Review of Redline
A lot of people think that animation is just a genre for very stupid kid films with fart jokes and cute talking animals when clearly, animation is much more than that. Animation is a tool for limitless storytelling without the painful limitations of a live action movie and with this medium, filmmakers experimented many ways into creating strange worlds to be put on the big screen while enchanting the audiences with all it's wonder and imagination. With animated movies like Akira, Secret Of Nimh, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Paprika, The Triplets Of Belleville, Tokyo Godfathers and Beauty and the Beast, the animation genre provesthat not everything about animation is just for kids only but also for adults to dwell into. Enter the film Redline and no, not that live-action Redline movie that shamelessly rips-off The Fast And The Furious, but the anime film Redline that came in Japan in 2009-2010 and was released in the US in 2012. Redline is an anime film produced by Madhouse and it took them 7 long years to perfect the animation for the film which makes Akira look like a kid's book in comparison. I watched this movie a year ago and what followed was an animation orgasmic experience that will blow your mind into giant piles of Skittles and fall on the floor with all the Skittles that you blew from your mind cause Redline is one of the most exciting and visually creative films to ever hit on the market. Simply put, Redline revolutionizes the animation genre to new heights and it gives hope for the animation industry to rise up and make more hand-drawn animation films for the future.
The plot for Redline goes like this: JP, a hardcore lone wolf racer, wants to compete in an illegal race tournament called "Redline Race" and he almost won in the Yellow-Line race, so that he can qualify in the race but lost due to his vehicle being sabotaged by Frisbee, his friend and mechanic who placed a explosive mine under his car. Why? Because he and JP use to fix races for the mafia and they been doing this for the past 10 years. During his recovery at the hospital, JP has been qualified to compete in the "Redline Race" because of popular demands and two other drivers withdrawing from the competition, so JP recovers and decides to compete in this grand epic race of awesomeness to be the first racer to win Redline.
Let me just say that the animation in Redline is breathtaking. No CG and no cheap animation was used into making this movie, Redline is purely hand-drawn with over 100,000 animators perfecting the art and style of the movie for years in development. It's a tremendous task that Madhouse perfectly pulls off here and Redline is their biggest masterpiece yet. The art of the movie is mind-blowing with incredible detail on both the imaginative character designs and the stunning background arts that will put The Thief And The Cobbler to everlasting shame and that movie took 20 years to make. It looks even better during the action scenes and the climax, which is one of the film's best moments, and speaking of the action, the action scenes are phenomenal. Think that the Fast and Furious can pull off over the top action? Bitch please, you haven't seen nothing yet with Redline. Missies going boom, cars accelerating into maximum speed of destruction, biological weapons fighting on a race while racers are still racing on the tracks and lots of colorful explosions, Redline has a lot of entertainment value for the action and breathtaking visuals alone.
A lot of people complained on the story and characters, which a lot of people thought that it was the weakest part of the movie, and I'm sorry but I thought the story and characters were great. Sure, it's very simple but it does have a lot of charm to it and it does develop it's two main leads JP and Sonoshee, JP's love interest in the film. JP is the typical cool guy that we grown to know in movies but for some reason, I care for the character because JP had a very sh*tty life and all he wants is to compete in the race, so that he could feel what it's like to be the winner of a big race. Sonoshee is also a good character and while not as much developed as JP, she clearly has a passion for racing and wants to compete in the race because she knows deep down that she was meant to be in Redline, giving us a reason to care for both JP and Sonoshee to win the race together. I also liked the side-characters and surprisingly, I didn't hate one single side-character in the film. I love the 2 weird women that have a car that can turn into a sexy Transformer, the guys that yell like crazy cranky men, the badass mechanic with the 4 arms and the princess that creates the huge race, which is a little girl apparently. Simply put, all the side-characters are wonderful and each have their moment of coolness in the film.
Sorry to cut the review short but you need to go watch Redline right now. Redline is the movie that shows the industry the way out and proves that hand-drawn animation is still alive and well. Not only is this movie amazing but it's bound to be one of the most important anime movies to be ever released from the industry and with this film, it may usher a new future for the animation industry for future generations to witness the power of what animation can do. You have to see it to believe it.