Is it good news or bad news that "Kamui Gaiden" will feature extensive CGI effects?

by Chris MaGee

Here's an interesting bit of news about a film that's had a very troubled production. According to Variety Japan (by way of Ryuganji.net) Yoichi Sai's big screen adaptation of the Shirato Sanpei manga "Kamui Gaiden", a film that has been plagued by on set injuries and very costly delays, is finally nearing completion... but that over 2/3 of the shots in the film will feature CGI backdrops and effects. Okay, I guess this is pretty standard for action films these days, but something makes me nervous about this. Apparently principal photography wrapped back in October and the CGI gremlins have been tweaking things in post production ever since. And get this: it's finally going to be released on September 19th which is still four months away. A Hollywood film taking this long I'd understand, but in Japan film productions go at a much, much faster clip, in most cases because there isn't the same kind of money to lavish on them. So what am I getting to here...? It just makes me a tad nervous that so much CGI fiddling is going on for a film that had it's principal photography go into months of overtime and re-shoots and that even had its heroine recast (an injured Chiaki Kuriyama traded for Koyuki). Will these computer-generated shots enhance "Kamui Gaiden" or wil they be used to cover a myriad number of flaws? I guess we'll have to wait until September to find out.