SKY HIGH (2003)
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Yumiko Shaku, Takao Osawa
Genre: Action/Thriller
Running Time: 123mins

Rating:

A serial killer is removing the hearts of its victims, a detective's mind is consumed by his investigations even on his wedding day. And then the moment comes, the doors open and Mina (Yumiko Shaku) walks down the aisle, she stumbles, and the nightmare begins. Blood drips from her white gown, her heart has been removed, the latest victim of his investigation is his own wife to be. Tormented by the case he seeks the man responsible with one aim - revenge. Meanwhile, at the Gates of Rage Mina finds herself being given three options - to be reborn and enter paradise, to return to earth as a ghost, or to curse the person responsible for her demise. However, with this choice comes eternity in hell as the consequence.

What begins as an interesting concept in Kitamura's latest visceral offering unfortunately degrades to an emotionless and ultimately ludicrous shambles of a film. Showing only brief glimmers of something special, who would have thought that the man who single-handedly revived the Japanese action genre could produce something so uninteresting and bland.

Sky High begins promisingly enough with Kitamura wratcheting the tension and mystery with expert pacing creating a truly memorable and haunting scenario as Mina staggers step by step down the aisle to an aghast audience frozen at the sight of her blood stained wedding dress. It's an iconic image that leaps off the page, rendered beautifully on film (though I do suspect this is another production shot on HD). It was at this point in the film that I began to wonder how Kitamura would manage the change in pace. After all, Sky High has been advertised as an action revenge film - it is what Kitamura is best known for - but so far nothing I had seen could resemble a film of that kind. Until now, it had played out as a slow burning serial killer investigation piece opening up many avenues and paths for the script to take all of which proving to be tantalising prospects.

However, from all the paths available (from the emotionally tortured detective as victim to his own investigation, to the philosophical musings of self-sacrifice to save the ones you love) the one chosen was that of fantasy with the main gist being that sword-wielding chicks look cool, paranormal activity looks cool, and visceral treats will cover over any cracks. The problem is that Sky High has a storyline that expects you to take it seriously however, this inclusion of comedy, action, the supernatural, and finally the worst demon image I've ever seen reduce it all to a mish-mash of uninspired unemotional melodrama.

Promising characters dissolve into caricatures (Mina surprisingly has very little to do, and her transformation from victim to Guardian is poorly constructed) meanwhile, the plot lumbers on from one ludicrous step to the next aided purely by the kind of explanatory dialogue that even Ed Wood would grimace at. And so, with all emotional connections devoid we come to the solitary purpose we are left with as a viewer - to sit back and just consume the carnage.

However, the action too is surprisingly poor with the kind of choreography you'd least expect to come from Kitamura - there is none of his customary inventiveness here (no cool weapons, no funky camerawork, no real display of technique) all there is, is a lot of sword swinging, posing and the only real memorable moment being a bit of light reflected off the sword.

The truth is - you'd be far better off re-watching any one of his past works. Sky High looks and feels like director for hire work, there's no personal investment to the project and it shows. It's a shell of a film, and considering Kitamura's perfectly entertaining yet superficial past offerings Sky High makes for a very vacuous experience indeed.

Unsure of its raison d'etre Sky High ceases to be as emotionally involving nor as entertaining as it wants to be. With no clear tone throughout, Kitamura's film clumsily crosses genres as plot and tone continuously wander down wrong path after wrong path. With far too many characters and some lazy narrative devices (that explanatory dialogue once more) what could have been a thrilling examination of human frailty and the territorial battle between the Gods of fate and man's scientific advancements descends into the most unexpected bore fest of the year.

It could even have worked as a roller-coaster ride of a revenge flick in which action is the main course with just a flittering of philosophical musings. However, the two are joined but never balanced, butting heads constantly as they fail to gel. There is a lot of "could have been" with Sky High but a lack of discipline and an eagerness to cram as much into the film as possible ultimately forces it to crumble.