This is one of those occasions where I'm
reading the sound bytes from other reviews
and thinking, "Did we see the same movie?"
Again, from the DVD jacket:
"During a dark age of demons and ghosts
in the Haeian period (794-1185 AD), the Emperor
relies upon the imperial order of the Onmyoji,
who are the experts of the supernatural power,
to protect the kingdom. However, as the birth
of the emperor's heir approaches, political
intrigue and jealousy will lead to the most
dangerous of betrayals :from within the Onmyoji
and the Emperor's family! It will be up to
the most talented of the order, Seimei, to
face his master, Doson, and the dark magic
that threatens to destroy them all!"
Sound good, huh? And this movie starts out
great. Mansai Nomura is absolutely engaging
as Seimei, exuding a playful mischief not
unlike EXCALIBUR'S Nicol Williamson. He's
got that whispering spell-casting thing down
pretty well, too. There's some tastefully
done spooky stuff. Demons floating about,
curses with shocking results, and falling
limbs and disembodied heads. These things
are well placed. It's not gory overload :
just a smattering of creepy things that kept
me very interested for the first hour.
And then a funny thing happened. My rating
for this film just kept sinking lower and
lower. Suddenly all the great moody atmospherics
disappeared and were replaced by a series
of unconvincing demon and hoodoo voodoo showdowns.
At first I welcomed the absence of punching
and kicking but then I just got tired of these
two Merlin-types waving their arms and chanting.
They are soooooooo passive aggressive! Could
they at least throw spells at each other face-to-face?
Ugh, and when they finally do, it's pretty
anticlimactic. Watching this film, I started
to wonder if they'd run out of money or something.
How could a movie that starts out so well
run out of steam so quickly?
The Los Angeles Times called this
"an epic tale of love, sacrifice and
redemption that attains a Shakespearean aura
of grandeur and nobility of spirit."
HUH?! Either I'm completely mistaken here,
or this guy walked out of the theater early.
