Product Description

Sky High, based on the manga by Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive), follows detective Kanzaki Kohei’s vengeful search for the killer who stole his wife’s heartafter cutting it out on their wedding night. The deceased Mina finds hersel fin LIMBO outside the gates of Heaven and Hell where she is greeted by Izuko, a sworded female guardian who explains she must choose among one of three paths: she may enter and await reincarnation in Heaven, she may remain upon the earth as a wandering spirit, or she may haunt and torment her murderer, the price of which will be eternity in Hell. With twelve days to decide, she hovers over the now obsessed Kanzaki as he hunts desperately for Mina's killer, who uses living hearts in an attempt to resurrect the devil in a bid to revive his own lost beloved from her limbo between life and death.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83460 in DVD
• Brand: Media Blasters
• Released on: 2005-03-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .44 pounds
• Running time: 122 minutes

Customer Reviews

Underwhelming, but different
It's no secret that I'm a huge admirer of Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura, the Asian equivalent of our Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The man specializes in stylish, offbeat fantasy films that defy convention (American convention, anyways) while paying homage to the action films he idolizes. I would highly recommend each and every one of his films to anyone looking for a breath of fresh air. That said, this is my least favorite of his films. "Sky High" is filled with interesting ideas, beautiful actresses, supernaturally-powered swordfights, and all of the other things he usually excels at. The problem is, this time he just didn't bring his "A" game.

The story begins with a woman, Mina, murdered on her wedding day and sent stumbling down the aisle sans a heart. She wakes up at The Gate of Rage, where the spirits of the slain are given three choices by the Guardian of the Gate: to accept death and enter paradise to be reborn later, haunt the human world for eternity, or curse a living person to death and enter Hell. Each spirit is given 12 days to ponder their choice, during which they can enter and observe the world of the living or relive their past. Mina does a little of both, in order to try to stop her fiance from killing himself or another -which would condemn him to Hell- and also viewing her own death. It turns out she was the victim of a serial killer and his henchwoman (who possesses a sword inscribed with a spell that can slay spirits) who are out stealing women's hearts for use in a demonic ritual. Mina's fiance, a detective investigating her death, comes into contact with a photographer whose pictures seem to predict the subject's impending death a'la "The Omen" (he even acknowledges this bit of stolen plot device). A picture of his charming coworker reveals a ghastly hand grabbing at her heart, and the race to save her and find the killers is on. Later, a psychic spiritualist who seems to have all of the answers joins the fray, completing the main cast.

After such a promising setup, the film loses focus. It never really fleshes out any one aspect, leaving the ideas and themes presented largely unfulfilled. Characters are introduced and expelled from the story with little or no development and the film just kind of meanders for a while. Then comes the action. If there is one thing Kitamura always gets right it's the action; or so I thought. While the swordfights certainly have their moments, they are very obviously choreographed and the CG sparks look pretty cheesy. The major characters are not a particularly likeable or memorable bunch as we never really get to know much about them. Mina, in particular, tends to stand around and gape at the events unfolding in front of her. Not a good quality in a heroine. The characters all seem to be there just to drive the plot forward and not much more.

I may be being a little harsh on this film; it is an entertaining little flick. I enjoyed the Buddhist principles of life and death simply being a force of nature and subject to laws that make it more akin to physics than to the idea of judgement by a deity. It's just too bad that this aspect wasn't more fully fleshed out. The battle between the spiritualist and the henchwoman has some pretty cool moments and the main villain delivers a few fantastic lines to liven up the proceedings, but the movie feels so rushed, like it could have used a few more months of polish and rehearsals. If you've seen Azumi you know what Ryuhei Kitamura is capable of doing with his talent and I, for one, want to see his films continue to improve. He can do great things on a shoestring budget, but his last two films have just been sloppy. I can overlook sloppiness in a giant monster flick like Godzilla - Final Wars (which preceded this one), but a film like "Sky High" needs that spit shine to really succeed.

Overall, this is an interesting and highly ambitious film, one that should appeal to a lot of people fed up with Hollywood's same-ol'-same-ol', but it just doesn't live up to the cult classics that preceded it in this director's filmography. Check it out if the concept appeals to you or if you're looking for something a little different, but know that it doesn't quite get to where it's trying to go.

The Fault Lies in the Acting
I found this movie on a shelf in Blockbuster, and being a fan of Sci-fi movies, as well as good Japanese imports, I rented the flick because the premise sounded promising: a girl is murdered and has to choose between going to Heaven, becoming a ghost, or cursing one person on Earth to death, and then going to Hell herself. Not a bad idea for a story at all. And it really isn't what's wrong with this movie. In fact, I loved the cleverness and originality of the story: the options of the murdered, the intriguing guardian of the gate of rage, an evil CEO set about completing a ritual to bring about an evil demon, all in order to resurrect his dead wife. The characters were interesting, and the villains had the potential for sympathy, something that is rare in sci-fi type movies. This has all the makings for a great movie.

And its downfall was the...actual movie. I watched the subtitled version, and while the acting from the main character, her fiancé, and the guardian Izuko was tolerable, the horribly over-acted villainy of the evil CEO and his lovely minion ruined it for me. Ruined! These were villains ripe with potential for sympathy--their actions, terrible as they were, were motivated by love, and thus understandable, if not justifiable. But they were played with such cartoon maliciousness, complete with evil laughs and generic one-liners, that the effectiveness of the characters was nullified. The action scenes also left a LOT to be desired. They were all fought in real-time, no stylish camera tricks here, and were very OBVIOUSLY choreographed. The actors moved slowly and with deliberate care, like amateur dancers trying to remember the steps to the tango. The action scenes were horribly contrived and staged so that you could just tell they were going for cool moves and one-shot "poses", and didn't care how the rest of the fight looked, as long as they got those cool moments, say where two of the sword fighting women were moving in unison, and locked blades in mirroring poses. The second-to-last fight scene between the evil minion and the priestess was by far the most natural looking one, but even that fell far short of "par" for most action movies.

This movie was very aesthetically beautiful, almost amusingly so (you apparently won't find anything but stunningly beautiful 20-something women in Tokyo. Women over the age of thirty are apparently sent to different parts of the country ;) ), but the driving force of the movie--it's action scenes and cast--sadly fall short. I have since read the two manga series this movie is based on, and with the material at hand, I think they could have done a lot better. This was a disappointing film that I really wouldn't recommend.

Lacking In Too Many Areas!
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, and based on the manga "Ice Blade," by Tsutomu Takahashi, "Sky High," is not one of the better Japanese films by this director. The film itself deals with a serial killer who is collecting hearts--with a purpose in mind. The antagonist, Tatsuya Kudo (Takao Osawa) does not give a very credible performance in this role. I thought he was great in the film "Aragami." But it is not just his performance either. As others have stated, the characters in the film do not seem to have enough fleshed out character development in their respective roles.

The film starts out pretty good at first, where a police tactical team have deployed to the scene of a crime. A murder has been committed by a serial killer bent on taking hearts. When the girlfriend, Mina, of one of the investigating detectives, Kohei Kanzaki (Shosuke Tanihara) becomes this killers latest victim--he seeks revenge. Meanwhile, this murdered woman, Mina, finds herself in a way station to the next world. She is given three choices, in which she must decide within 12 days. First, to abandon her hate, and go on to paradise. Second, to not accept her death and wander the world as a ghost. And finally, to seek revenge on her killer, and afterwards be sent to hell and thus suffer eternal torment.

This place where the dead find themselves is known as the 'Gate of Rage" and is protected by the gatekeeper Izuko (Yumiko Shaku). Here the film moves back and forth from the 'Gate of Rage' and the living world. There are several actors that one will find familiar in the film. Kishi (Hiromasa Taguchi) who has survived an accident, and is now able to see these future victims. He was great in the films "Shall We Dance" and Rajio no jikan" And although he gives a decent performance in this film, the film as a whole is not cohesive enough. Not to mention the cheesy special effects the film employs. There is also the beautiful Sayuri (Aya Okamoto) who had a bit role in "Azumi."

This is not a very good film. I think the concept of this 'Gateway' as a way station to the next world was a good concept, and whether or not one would seek vengeance, or go to paradise, was a good idea. Yet, the film never really explored this concept, and instead relies too heavily on the antagonist, and the silly powers he is able to acquire by stealing these victims' hearts. Some have liked this film, and I would recommend a very good film titled "Running on Karma" with Andy Lau, which does a good job incorporating the elements of Buddhist symbolism in atonement and revenge. [Stars: 2.5]