Black Jack: The Movie

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Osamu Dezaki
Production
Shochiku Films, Tezuka Production
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Year
1996

Black Jack: The Movie

By Adam Cook
27th Apr 04

Black Jack: The Movie is based on the manga created by Tezuka Osamu and centres on our protagonist, Black Jack. He is an incredibly skilled surgeon that has no license and only performs operations for large amounts of money.

The movies story line revolves around the emergence of super humans that have been setting new records in sports, or have become world renowned artists or musicians overnight. Unfortunately the cost of being a 'super human' is very dear and most do not live longer than two years in their super human state. Black Jack is hired to find a cure for the virus that is killing these super humans prematurely, whilst also uncovering the secrets behind their emergence.

Before I begin my critique of Black Jack: The Movie I would just like to say I have never read the manga the film is based upon and my enjoyment of the film may have increased if I had, but the movie is structured in such a way that the story makes perfect sense, so can be watched without prior knowledge of the characters history.

The story of the super humans and their meteoric rise and fall is quite an interesting concept, and whilst the idea of enhancing abilities coming at a cost is nothing new (just look at most superhero stories) the film does explore it from a different angle. Whilst I doubt the medical references and operations in the film are accurate, they are believable for the most part. They are not excessively bloody or gory, which was an unusual thing to see considering these types on anime normally like increasing the blood levels up a notch or two above reality. That's not to say there isn't blood, as there is, in some scenes quite a lot, but the gore is not the driving force in the story and it is not used gratuitously. Whilst the ideas of super humans are quite interesting, the use of a large (and no doubt evil) corporation behind their existence is not. In fact it is one of the most obvious cliche's in the book. Sadly after the discovery of the corporation the film degenerates into a very obvious story in which none of the 'plot-twists' come as a surprise. It's a shame because Black Jack is quite an intriguing character, but the story is trite, predictable and tiring.
The film towards the end also enjoys ramming the message of ethics and responsibility down the audiences already yawning mouth in such a heavy-handed manner that it is like watching a third rate Hollywood blockbuster.
The characters too on the whole range from the 'text-book villain' to the damn right annoying. Black Jack lives with a young girl by the name of Pinoko, and without sounding over dramatic she is as irritating as a cross between Jar Jar Binks and Macaulay Culkin in his role in Home Alone. I don't believe I have ever wished the death of a character so much in any film I have seen before. The strange thing is that she sits at odds with the rest of the characters and would be better suited to being in a children's drama. The main villain in Black Jack whilst not as annoying is just as uninteresting. The writers Dezaki Osamu and Eto Mori do try and make her a more rounded and deeper character, but sadly they do it in such a predictable way that actually made me wish she was just pure evil. The character of Black Jack though is rather interesting. He is portrayed as a very private man, and the movie does achieve its goal of wanting the audience to know more about this character, it's just a shame the supporting cast and predictable story shatter any chance of me wanting to pick up the manga after it.
The script on the whole is dire; the speeches most of the characters make are so loaded with cheese it was like watching Pearl Harbour all over again. In fact this film must have one of the longest death sequences in movie history just so the writers can fit in another overly long and sentimental speech full of important life lessons (ho-hum).
Sadly I had to sit through the dubbed version of the film which certainly would not have aided in my enjoyment of the movie as it has appalling voice actors in every single major role.

The animation on the whole is of a pretty good standard. There are some nice water effects and the animation appears smooth throughout. The film also uses several different graphical styles including still pastel shots and 3D sections. Whilst I must applaud the animators for attempting to try new things it is not totally successful. In fact the styles often conflict with each other and end up looking messy and far too disjointed.

The sound effects throughout the film can not be faulted; unfortunately like every other aspect of the movie the actual soundtrack is very poor. I can only remember one track but it is repeated on several occasions throughout the film and is a Whitney Houston-esque ballad that sits at odds with the rest of the film, and has some truly dreadful lyrics.

Black Jack: The Movie started off with an interesting premise but soon turned into a predictable and dull movie, with a poor script and voice actors, characters that I neither cared about or wanted to know more about, and an animation style that did not aid in my enjoyment of the film.

Perhaps this is only for fans of Tezuka Osamu's manga.

-- Adam Cook 27th Apr 04

Black Jack: The Movie Images