Destroying Earth will destroy earth. Destroying Heaven will keep the earth intact. Two buxom sisters predict (and seek) opposite outcomes. And our hero is wooed by each sister.

Lots of flying around and stabbing people with swords and energy blasts ensues, and Tokyo is ground zero for their fight. Much of Tokyo gets destroyed anyway during the epic battle (buildings collapse, the subway is demolished, etc.), but oddly, no one seems to mind much. Near the end of the film, there's very little evidence of any battle at all.

X contains a few moments of haunting beauty, separated by long, drawn-out scenes of exposition that only confuse the plot even further. The animation is spotty at best. It seems much effort has gone into making a few choice scenes perfect, which the rest languishes in lifeless backdrops upon which to kill the supporting cast in fountains of blood.

Hardly groundbreaking.

Something's melting.