by Chris MaGeeThere's been a considerable amount of buzz online about Mamoru Oshii's upcoming live-action feature "Assault Girls". Oshii, the man who brought us such bold sci-fi visions as "Ghost in the Shell" and "The Sky Crawlers" has been making brief visits to the world of the Assualt Girls since Hinako Saeki first appeared as one of the heavily armed amazons in Oshii's 2007 follow up to "Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters" that he titled "Assault Girl: Kentucky no Hinako". Since then Oshii has been expanding this world inhabited by serpentine creatures he's dubbed "Sand Whales" most notably with the additions of Rinko Kikuchi and Yoko Fujita for the "Assault Girl 2" segment of the 2008 omnibus film "Kiru= Kill", but come the end of this year we'll be seeing the full breadth of this semi-futuristic world in "Assault Girls".
We've already seen the teaser trailer for "Assault Girls" when it hit the net at the end of August, but now the brand new theatrical trailer has arrived with more Sand Whales, more fire power and more Meisa Kuroki, Rinko Kikuchi, and Hinako Saeki, but the one thing it has that I think derails the whole trailer is the ubiquitous Japanese pop song that chimes in about half way through. Note to the major Japanese studios - No matter how much tie-in sponsorship you're getting please don't include chirpy little pop songs in your trailers, especially for a balls-to-the-wall action movie.
To see all the good, and the bad (ie: the pop song ending) for "Assault Girls" head over to Nippon Cinema where Kevin Ouellette has all the sci-fi action posted.
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3 comments:
I actually find the pseudo-ominous operatic music in the beginning of the trailer more offensive than the pop song at the end. The trailer would have more impact if it was rendered in silence, with only the sounds of explosions.
The pop song is fine. It's not that bad; it's actually kind of catchy. Shouldn't you be used to Japanese culture by now?
I have to agree the pop song kinda ruined it. At least Rinko is so friggin cute that Oshii is Oshii.
The Japanese have shown us time and again that no film is too good not to be ruined by a saccharine pop ballad. I don't even hear them anymore--for all I know they're using the same one over and over.
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