Andromedia

Wow. This movie is a serious stinker. Bad special effects, terrible plot points seemingly ripped straight out of the Matrix and Tron, and meanderings into N*Sync dance routines really hamstring this movie from the get-go. I didn't exactly hate it, but it was one of the last domestically available Miike flicks that I hadn't seen and now I know how this one filtered down to the bottom of the list. Sure, there are a handful of scenes that could be called Miike-ian: (the assassin guy turning and looking pensively down the illuminated hallway, the bats flying in the city street, the blossoms falling beneath the beach sakura tree . . .). But for the most part, the film is just a cheesy vehicle for Speed to try and prove that they can act. No dice, ladies.

More than any other Miike movie, suspended disbelief is an absolute prerequisite for watching this Sci-Fi soap opera / J-Pop video. Cuteness, chrome, and special FX ooze from the screen on every stage of the bubble-gum tale of "love conquers all" with the over-the-top melodramatic absurdity of a sakura tree blossoming in the middle of a beach. In the words of one of the characters in his ultimate Jesus/Oedipus moment of surrender to his own fate: "This is ironic. At the very last moment I finally learn of that man's true motives." Ironically Miike's viewers can't say the same, which most likely, is his true motive.

Recommended only to fans of both Miike AND J-Pop.

Who would have thought that the man behind such over-the-top gorefest movies like "Gozu", "Audition", "Ichi The Killer" and "Dead or Alive" would be capable of doing a mainstream, teen romance drama like "Andromedia". "Andromedia" certainly showcases a more different side of the director. While "Andromedia" is not Miike's best work, it sure is his most conventional by far. The Okinawan J-Pop Idol Group "Speed" (Hiroko, Eriko, Takako and Hitoe) put in some good performances and demonstrate that they are far better actresses than singers. The SFX are impressive, especially the Computer Animation and CGI work. While the story is basically your standard `Ghost' variant (in this case in reverse with the girl coming back as a Computer Hologram/CGI Character), it still succeeds in touching all the right emotional buttons. The movie is marred however by the shameless cameos of boy band "Da-Pump" (Shinobu, Issa, Ken and Yukinari) and frequent HK Film foreign actor Christopher Doyle who put in incredibly bad performances. The movie is reminiscent of the 80's Kadokawa movies featuring then idols such as Yakushimaru Hiroko and Harada Tomoyo. This was definitely a nice and pleasant surprise.

funny how people call this a Matrix rip-off.. Japanese culture played with the idea some years before Matrix was even CREATED. (Ghost in the shell, 1995, Andromedia, 1998. Matrix: 1999) American culture did as well someone mentioned Tron ? Around 1980s I think? .. The idea has been going around for some time there. is no rip-off. I think it was a good, well thought movie. Specially for their times the cyberpunk/thriller, romance combination worked great. True some of the actresses could be a bit better, but SPEED is a Japanese pop group not actresses. I think they did a good job and this is a must see for all oriental cinema fanatics.

Even if, in the future, he becomes the world's most beloved director and everyone everywhere seeks out all his films, Andromedia will be forgotten. There's really no such thing as "typical Miike", but this film is somehow definitely atypical Miike. It's a teeny cyber-thriller that stars not one, but two Japanese teen pop groups, Speed and Da Pump, both of which get a song. Da Pump, the boy band, even gets their own music video in the middle of the movie for no good reason. So, yeah, it's kind of corny, but it's corny in a fun way. And it's just fun to see Miike do this kind of pap. The film's villains – whose motives we never really understand – are goofy and entertaining, especially Christopher Doyle, best know as the cinematographer of Zhang Yimou's Hero, who plays a shorts-wearing evil corporate guy from Detroit. He looks like he was downloaded from the mid-80s. Doyle even gets to dance during Da Pump's big musical number. So Andromedia's not half bad if you can take a bit of goofiness.