One thing must be said of this film: it provokes an extreme opinion from its viewers. Glancing at the voting distribution here on imdb, there is an inverted normal distribution: people either totally love it (10), or absolutely hate it (1). Why?
This movie uncovers the whole debate concerning Stone's Natural Born Killers all over again... is Araki trying to launch a hard-edged statement towards today's Generation X trash youth? but if so, isn't he feeding the very appetite that he is so cynically portraying? Does he then become guilty of the same sins he is (literally!) fleshing out on screen?
People who love this movie solely because it bravely (or pathetically, depending on your point of view) dares show graphic acts of a disturbing nature are probably not too far off from resembling some of the characters in this movie themselves.
People who hate this movie because it seemed like a pointless, plotless, and tasteless sorry excuse for depicting some of the most gross acts of sex and violence allowable on film are probably missing the whole point that Araki is trying to make. So, is there a common ground between these two polars?
If we try to give him the benefit of the doubt, we would try to say that Araki is indeed trying to get a message across, that message being that today's Gen X culture could lead to such a 'doomsday'-ish scenario, hence the title. But yet, my opinion is that he has been caught up in the very trap that he is trying to expose: the over-explicit, in-your-face, and often pretentious so-called-art that his characters aspire to.
Restraint is often the most powerful weapon of storytelling. And sadly, Araki has failed to acknowledge that in this movie. The fact that he belabors the 'clever' bits of the movie to such a ridiculous point, i.e. the sheer repetitiveness of the plot, that 666 gag, seems to undermine the intelligence of his audience. It's like knocking our head over and over again to make us realize the hurt.
Therefore, in that respect, I think he has failed.
Having said that, some qualities can still be salvaged out of this movie. The multi-colour visuals and the not-so-obvious puns are interesting, to say the least, and the ultimate fate of the three central characters at the end of the movie seems to portray something deeper than what is at hand. Perhaps Jordan's incessant inquiries of the meaning of mankind's existence showed that he had the most depth of all...
This movie uncovers the whole debate concerning Stone's Natural Born Killers all over again... is Araki trying to launch a hard-edged statement towards today's Generation X trash youth? but if so, isn't he feeding the very appetite that he is so cynically portraying? Does he then become guilty of the same sins he is (literally!) fleshing out on screen?
People who love this movie solely because it bravely (or pathetically, depending on your point of view) dares show graphic acts of a disturbing nature are probably not too far off from resembling some of the characters in this movie themselves.
People who hate this movie because it seemed like a pointless, plotless, and tasteless sorry excuse for depicting some of the most gross acts of sex and violence allowable on film are probably missing the whole point that Araki is trying to make. So, is there a common ground between these two polars?
If we try to give him the benefit of the doubt, we would try to say that Araki is indeed trying to get a message across, that message being that today's Gen X culture could lead to such a 'doomsday'-ish scenario, hence the title. But yet, my opinion is that he has been caught up in the very trap that he is trying to expose: the over-explicit, in-your-face, and often pretentious so-called-art that his characters aspire to.
Restraint is often the most powerful weapon of storytelling. And sadly, Araki has failed to acknowledge that in this movie. The fact that he belabors the 'clever' bits of the movie to such a ridiculous point, i.e. the sheer repetitiveness of the plot, that 666 gag, seems to undermine the intelligence of his audience. It's like knocking our head over and over again to make us realize the hurt.
Therefore, in that respect, I think he has failed.
Having said that, some qualities can still be salvaged out of this movie. The multi-colour visuals and the not-so-obvious puns are interesting, to say the least, and the ultimate fate of the three central characters at the end of the movie seems to portray something deeper than what is at hand. Perhaps Jordan's incessant inquiries of the meaning of mankind's existence showed that he had the most depth of all...