A live action anime.  That is truly the only way to describe this film.  Just like films such as 300 and Sin City, the world of Casshern is almost fully CGI.  But Casshern and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow were among the first major motion picture to use this style of filmmaking. Both pull it off really well and considering Casshern was made for around 6 million, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more films made in this digital backlot style.

Set in the late 21^st century, Earth is in crisis and the future of mankind is at risk. Hope lies in a geneticist’s discovery of a “Neo-Cell” which can rejuvenate the human body, but it is used by an evil corporation to create a race of mutants bent on the annihilation of humanity. A powerful warrior, Casshern, emerges in the battle against this new menace. Only he can save the human race as it fights an ultimate war against its own extinction.

The audio is always in Japanese as there is no English track available but you do have the choice of 5.1 Surround or 2.0 Dolby Digital. The surrounds are used quite extensively both to create an immersive environment and to give directionality to the audio. Dialogue is always audible, clean and clear.  Bass response is deep but never intrusive. This is a very good audio presentation.

The video is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks fantastic. The transfer is clear, detailed and beautifully coloured with good clean black levels.  The film’s contrast changes dramatically from scene to scene with colours going from blue to yellow to red to green and never looking any worse then a fully computer animated film.

The only extra on this DVD is trailers for Transformers and Next and you can’t even select them separately as they play as one continuous clip when you click on “Previews.”

Casshern is based on the fun anime Casshan from back in the early 70s.  I enjoyed the original anime and was surprised how well it translated into a live action film.  I found the film to be visually breathtaking but the story was somewhat lacking and a bit hard to follow at times. I have uncovered that the Japanese version of the film runs almost 30 minutes longer and might tell the story a littler clearer. Though this DVD release isn’t great, it’s still worth checking out.  I personally think it’s worth owning and hope that a special edition of the film gets released (though I know it’s unlikely).

Review By Robert Harding