'Sky High'...

I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I watched Ryuhei Kitamura’s ‘Sky High’ recently. So far I’ve pretty much liked everything he’s done. However I always feel his movies are about 20-30 minutes too long – and this is no exception.

‘Sky High’ has all the Kitamura trademarks. Low budget - but high in ambition, and the all important girls and swords. And what a fine ensemble of girls with swords he has assembled for this movie.

It stars ‘Yumiko Shaku’ – who also held a sword pretty well in the below par ‘Princess Blade’. However it’s ‘Eihi Shiina’ that shines here for me. Best known as the girl with the man in a bag and a fine collection of needles in Takashi Miike’s ‘Audition’ (Odishon) she somewhat steals the show as the keeper of the gate of wrath.

It’s a simple story about a girl who is murdered by a serial killer who her husband to be is trying to catch. Now, any violent death sends the victim straight to the gates of wrath where they are given three choices. 1: Move on into heaven, 2: Roam the Earth as a ghost, 3: Attain revenge on a single living person but enter eternal torment once complete.

The film is shot real nice, if a little understated during the fight scenes, but overall it maintains a decent momentum. There’s enough interesting back and forth between the real world and the afterlife to keep things from ever dragging.

Special mention must go to the girl who plays the ‘white witch’ (not sure which of the actors that is). She comes in late in the day and totally kicks it. 5 kick ass stars for her performance.

In relation to other Kitamura films it compare more with ‘Alive’ in terms of scope than say ‘Azumi’. But it looks better (but no necessarily is better than) ‘Versus’.

Overall – if you’re a Kitamura fan then it’s work getting hold of. If not then there still might be enough in this to get you excited – especially if you like watching girl slice the hell out of each other with sword. 3.5/5



I got a few more Kitamura films to watch over the next few days including ‘Down to Hell’ (the prequel to Versus), ‘Heat After Dark’, and ‘Aragami’. I’ll chime in on those when I get a chance.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 12:17 AM 0 comments