 |
|
|
 |
|
by E.W.C. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
A devastating environmental catastrophe robs the Earth of its natural resources, leaving it a veritable desert planet. Human beings struggle to survive in this barren world while strange artifacts from space, known as the Rodo, settle about the planet's surface and replenish water sources within their immediate radii. The presence of the Rodo inspires a cult following among some of the humans who thereafter call themselves Rodoists. The cult's fundamentalist beliefs oppress and torment the Earth survivors who live in the dry, impoverished urban sectors. Ran, a young hot-head from the slums, joins an anti-Rodoist group called the Hazzard and falls in love with the group's beautiful, silver-hair ward. Aira has a spiritual connection with the Rodo. Regarding Aira's mysterious power as an advantage, Hazzard, led by their over-zealous leader, Kiba, snatches Aira from their camp and force her to reveal the secret of the Holy Mother, a Rodo "device." Ran recognizes Kiba as the same man who killed his mother years ago in a gunfight, and follows Hazzard's submarine to save the girl he loves. After a near death stint in the desert, Ran is rescued by a peacekeeper named Jeek and teams up with his crew to prevent an impending war between the terrorists and Rodoist fanatics.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
What lies at fault for "Green Legend Ran's" overall mediocrity, besides the Japanese' corny, on-going fascination with silver hair, is its lack of self-interest. Beginning with its slapdash plot, broken up into three acts, the first arc focuses on non-essential characters who verbally summarize the dramatic landscape in thirteen lines or less and hastily tries to squeeze in some last minute explosions to recapture interest. Furthermore, the characters themselves are uninspired and shallow.
With the exception of Kiba (and even he is wishy-washy at times), it is difficult to define any of the characters' desires. Ran is full of youthful angst, but the movie never bothers to explore the depth of his extreme personality. Aira is little more than a plot accessory, which explains her gormless gaze while being frantically jerked around like a rag doll from scene to scene. Screenwriter Yu Yamato is in such a hurry to establish a love affair between Ran and Aira that he forgot to include the most important elements of budding young love: courtship. No syrupy sweet words, playful glances, or informative body language give a clue as to their mutual attraction. By the end of the final act their devotion to one another lacks romantic spark, or even relevance.
Jeek's entire background gets packaged into about five sentences as if this alone is enough to depict his presumable repentance after abandoning his family for a terrorist organization. If Yamato had stopped to take a moment's breath to clarify the development of an unbalanced society at the mercy of a dying planet without wasting so much time on mumbo-jumbo surrounding an oversized chess piece (the Rodo), that at least would explain the sense of urgency in the characters. But for all of "Ran's" vain scrambling, what results is a mindlessly floppy sequence of gunfights, explosions and crashes that lead up to the film's climax, which is too absurd to even justify a build to it.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
