Steamboy

October 16, 2004 | 0 Comments

I almost forget to blog this but two days ago, a friend invited me to a theatrical screening of Katsuhiro Otomo's latest feature film, Steamboy. Well, the film was an amazing visual feast. The setting is a fictional London circa 1866 and everything, except for some of the machineries, seems to be rendered faithfully based on that era. Storyline-wise, however, I don't think this is that extraordinary. It's definitely worth viewing in a large theatre at least once but I do wonder about its re-playability factor. Anyway, before I continue, please be aware that I may include one or two spoiler inside. I promise that it won't be something big and it's definitely not going to be plot by plot description. But please click that link with this in mind.

The film tells the story of Ray Steam, a young boy who one day finds out that his father died due to a fail experiment in steam laboratory. Before he has the chance to mourn, however, he receives a package from his grandfather telling him that he has to deliver a weird looking ball to a scientist called Robert Stephenson and to keep it away from an organisation called "O'Harra". Unfortunately, through a series of incidents, Ray ends up being captured by that said organisation. While in the captivity, Ray gets to meet the future successor of O'Harra organisation, a young snotty girl called Scarlett. I hope I'm not the only one who gets the Gone with the Wind reference here because the comparison between the two similarly named characters couldn't be more appropriate.

Anyway, Ray eventually finds out that there are more to his father's death than meet the eyes. Because of this, he gets entangled in the machinations that the people around him created. At this point, the film turns from a normal action-adventure with a minor detective angle into a full-blown major battle not too disimilar to the climax in Akira. When this happened, I realised that while most films are a piece of fictional work, this film is definitely set in a fictional 1866 London as well. Because there's no way that some of the things that you get to see in this film actually ever existed back then. Oh, it was entertaining but you also have to immediately adjust your expectation because at this point the film has become a complete fantasy.

Impression:

If you ask me, the most impressive part about the film is actually its anti-war message. Normally films with certain kind of message lost me because they tend to get preachy but Steamboy somehow manages to sidestep that trap. Through its storyline and animation, the film succeeded in demonstrating that science must help mankind to lead a better life instead of becoming the tool of mankind's own foolishness. Another aspect of the film that impressed me is the 'who to trust' part of the storyline. In the early part of the film, Ray, who is clearly the audiences' avatar in the film, is not sure which person he should trust the most. And appropriately, I find myself wondering if I should side with one person or the other.

Unfortunately I think the mixture of the comedy and the serious part of the film is a bit flawed here. While the comedy is entertaining, I often question if they should appear when the film is trying to put forth its anti-war message. While this method seems to lessen the preachiness of the message, it also lessens the importance of that said message. Most of the consequences in this film, for example, are not serious and therefore makes the anti-war message seems a bit muted. For example, after the protagonist, Ray, lost many things that are important to him, I didn't get the sense that he really feel that he lost something. There is lack of reactions and emotions on his part and that is something that is quite unbelieveable for a boy of his age.

I also have the impression that there are some missing story which aren't told in this film, such as what happens to Ray after the events. The still images that appear together with the end credits seem to suggest this. My guess is they're saving it for the sequel (I've read that works are already underway for the second film but I'm not sure if this is true or not). Anyway, this is definitely a film that everyone should see at least once in the cinema. If anti-war message is not your thing, well, there's always the animation which quality-wise, is quite stunning. This is especially true of the 2D rendering of 1866 London, which looks pseudo-realistic at times. The character design takes quite a while to get used to but eventually I ended up liking them as well.

© memento 2003