Jin Roh: the Wolf Brigade

Movie

CARL's TAKE: <<<Two stars>>>

Summary - the hero is a member of a super-soldier paramilitary police squad in an alternate future where Nazis won the war. His life takes a turn when he comes face to face with a Little Red Riding Hood, a suicide bomber for the resistance movement. He tries to talk her down but she gets spooked and blows up in his face, sending him on a quest to learn more about her that ultimately has him falling in love with her sister, who is also a Riding Hood. But things aren't as they seem: somebody is trying to set the hero up for disloyalty charges in order to find out more about some phantom 'Wolf Brigade' that he's connected to. Not to mention the fact that he can't be sure where the girl's loyalties lie.

Impression - poetic but seemingly lacking in direction or purpose until very late in the movie.

Review - Jin Roh is an artsy, thoughtful movie that moves along at a lazy pace. Coupled with the fact that both its main characters are really depressed and apathetic, and it becomes pretty easy to lose interest before the real interesting stuff starts to happen. It's somewhat of a politcal thriller packaged as a love story between opposites. I felt there was a lot left to be desired with this movie. A little bit of development or a bit more movement in the plot would have gone a long way to making this title shine.

VERDICT: No rush on this one. You might be able to catch it playing at a theatre near you, though. (We had to go a little out of the way, though. Ben, Mike and I had to trek 50 miles to the Twin Cities to catch the anime marathon where it was playing.)

MIKE'S TAKE: <<< >>>

BEN'S TAKE: <<< >>>