I am no movie critic but it was decent to good...Certainly it is a movie that can be named.. Unlike certain movies discussing the start of the war
It focused much more on Yamamoto the man rather than on the war..Much of it was the political infighting (him and Admiral Inoue against the Tripartate agreement) and also the threats of assassination against him.
It moved somewhat slowly as the emphasis was on conversation. Lots of talk of practice with nice shots of zeroes practicing dogfights.
Clearly they did not have a huge budget as action scenes while competent were generally rather brief.. I think PH was done in 3 minutes. (actually they did a nice scene where one of the pilots Yamamoto talks to gets jumped by a P-40..You see the P-40 fire...But then the scene jumps away..Only later is it clear that pilot never returns.
Midway battle has one complaint....The US attack seems to start with the dive bombers attacking (rather than the sacrificial slaughter of Midway planes and TBDs). Admiral Yamaguchi (what a wasted death) is played by a rather famous (as well as very tall) actor.
Should mention the P-38s in the last scene looked nice.
I should admirable constraint...When the first US bombs hit the Japanese carriers I did not stand up and cheer Nothing overwhelming..Just a decent to solid look at Yamamoto..If you are really into battle scenes though you will be disappointed by the lack of volume. If you know his story well, no new info really comes out other than he seems like a swell guy who laughs a lot and locks scotch on occassion.
_____________________________
To quote from Evans/Peattie`s {Kaigun} "Mistakes in operations and tactics can be corrected, but political and strategic mistakes live forever". The authors were refering to Japan but the same could be said of the US misadventure in Iraq
Posts: 644
Joined: 2/19/2004 From: Tokyo Status: offline
What part they neglected to mention was his long term affair with a Geisha.... If they are going to skimp on battle scenes.....at least entertain us with some T&A!
It would, of course be historically correct
_____________________________
To quote from Evans/Peattie`s {Kaigun} "Mistakes in operations and tactics can be corrected, but political and strategic mistakes live forever". The authors were refering to Japan but the same could be said of the US misadventure in Iraq
I had started a thread on this earlier (its currently on page 2).. here is what I said of it (By the way LoBaron it was released Dec.23rd..)
Hi guys... most of you dont know me. I was a one time player of WITP whose life just doesnt let him play anymore because I cant be around to do turns consistantly enough.
Anyway.. Im an American but I live in Japan.. 16 years now.
I see some had mentioned the movie on Isoroku Yamamoto that was released here on Dec.23rd and thought I would chime in on it.
The CG is pretty good..not seamless, but good to maintain your suspension of disbelief. The scene covering the attack on Pearl Harbor is brief considering its significance, but looks better for my money than anything Ive seen before.
Fans of this game will like the battle scenes, and like me lament they are too brief (and that is saying a lot because Im not an action movie junkie by any means).
Some things disappointed me. Modern Japanese just cant keep an enormous amount of contrived sappiness out of their movies. The death scene of Yamamoto is over wrought, unrealistic and rather cheapens the movie. There are some easy lapses into stereotypes. Some things that never happened are put in.. rather large events.
And some scenes that seem meant for the big screen ..never happen. Yamamoto threatening to resign his position if the Pearl Harbor raid isnt approved is an important character note, a dramatic moment.. a real life dramatic moment that a capable director would love to set.. Inexplicably, this never happens in the movie.
I dont know if the movie will get released on some level outside of the country.. but it is a must see for fans of the game just for the historical accuracy and small hints of how things are on the Japanese home front. It is MILES AND MILES above the awful "Otokotachi no Yamato" movie from 5 years or so back.. (Men's Yamato...dont know what it got called in English..the movie about the battleship Yamato). That movie made me want to punch someone. I enjoy living in Japan for the most part..but the acting and script writing..and directing in movies since the 1980s is just..bad.
Posts: 3335
Joined: 6/3/2006 From: Covington LA via Montreal! Status: offline
Jeff a good write up, thanks... I'll be watching for its release here. Do you know if there are plans on dubbing it, or will it remain in Japanese with subtitles? As for the T and A.... I should think that would be in the sequel..... "Yamamoto Does Yokohama".....
Posts: 926
Joined: 4/12/2005 From: 519 Redwood City - BASE (Hex 218, 70) Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: kaleun
quote:
If they are going to skimp on battle scenes.....at least entertain us with some T&A!
It would, of course be historically correct
Maybe in the Hollywood remake?
God forbid.
Knowing Holloweed, it would make it just about the relationship with the geisha, then show Yamamoto himself at the controls of a torpedo bomber bearing down on a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier in the harbor.
Posts: 644
Joined: 2/19/2004 From: Tokyo Status: offline
quote:
Some things disappointed me. Modern Japanese just cant keep an enormous amount of contrived sappiness out of their movies. The death scene of Yamamoto is over wrought, unrealistic and rather cheapens the movie. There are some easy lapses into stereotypes. Some things that never happened are put in.. rather large events.
And some scenes that seem meant for the big screen ..never happen. Yamamoto threatening to resign his position if the Pearl Harbor raid isnt approved is an important character note, a dramatic moment.. a real life dramatic moment that a capable director would love to set.. Inexplicably, this never happens in the movie.
I dont know if the movie will get released on some level outside of the country.. but it is a must see for fans of the game just for the historical accuracy and small hints of how things are on the Japanese home front. It is MILES AND MILES above the awful "Otokotachi no Yamato" movie from 5 years or so back.. (Men's Yamato...dont know what it got called in English..the movie about the battleship Yamato). That movie made me want to punch someone. I enjoy living in Japan for the most part..but the acting and script writing..and directing in movies since the 1980s is just..bad.
I agree with virtually all of this... The death scene was the one battle scene that was too long (not so much the air battle but the camera lingering all over him and the hit Betty for 2-3 minutes....).
And Japanese overdue the sappy crap...Sad to say...But they love maudlin...Painfully so.
And agreed on the PH threat to quit...It would have fit very naturally into the rest of the movie. And it was a good window into the Japanese psyche.
The PH battle scenes were very cool..Very brief.... The brief battle scenes work well in some cases...There was one where a squadron leader was bounced by a US fighter in a zoom and boom attack....The zoom and boom part was like 3 seconds long...That said..I am sure much air combat was of this kind of ambush and the guy is dead before he knows what hit him....
_____________________________
To quote from Evans/Peattie`s {Kaigun} "Mistakes in operations and tactics can be corrected, but political and strategic mistakes live forever". The authors were refering to Japan but the same could be said of the US misadventure in Iraq