I Am a Hero

Struggling manga artist Hideo Suzuki (Yô Ôizumi) finds himself fighting for survival during a zombie outbreak.

For those who felt that Korean zombie flick Train to Busan was just a little too tame when it came to the blood and guts, here is another recent Asian zombie film (this one hailing from Japan) that should more than satisfy any viewer's blood-lust. The middle third might be a tad dry, as protagonist Hideo and schoolgirl Hiromi (Kasumi Arimura) attempt to integrate with a group of survivors at a shopping outlet, but the rest of the film is gloriously gory, the finale in particular featuring more exploding heads than I could keep track of, the titular hero more than proving his worth with a shotgun. However, it's not just the gore that makes this one so much fun…

The basic structure of I Am A Hero is much like any other regular zombie film: first there is the chaotic outbreak, then there is the desperate struggle for survival, and finally the all-out onslaught of the undead as barriers fall and the zombies wreak havoc. But the familiarity of the basic set-up matters not: director Shinsuke Sato keeps things moving along at a cracking pace, the cast is perfect, and the editing stylish without being too showy. The zombies are also very memorable, looking suitable yucky with their cloudy eyes and nasty complexion, and repeatedly speaking phrases that they would have said before death. CGI is used for much of the carnage, but it's good CGI, which makes all the difference.

Like Train to Busan, the film is perhaps a little longer than necessary, but even at just over two hours, I highly recommend I Am A Hero to fans of the genre. This is one of the good ones! 8.5 out of 10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb.

If you are a big zombie film fan, this should be your next flick to check it out. This is a Japanese live-action film adapted from the manga series of the same name. I am not saying it was the best zombie film ever, or the decade or even the year, but surely a better film compared to the recent ones. First of all the story is same as most of the same themed films, that the zombie outbreak brings chaos everywhere, and followed by the survival game. The difference in here was the characters and some of the great scenes that lifted the film up.

Hideo, also pronounced as Hero is a 'best newcomer' manga artist award winner a few years back. Now in his 30s looking for a breakthrough in his career. But after receiving a backlash when his book was denied to publish and followed by break up with his girlfriend, he begins to witness a series of strange events around him. While the entire city turned into madness, he and a random school girl join the hands to escape from the horror. So their journey begins to nowhere, but be safe. Later a couple of twists come into play and brings an end to the narration.

The script was not praiseworthy, but the filmmaking was, including the performances. The actors had given their best shots. The scenes involving the conflict between humans and zombies were carved so awesomely. Being a film fanatic, I'm used to this kind of themes, so none of these flicks can scare me. Not just the sci-fi horror films, but also the supernatural horrors. That's a drawback. But if I was a normal guy or a little kid, this film would have been in a different league. Still, I enjoyed it. Because overall film offered me a great entertainment.

"What you seek isn't dream anymore! It's delusion. Only a small, special group of people can achieve success."

I don't understand the Japanese, except a few simple words, but from my observation, they never mentioned the word 'zombie'. They called it by the virus that caused it, ZQN. I don't know what those alphabets stand for, but all I got was the word 'Zokyun'. The equivalent English word is 'bang', like a sudden sharp thud sound. Anyway, coming to the film, the characters are unpredictable. You can't trust anyone of them, except our lead guy. Not just because of the infection, but their intentions, more like it is about survival of the fittest. I mean like usual, the man's weakness, power hungry.

After Hideo, the school girl Hiromi is the next in the lead, but there's nothing much to expect from her. They kept that role very mysterious, that I was looking for an explanation which never came. That was really disappointing, but it also mean a hint of a possible sequel. I hope they make one, after all this film was received so well. The details in the film were very impressive, even the small ones. Not just they focused the human characters, they have given strength to zombies to strike the survived human ruthlessly, but uniquely like an athlete. So basically, no traditional zombie theory was followed. They bent the rules to make it a unique product, as well as to entertain the viewers, mostly funnily.

Shot in the fine places, especially in the second half. This film redefined the zombie film from those days before the evolution of superheroes and space-age flicks. It was a perfect mix of comedy, action and thriller. But I laughed surely better than those recent full length comedy flicks that had best comedians. This is not a remake material, so I'm not expecting the west to do that. Like I always say, whatever world film I watch, I'm happy to end up in a Japanese or a French film. It was a bit long, worth it though. I am not overwhelmed and blindly recommending it, but this film was really good, particularly if you like black comedy, sort of.

7/10

First, let me say this first - I read the manga this movie was based upon.

This movie depicted the manga beautifully. The zombies were scary,as they should. You could feel how dangerous they are, which is very important in zombie films & shows. If you can't feel danger from the zombies in the film, that film probably has bad characters.

The cgi was beautiful. It looked real and not heavily cgi'd. The ending was awesome.

Watch it. You won't regret it.

"I am a Hero" was a movie that just came out of nowhere and would have slipped past me unnoticed, if I hadn't happened to come across it by some sheer cosmic luck. And what is more impressive is that the fact that this is a zombie movie, and still it almost managed to elude me, especially since I am huge fan of everything zombiesque.

This 2015 movie actually turns out to be one of the more entertaining and solid of Japanese zombie movies. Japan has a tendency of combining the zombie genre with too much comedy, which often makes for a somewhat questionable result. Or they tend to have very poor special effects, which usually makes it painful to watch on the screen. "I am a Hero", however, didn't fall into these traps, and that was a refreshing change of pace.

The movie starts out in an adequate pace, but it quickly escalates into a much more fast paced movie and storyline, which did suit the movie quite well.

As a zombie movie, it is quite important that the special effects are good and believable, and luckily "I am a Hero" had just that. The movie combines the traditional shambling decaying walking animated corpses with something new. But it was a nice approach and a nice angle to the genre, and as such it was a refreshing change of pace for the zombie genre. Lots of great special effects and zombie make-up.

There is a good amount of action throughout the course of the movie, spiced up with some drama and just a pinch of comedy, which made for a rather enjoyable cocktail.

A zombie movie must have blood and guts. There is also a good amount of blood and gore in "I am a Hero", which is definitely a crucial thing for a zombie movie to have.

"I am Hero" also have some really intense scenes where the audience get their adrenaline pumping. Such scenes are, for example, the scene with the zombie in the taxi, and also the scene exiting the mall.

All in all, then "I am a Hero" is a rather entertaining and enjoyable movie. It is a fast paced story that mixed elements from different genres quite well. And "I am a Hero" puts Japan solidly on the world map of zombie movies. And if you enjoy zombie movies, then you should definitely take the time to check out "I am a Hero", and if you enjoy Asian cinema, well then you get a double up on goodies here.

I saw this movie at the Stockholm International Filmfest. today and I really enjoyed it.

If I had to sum it up in a brief sentence i'd say it's as if the guy who wrote the "The Walking Dead" comic had written a Shaun of the Dead comic, and they made a movie out of that (I haven't read the manga this film is based on, but I assume that's more or less what it is).

It looks pretty expensive and has good effects and action, it's very well directed and acted, making the aesthetic of the film really paint its own manga-inspired universe.

The parts I didn't like is whenever it attempts to do somewhat serious drama, when it does it just seems entirely tone-deaf and alien. I'd give this movie a 3/5 and if they skipped the 20% of attempted drama and replace it with more over-the-top zombie comedy/action it'd be a 4/5.

I'd recommend this movie to most people and for zombie/nerd culture fans it's a must-see and likely a cult classic.