Do I have you intrigued? Metropolis is based on the comic by Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) with the script being written by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and the animation by Madhouse Studios (Death Note, Devil May Cry and Paranoia Agent). The film is a highly imaginative, strange and heartbreaking tale, complete with robots.
I must say, when I started the film, I was wary. I am not a huge fan of either Astro Boy or Akira, although the respect I have for each of these storytellers is what ultimately led to the choice of watching the movie. The artwork is very interesting, the style not overly anime, in fact, characters like, Duke Red and Shunsaku Ban made me briefly think of certain French cartoons. However, in characters like Rock and Kenichi, the main villain and protagonist, you can definitely see the touch of Tezuka’s Astro Boy style.
The movie revolves around a young boy, Kenichi, and his private detective uncle, Shunsaku Ban, coming to Metropolis from Japan, looking for a wanted man. Instead, the two get caught in the middle of a revolution, with the president trying to arrest Duke Red for treason and the Duke trying to use the city’s robots as weapons. When the nephew and uncle become separated, Kenichi stumbles upon a super robot named Tima, and the two are aided from danger by a cast of characters including my favorite, a worker robot in the sewers named, Fifi, while Shunsaku Ban tries to find his nephew with the help of a robot detective named, Pero.
Overall, the film is quite sad and frustrating, as the level of violence and hostility against robots by humans is sickening, especially when they brutally fight and kill robots who have only innocent and good intentions which would further better the lives of the humans, should they be given the chance to perform their duties. Katsuhiro Otomo is a good storyteller in this way, as I did not only dislike Rock for the evil he did, as well as Duke Red, but I utterly despised them. My one problem with the human characters is that, because of the atrocious things they did, the only one I ever felt a connection to was the detective, Shunsaku Ban. He didn’t treat the robots differently, in fact, he went out of his way to give one a name when he learned they were not allowed to be given one, then he continued to be brave in the presence of danger for the wellbeing of those like Tima. I leaned heavily on him as the character to right the wrongs Rock had done.
This film certainly won’t be a hit with everyone, but I think it should definitely be looked at. It’s an incredibly gorgeous movie with an impressive opening and quirky soundtrack.
