Sadly Over-hyped

just watch it!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This film had a low budget but a lot of meaning. It looked like something you would see on TV, but in full you can really tell it is a movie. The film shows an interesting version of heaven and hell. The pearly gates are not really pearly either. They are the Gates Of Rage and you have three choices. Be reborn, curse someone until they die or wander around like a ghost all your life. Kind of has the heaven effect with some reincarnation added. You would expect the special effects to be high, but all you get are some interesting sparks added to some cool sword fighting scenes. The cast is interesting. There are only really about four characters worth mentioning although all the side ones do have personalities. Yumiko Shaku does an OK job and has a cool fight scene, but that is about it. Shosuke Tanihara is a detective trying to avenge his dead girlfriend played by Yumiko. He shows the most emotion in the film. Then the "bad guy" is played by Takao Osawa which was probably my favorite performance in the film. Takao had an evil sidekick played by Kanae Uotani. She had some of the best fight scenes. She really had the look for her character also. This film is like a fantasy and a horror piece put into one. You have death and you have magic. The story was interesting, but was missing pieces. Overall, it was fun to watch though.

I do not understand why this movie is rated so low here on IMDb. Maybe it is unknowingly associated with the Disney kiddy movie by the same name, not to mentioned that 7 out of 8 videos. On the page for Ryuhei's film are actually from Disney's, someone should get that corrected.The movie is about a madman, Kudo, that is trying to summon a demon by way of cutting out the hearts of some girls. One of these girls ends up being the fiancé, Mina, of detective Kanzaki.It is a really good story and plot. It doesn't have plot holes nor is it a vague movie with horror and fighting. This movie isn't really a "horror" movie as I have seen it classified and considered. It's more of an action drama movie. It blends a good story with good action. Something I rarely see.

Yumiko Shaku from "Princess Blade" plays Mina who is killed at the beginning of this movie. At the gate to the next world, she is asked whether she wants to forgive and move on, stay a ghost or have revenge. It turns out to be a difficult decision.This movie was much better than I expected. Normally I drop DVDs when I read things on the back cover like "Killer cuts the hearts out of his victims" etc., but "Sky High" is the exceptional case of a movie that has a fantasy story with interesting characters, lots of sword fights and even the dreadful serial killer theme and adds it up to something fresh. That is because it does neither rely on lots of action nor on slick design, but instead gives its actors something to do and think about. Seeming a bit long with its 123 minutes to some viewers, the slow passages work well in my opinion and I wouldn't cut 1 minute from it! One the best Asian movies I have seen recently because it is less simplistic than others.

I like Ryuhei Kitamura movies. He makes a decent effort trying to be cool and I really appreciate it. There is something in his vision, in his artistic decisions, in his whole approach to cinema as art, that makes him ... I don't know ... more then just a film creator. No wonder he is already a cult phenomenon. "Sky High" is a Ryuhei Kitamura film, alright. The cinematography is clean and aesthetic, art design is pretty impressive, and kind of alienated, the swords are long and fast, the blood is red and hot, and the Japanese women are beautiful and dangerous as hell. (Check out Kimika Yoshino as the White Witch, mmmm... sweet). And the story, well, its really boring, stupid, and just not interesting enough. Some supernatural and magical reality, some lame characters with immature behavior, some tedious fights that could make you fall asleep and some other totally unexciting piles of crap. So if you really want to see this film, if you feeling that you don't want to miss one of Ryuhei Kitamura experiences, watch it, but don't expect for masterpiece. Don't bother yourself with this slow, melodramatic and infantile movie, with bad directing, really bad acting, awfully bad dialogs and with surprisingly bad ending.** P.S: "Kung Fu Hustle" by Stephen Chow, is my favorite choice anyway.