THE SKY CRAWLERS
December 27th 2009 00:47
Based the novel series by Mori Hiroshi
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Screenplay by: Chihiro Ito
Producer: Tomihiko Ishii
Starring: Stephanie Sheh (Suito Kusanagi), Michael Sinterniklaas (Yuichi Kannami), Troy Baker (Tokino), Bryce Hitchcock (Mizuki Kusanagi), Cindy Robinson (Sasakura) & Kirsten Potter (Fuko)
Produced by: Production IG
Released by: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Running Time: 115 minutes Rating: M
Nominated for best film in the Sitges-Catalonian Film Festival 2008, given official selection at the International Film Festivals of Toronto, Stockholm and Helsinki and winner of Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 on those things alone the Sky Crawlers sounds an extremely impressive feature. Now on DVD it was one of the many things that ended up in my Christmas stocking this year, with that in mind I managed to put in the player on Boxing Day and cast the light of the Lantern’s viridian vigilant gaze upon it. This feature is the work of the famous Mamoru Oshii, he who brought to the world two feature length Ghost in the Shell features and is noted for presenting anime that prompt the audience to think, to question, to ponder. Sometimes though that particular angle can be taken too far and you find the audience walking away scratching their heads just wondering what has happened for the last few hours.
What the heck is a Kildren? Well firstly the vast majority of the pilots employed by the various military contractors are apparently Kildren, the only exception is an enigmatic figure known as the Teacher but more about him later on down the track. Now Kildren are essentially teenagers, they never age and apparently they can only die in battle, they’re effectively immortal for all intents and purposes. So how on earth did this come about? Apparently Kildren are the result of a mistake in Rostock’s pharmaceutical laboratories that resulted in this unique condition, a condition that prompted the use of Kildren as fighter/bomber pilots. Attack of the Clones anyone? Hmmm begun the clone wars have…
And it seemingly doesn’t end with death, because if you do die the company just decants you from a vat and sends you back out to fight once more. Of course that’s if you’re an ace pilot and the company can’t afford the loss of someone with your skills and abilities. This is essentially what has happened to our protagonist, Yuichi is the reincarnation of Jinro, the guy he is ‘replacing’ who was actually killed by his commanding officer Major Suito Kusanagi. Confusing? Soap opera like? It is very confusing as the story seems to focus more on the interrelationship between Kusanagi and the newly reincarnated Jinro. And at the end of the day this makes for very unsatisfying storytelling let alone a story, if anything it just muddies the waters and leaves you wondering what exactly is going on here, if anything.
Enter the Teacher, the enigmatic enemy ace with a black jaguar painted on the fuselage of his plane, which if memory serves me correctly looks a lot like an ME109 from the Second World War. That’s one of the interesting features of this flick, all of the aircraft in this film are turboprop aircraft, and there is not a single jet in sight. Interestingly the fighters and aircraft employed by the enemy all look like remakes of WWII Luftwaffe fighters and bombers, but I could be imagining things. The Teacher is a seemingly invincible opponent, a man who cannot be defeated and is not a Kildren; in fact he is an adult pilot, a normal human being. That is according to the conventional rumours about him. That is pretty much all you find out about him, he never actually appears in the film itself other than as an enemy ace, he is thus something of a deus ex machina in the plot, a means of driving along the show but not playing any real significant part. Which is rather bizarre considering that he is a major motivation for at least one of the characters, namely Major Kusanagi and later Yuichi believes that the Teacher is his father – implying that this individual is the one who created the Kildren? Who knows, the question is never answered and instead in the final dogfight we see Yuichi shot to pieces, a mournful waiting scene and then credits roll across the screen.
Nothing has been resolved when this moment arrives, in fact if anything it seems as if the status quo is going to be maintained, although even that is not certain. In fact if anything you’re left scratching your head wondering what the heck have I just been watching. Even with the voice actors there was a sense of them trying desperately hard to carry the whole thing but just not quite hitting it because it seemed as they themselves were wondering what on earth is going on here. As far as animation goes this film is worthy of being called a masterpiece, the quality is literally through the roof, but as I have said before and will no doubt continue to say many times in the future great effects do not a great movie make. Sadly ‘The Sky Crawlers’ is a confusing feature that just meanders along with little rhyme or reason, I would be interested in trying to get a hold of the novels and see what they’re like…
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