Corybantic

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2002)

Spoilers herein.
Emphasis on the Furious.
My ideal movie will take me to unknown places, ideally through new visual experiences. This film tries twice to do so. On one of these accounts, it fails, but the other really impressed me. And I'm a hard case.
The failure was that the filmmaker thought he discovered a new counterculture worth exploring. As with all such, it is illegal, costly, dangerous, urban and youth-centered. But this is rooted in asian-influenced techno and has an appearance that is unique. The writers (were there any?) weren't good enough to capture any of this beyond showing us the cars. A failure.
The success was in extending the visual grammar. Nothing revolutionary or original here. But the visual effect does push the experience to a new level. I believe it does so by relying on Manga, which is the art of this same counterculture. I'm pretty shocked that no one here has compared the essential style to `Akira.'