I originally had zero interest in seeing this. However after seeing a trailer on a plasma hdtv my interest was definately piqued. Why? Because VISUALLY what I saw was like mainlining 30 seconds of high grade MMDA. I mean, I can't explain how uninterested I am in seeing a movie about the TV show Speed Racer. I'd just be as equally uninterested in seeing a movie version of "Trapper John, M.D." BUT visually it seems like it might be STUNNING. So for the extreme high intensity visual blast I just might go for it. Even IMAX. The W Bros are cinematic pioneers there's no doubt about that. Any thoughts?
From what I understand, they're trying a radical camera technique that involves keeping most or all of the fields of view in each shot in focus, which is normally not practical with a film camera. They're trying to emulate the crisp everything-in-focus appearance that cartoons have (though keeping some shots with blurry backgrounds, since some cartoons are drawn that way intentionally).
The acting, on the other hand, looks corny as all hell, but I guess they're trying to base that off the original cartoon, too >_>
This movie looks like instant headache.
Just saw this today with a group of friends, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. No headaches, but we were unable to focus on one particular object for a good hour or so afterwards because of the crazy super-in-focus filming technique they used.
I was quite impressed with how much Wachowski-ness worked its way in. There was a chase / fight sequence a little ways in that ended up being a brief combination of the lobby shootout plus the freeway chase. It also had lots of hokey great kung-fu sequences, some of which almost seemed to show signs of bullet time. They also really pushed the boundaries of the PG rating with the violence and language, even going so far as to bleep out a "Holy ****!" line.
As far as the race sequences, they were hundreds of times crazier than I first expected when I heard the Wachowskis were doing a racing movie.
Being able to get away with letting it look computer generated helped a lot, as they were able to go all-out on the animé visual style. I have to wonder if they spent most of their preproduction time playing F-Zero GX and Mario Kart, especially considering some of the ridiculous weapons and upgrades the cars use against each other for the cross-country race.
All in all, don't take it too seriously and you'll enjoy it a lot.
