Devilman (2004)

What a waste of my time!!!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

DEVILMAN makes the leap from anime to live-action well enough, if you ask me. In fact, it's one of the better anime-based live-action features. The anime happens to be one of my favorites. (My own DEVILGOD, who'll be appearing in a future issue of my black and white comic CAPE FEAR COMICS, was inspired by none other than Go Nagai's DEVILMAN.) (CAPE FEAR COMICS can be found at comiXpress.com, for those interested in seeing someone put his money where his mouth is.) Like the creatures in Clive Barker's NIGHTBREED, Go Nagai's DEVILMAN dwells just this side of the next world. It's a fascinating place to be, if you ask me.

The weak teenager Akira Fudô (Hisato Izaki) has been protected by his best friend Ryô Asuka (Yûsuke Izaki) since they were children. When Akira's parents die in an accident, the family Makimura brings him to live with them, and Akira falls in love for the gorgeous Miki Makimura (Ayana Sakai). When the father of Ryô accidentally opens a gate to hell in Antarctica, demons are released, merging with humans to survive. Akira hosts Aman and becomes Devilman but keeping his humanity while Ryô hosts Satan. The hysteria and panic replaces reason and mankind initiates a war against the demons, but destroying also themselves.I have never read any comic book of "Devilman", therefore I am not familiarized with this character of manga. But this movie shows a promising idea wasted in a messy but also entertaining screenplay. This apocalyptical story shows Akira and Ryô as best friends, but never explains the motive of the evilness of Ryô. Further, it seems that there are "good demons" and evil ones, and Akira is the last hope of the human race, but the story does not develop well the motives of the two friends. Anyway this movie is underrated in IMDb with 3.8 and I liked it in the end. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Devilman"

I just received my DVD copy of Devilman along with some other Japanese films (Survive Style 5+, Izo, Zebraman, Vital) I had ordered. I love Japanese cinema, from Kurosawa and Ozu, Fukusaku and Suzuki, to Miike and Ishii. I also love anime. Though I have been aware of the Devilman character, I've never actually watched an episode of the series so I didn't have any preconceived notions of what the film should be. My only expectation was that the movie would be enjoyable if nothing else.Well, Devilman fails remarkably to even entertain. I've heard people compare this movie to Casshern, and beyond the films being based on classic properties and employing a substantial use of CGI, that is where the comparisons end. Devilman is just plain awful. I like a good "bad" movie and Devilman can't even be enjoyed on such a level. The acting by the leads is horrendous, the special effects would be better served in a CGI animated movie, and the narrative is just not involving.The viewer is never drawn into the story. The lead actor who plays Akira does not engender any sympathy as his performance is so flat. Two scenes in particular really display his ineptitude: When his girlfriend's father discovers he is a demon, Akira let's out a wail of anguish that does sound painful, but more like the type of pain accompanied by a rectal examination -- and when Akira discovers the severed head of his girlfriend he again bellows in agony, not once but several times. Rather than being swept up in his loss, the viewer is taken out of the scene because of it's unintentional hilarity.I do have to say there is one really startling sequence in the film. It occurs during the finale when the Earth is engulfed by a massive wave of destruction and there is a depiction of "hell on earth" with bodies intertwined into enormous columns of suffering. That is the only moment in the film where I thought "cool." If there is one small service I can do for mankind it would be this: I implore each and everyone of you who reads this to stay away from this movie. If you really must see it, try to see it for free. Don't be like me who has to learn lessons the hard way. God bless!

after seeing the first two devil man anime on video some time ago, i was pleasantly surprised to find a real-life version of it on DVD. but after watching the first 10 minutes it became abundantly clear that this movie couldn't live up to the standard of the original series.while the special effects didn't suck that much (but sometimes reminding of a beat em up on your average console) the rest of the move was brain-imploringly bad. even with the knowledge from the original series this movie just makes no sense. not at all. the single scenes are barely connected, in parts even contradicting each other. the dialogue of the German version (which i watched) was painstakingly bad and sometimes even made you laugh out loud ("ich bin schliesslich Satan!") , the actors (if they even are actors, that is) mostly manage to keep the same expression throughout the entire movie. the fights aren't that bad, but mostly over after like 5 seconds and cant redeem the rest of the movie at all.conclusion: "normal" viewers shouldn't touch this movie with a ten foot pole, even fans of the original series should have problems understanding it, not even counting in the various logical errors in the story as the movie tells it. i want that 90min of my life back.