Well readers (...all...two...maybe three of you? I can't tell, I
think there's someone hiding over there...) welcome back to the Third Row once
again.
As some of you may have been aware...and likely not that broken up over...last
week we kind of welched out on our initial promise to give you the blood-soaked
sequel to M.D. Geist - DEATH FORCE.
Well, I did some conferring with the lawyers and it appears as though, flimsy as
it is, a blog entry DOES constitute a binding legal contract.
...so I come before you once again, offering you all the old Gallagher-esque
protective tarp as we prepare to once again waltz into the bloodsoaked world of
director Koichi Ohata.
Now, for those of you who either never saw the first part, or who just can't be
frankly arsed to go back and read the first review (hey, I don't blame ya...)
we've been benevolent enough to bring you up to speed quickly (...but first, a
bang-up opening sequence in which a bunch of random survivors are savagely
murdered by killer machines...that apparently eat humans, and Geist arrives and
kills the machines... ...after everyone else is dead.)
...I'm not exactly seeing the logic in a doomsday weapon that runs on machines
hunting and eating humans. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just use that tank
that clearly has enough firepower to level humans in an instant?
...oh, who am I kidding? We already set the rule in part 1 that militaries in
this universe get their kills graded for style over efficiency.
OK, back to the story!
Here to explain the situation is a man who we chained to the front of a tank:
A man we chained to the front of a tank, ladies and gentlemen...
He'll be here all week, whether he wants to be or not.
Now then, with that, you just about know the score.
At the end of the last part,everyone's favorite murderous psychotic, the titular
Most Dangerous soldier, Geist, completely screwed the planet Jerra.
It's some time later and, as we can see, he's clearly not regretting his
decision. Quite the opposite. In fact, if anything, Geist seems to have become
even more of an asshole in this new Hell on Earth, using people as bait so he
can wage war against the vicious human hunting machines of the DEATH FORCE
(...to his credit, he DOES thank them for being such good sports...that's gotta
count for something, right? Right?)
Our 'hero' returns...to play in the ashes of the world he flushed in the
first one for the sheer Hell of it.
You can just hear the triumphant fanfare as he walks off to right the wrongs and
slaughter the innocent!
We're next treated to an opening montage and narrative crawl that explains what
we were already prettymuch able to gather. The machines of the DEATH FORCE now
rule the planet are any and all remaining humans are just waiting to be hunted
and eaten.
...yessir, it's a pretty hard knock life.
Anyways...from here, we cut to another group of survivors. No sense getting
attached since we all know where they're headed. All that really separates this
group from the last are two things:
1) Well I'll be damned, there ARE children on Jerra afterall
2) Vaiya's back...and wow...actually dressed this time.
Don't ask how she survived, they're never gonna explain.
But, for your entertainment, she WILL go insane at least three times before this
is over!
Seems they're part of a group of survivors that have taken to
scavenging in cities for supplies.
As they search, an old man talks about a last stronghold of survivors out there
that can fight back against the machines...everyone blows him off, which means
you KNOW it's gonna be foreshadowing.
As is the luck of the normal folk of Jerra, they're found by more machines and
slaughter commences in fairly short order.
Something about a robot piloting a machine that just feels pretty redundant
right here.
The more I look at it, the armies of Jerra put NO thought into this ultimate
weapon and just sort of pulled a bunch of ideas from a hat.
Just when things look darkest, and almost everyone except for Vaiya and the kid
are now dog food.
Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's...
...oh God, NOT ANOTHER ONE!
Anyways, we find out their savior is Krauser, a strangely blue-skinned man who
is also part of the M.D. line of soldiers. It seems he's running the base of
survivors. They've managed to actually develop a passable living condition
(although they seem to be somewhere between a military force and a cult...the
latter only added to by Krauser's armor bleeding religious symbolism out every
orifice.)
We learn that the main reason they've been able to survive is thanks to a device
that,
effectively, cloaks the presence of humans to the DEATH FORCE.
Krauser without his armor. This Smurfs remake's already off to a bad start.
...what? Somehow, an Avatar joke felt too easy.
Naturally, we quickly learn the reason Krauser was also in the MDS program. He's
a short-tempered, violent nut with a god complex. In short, he's Geist with an
ego in place of his bloodlust.
With the mention of Geist himself, the story begins to get disjointed again.
We're treated to an odd series of moments of people recalling Geist (first Vaiya,
who starts losing it as she remembers him more, and then the base's scientist,
Dr. Breston, who created the old Cap'n Killforfun.)
Working under Krauser's nose, Breston enlists Eagle, an earlier prototype cyborg,
to go outside of the base and bring him Geist. Why he wants the murderous
psychopath never quite seems clear.
Eagle. For a cast aside bastard child of technology, he may be the most
sympathetic being in this story.
...trust me. In this, that says a lot.
Rather than bother with a drawn out hunt, we just cut straight to Geist and
Eagle throwing down. All the while cut with scenes confirming to Krauser that
Geist still lives. As Geist takes Eagle to the cleaners, Krauser finds out about
Breston's plans, whilst flexing his own ego, and the sutures in Breston's skull.
So...amidst all the war and Hell, Eagle apparently finds Geist in one of the
only jungles left on a planet where everything else looks like either The Road
Warrior or Tattooine.
On the one hand, Eagle succeeds. On the other, he's intercepted by Krauser's
men, who trash him and take Geist back to the home base. As is customary when
traveling with Geist, things go bad quickly, and a DEATH FORCE robot slaughters
the guards, only to be stopped by Geist.
Back at base, Breston decides, once again, he's going to defy Krauser's orders
and keep Mr. "I Kill for Fun and I've Already Slaughtered the Planet" alive. |
Why?
Because he finds Geist more interesting than Krauser as far as a weapon.
...why do these guys never learn?
Rather than labor things down with exposition, Ohata just cuts straight to the
inevitable so we can get right back to the violence. Geist somehow escapes and
begins, yet again, killing everything in his path.
While it's hard to hear, if you listen carefully in this scene, you can pick
up a heartfelt monologue from Geist about why he fights as he chews on this
man's trachea.
Said rampage is, by this point, fairly standard. Geist butchers
everything that crosses his path. It's entertaining at first, but let's face it,
after a while, it just lacks the zing.
Realizing we might be getting bored with the one-sided slaughter, Krauser goes
down to face Geist himself. It turns into a battle of Geist's bloodthirst
against Krauser's ego... ...again.
On the plus side, we FINALLY get a break in Vaiya's plotline.
She finally remembers Geist...
...oh does she ever...
she immediately calls for Krauser to kill him.
With his followers cheering him, Krauser beats the piss out of Geist. Despite
his assertions, however, he hasn't killed him (something only confirmed by Vaiya,
who's now declared quite insane.)
Krauser, meanwhile, now conspires with survivors from the army to finally put a
stop to the DEATH FORCE with a plan that's...well...for the military minds of
this universe, it's amost too easy:
lure all the machines into one city and then nuke them.
Seriously? Wouldn't this have been the smarter move for their doomsday
weapons in the first place?
I mean, if you're gonna wipe out all life on the planet, might as well go all in
or not bother.
...of course, because this WOULD be too easy, it's revealed the bomb itself
requires several pieces which need to be set off manually.
Honestly...there's just no sense of efficiency with these people.
Anyways, just to further make this plan more complicated, Eagle decides he's
gonna help our favorite murderous slaughter factory. Seems years of working for
normal people has made him bitter and downright vengeful (...actually, in this
universe, I can't blame him. Hell, he's the one person in this futuristic
abbatoir whose mindset actually feels relatable.)
Kids, take the next bus out of state, Daddy's back and he found the gun
cabinet!
Sure enough, Geist arrives in the middle of the bomb setting, and now he wants a
rematch!
Much like the last film, this is the token 'Everyone else gets savagely
murdered' sequence.
Of course, to make it more interesting, Geist is now using one of the lures to
lead the DEATH FORCE out of the city and towards Krauser's base.
You know how it is...so long as it's breathing, Geist can't let it go.
No sense doing a blow-for-blow on what follows since we all know where it's
heading.
Shit goes down in almost every possible fashion. Vaiya, once again, manages to
survive (you were doing well for a while Eagle, then you went and spared
her...well...I suppose one mistake's fine.)
As everyone gets killed, Geist and Krauser wail on one another. As Krauser
prepares to strike the final blow, his followers all flock to him, as he's
undone by a dramatic twist that's as fittingly ironic as it is hilarious.
...so...either Krauser's aim is that bad, or that kid could REALLY jump, but he
to somehow manage to catch the kid in the chest at THAT height is a Hell of a
shot.
What's sad is...that's prettymuch the ending for this. Krauser's base burns,
Krauser himself is
killed, and we see a few of the stray survivors, including Vaiya and Eagle.
Roll credits.
Inevitable sting image to suggest there's hope for a sequel (even though we know
that's not gonna happen now.)
You know...on rewatching this, I have to say...honestly, this wasn't as amusing
as I initially remember.
Don't get me wrong, it has some great 'so bad, it's funny' moments (see above.)
At the same time though, there's a lot less of that 'fast and loose' feeling
that made the first one feel like such a comedically fun action send-up (even if
it wasn't meant to be.)
To his credit, Ohata HAS gotten visibly better at trying to convey a message
this time around.
...unfortunately, many of his old flaws still dog him after the years between
the two installments. The narration is still disjointed and has many awkward
time skips in its rush to get to the next action sequence. The cast are still
largely just talking heads to die painfully, except this time we're given even
LESS reason to care about most of them.
Now, as said, this time around, Ohata is a bit more on-point with trying to make
a message. Krauser and his whole army of followers are a pretty strong jab at
religion. Unfortunately, thanks to all the other shortcomings of the production,
the message comes across as very hollow.
It's not preachy, I'll give it that, but it feels out of place here. This mostly
comes from the fact that, like the first movie's message, it is all too
regularly forgotten under the
trappings of the next wave of blood and guts.
I said it last time, I'll say it again. On the one hand, I want to commend Ohata
for trying to make some science fiction with a brain. Unfortunately, he's still
a very visually minded director, and as a result, any message he wants to try
and convey here is all but guaranteed to be lost in the sound, the fury, and the
blood
...especially the blood.
DEATH FORCE isn't without its upsides at least.
Thanks to the extra funding provided by US Manga Corps (who, for the record,
have recently gone under, which, sorry to say, eliminates any chance for another
sequel) the animation looks considerably better than the first part.
Most of the time, anyways (there's still a few sequences, such as Krauser's
questioning Vaiya about where she's seen the MDS dogtags before, where the
animators cut some corners, resulting in the whole scene being done in sort of
time lapse still frames and voice over.)
Also, in this case, I'd say watch either language. The dub is still pretty bad,
but without the already over the top nature the first one had, the generally bad
performances don't seem to add quite as much to the effect. So really, this
one's up to your own judgement.
Really, if you enjoyed the carnage from the first movie...and, let's face it, if
you bought this, you probably got the second part anyways since they're on the
same disc. It's worth watching this.
It's nowhere near as entertaining and its message while more clear spoken feels
less like it belongs, but it still has some nice bits of sick humor peppered
throughout (all unintentionally), and at only around 45 minutes, you could do a
lot worse things to yourself.
Well, that concludes this week's edition of the third row.
You guys tread carefully on the way out while I mop up the blood.
See you again next week when we run with a relatively less violent title (I
know, I know...where's the fun in that?
Humor me here.)
M.D. Geist will be back in Thunderball... ...OK, probably not.
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