Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable (2017)

"What did you say about my hair?"

In terms of live actions, you could do worse than Miike Takashi's 2017 remake of this popular manga/anime season. The special effects are quite decent, the costumes don't look too low-budget, the storyline is, for the most part, faithful to its source material, and it may be worth watching just for the ensemble cast alone. But despite some interesting alterations by Miike- the decision to film in an old Spanish town, of all places, and the portrayal of Stands as cybernetic ghosts- this film is just dull. Unless a director is shooting for a 'so bad it's good' type of comedy, it seems difficult to make a genuinely good live-action out of a source material that isn't grounded in reality- JJBA being a key example. Miike didn't capture the playful and dare I say 'bizarre' nature of the source material, opting instead for a hardboiled action movie with fantasy elements. As a result, the costumes and dialogues are, for want of a better word, cringe despite the best efforts of the notable cast. Theres simply no way that the lanky Yamazaki could have portrayed an ultra-buff 16 year old half-Japanese teen, and despite his short stature the 20-something Kamiki was about 20 centimetres too tall and 8 years too old to play Koichi. The film also drags and stagnates during key moments, which just seems counterintuitive to the energetic, fast-paced source material. With the film's lack of financial success, there won't be a second part. Which is a shame because I would've liked to see Yoshikage Kira and Shigechi in LA form.

Read More

First off, I haven't seen the Anime so I don't know how disappointing or not disappointing they will find this adaptation, how faithful it was to the characters and story. But I enjoyed the hell out of it. I have always had a thing for multiple superhero kind of films. I was expecting more substantial role for Kamiki though because he is a fantastic actor, a scene stealer wherever he is and the reason I checked it out. However he was underused here. The special effects were decent. And its not bloodbath unlike other Miike films, just crazy insane, unpredictable fun.

Read More