Harlock: Space Pirate

Fans of the late 1970s Japanimation series Star Blazers will welcome Harlock: Space Pirate, an animated action feature rebooting yet another Japanese series of the same era, Space Pirate Harlock (see what they did there?).

In less than two hours of viewing, the audience receives thrilling depictions of steampunk-imagined spacecraft, visually arresting animated characters, and plenty of the action, turnabouts, and potboiling that anime is reputed to consistently supply.

This Harlock is rendered in 3D CG motion capture animation, leaving it occasionally astounding visually, occasionally off-putting in the way The Polar Express left us feeling, and occasionally looking like a coming attraction for PlayStation 5.

The backstory is interesting, but not much running time is given to fleshing it out.

After a brief expository sequence to open, followed by an election scene that puts the young leading man, Yama, onto the (badass) ship of the dread "space" "pirate" "Harlock," we're off and running into action sequences and (non) relationships as simple as a Chow Yun Fat crime film (the ones where Chow carries not one but two guns).

And it all works, because everything looks cool. Well, maybe not the bird resting on the pirate captain's shoulder, which to my tastes looks a little too Seussy to be acquainted with pirates.

The dialogue, more or less pedestrian, is the film's weak point. Perhaps after spending a reported $30 million on the 3D CG animation, the studio decided there weren't any doubloons left for rewrites or line polishing.

I do not know much (nothing) about the universe, it was a first. Those with more knowledge might disagree with me, might find plot-holes or flaws in the events, for me as a stand-alone movie:

I find it strange ( due to the difference in culture maybe ) but rather enjoyable. The animation is great and detailed, the story is solid (again, strange for my acquired European taste, the values there are a little different than here), voice acting is rather good as well.

There is intensity, enough action for two movies, a plot-twist or two, some tears here and there, pretty much everything one could ask for. I for one liked it, enough to re-watch it in the future.

I really like Japanese anime and I have come to expect good animation and deeply interesting stories, mixed with some Asian quirks. Harlock has almost none of that. The animation is 3D and even if pretty well done, in the end it is kind of repetitive and lazy. The story is a complete mess, combining classic pirate ideas with space opera kind of battles, only in - again - such a lazy way that it totally annoyed me.

Let me give you a taste: there is a space ship that is kind of indestructible and has an immortal captain. It battles the horrible manipulators of the human race which hold the Earth hostage as a possible reward for the faithful, who would be allowed to return. And they have a zillion ships and planet buster weapons, but this pirate captain faces them head on and wins, because... he has an indestructible ship. Every character in there is a bumbling idiot, switching allegiances and going 180 on every decision they made, until you don't get anymore what the movie is about and what the characters are fighting for.

Bottom line: a waste of time with nothing to teach except... flowers are pretty, I guess.

I see a number of negative reviews from people who 'claim' to have watched the original series and the various movies related to Captain Harlock. I find this difficult to believe, since if they had actually seen the existing material and also watched the interviews with Leiji Matsumoto, they wouldn't have much to complain about. Harlock is about an 'attitude' and an ideal. Leiji Matsumoto isn't concerned about over-all plot consistency. Instead, he's trying to get certain archetypal characters across in an effort to express an idea (to be defended by the character Harlock at all costs). The crew is free to do as they wish and are free to question Harlock's orders (this is directly taken from an interview). So there shouldn't be any real surprise at any of this. As for other elements, the plan of the ship that's shown in the film is consistent with the series and earlier films. The computer is presented in a similar manner. To me, the characters were consistent. Visuals were great, animation was typical of contemporary films, and things felt surprisingly familiar, despite being CGI instead of cell animation.

Yes, the story is difficult to follow in some areas. I don't see this as a big issue, since the general 'point' and attitude comes across just fine. I think some viewers are making a big deal out of minor things. Personally, I really enjoyed this film. If there was to be a change, it would be to break it out into two films. With the current running time, there were a number of things that had to be covered a bit too quickly. As far as explanations of Harlock's history, this is the one that I find most believable and the one that I prefer (they vary from story to story in the Leijiverse and that's something viewers of Harlock series and films just need to accept).

This is one of the few movies that I will repeat-watch, purely for enjoyment. I've seen a lot and I can say that about maybe 5% of the films I've seen so far.

Loved the ship and the battles but the story and the dialogues were cringe worthy.

Also Harlock here is a twisted individual not the awesome hero it is in the anime.

:/