Tentacle-Free Anime: "Kite" Live-Action Movie (2014) Review

- by Kazekun, 8 December 2014

Hey guys, remember my review of Kite awhile back? Yeah, that was a thing. Well for whatever reason a non-Japanese director decided to make a live-action version of it several years after its release. He even got Samuel L. Jackson to be in it and I was super-pumped. So I have a review of it, let's get down to business.

"Kite" (live-action, 2014); 
Episodes: 1; 
Director: Ralph Ziman;
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment;
Rating: R

Summary: Based on the groundbreaking, cult classic anime, KITE tells the story of Sawa (India Eisley), a young woman living in a corrupt society where crime and gangs terrorize the streets. When Sawa's mother and policeman father are found victims of a grisly double homicide, she begins a ruthless pursuit for the man who murdered them. With the help of her father's ex-partner, Karl Aker (Samuel L. Jackson), and a mysterious friend from her past, she becomes a merciless assassin, blasting her way through the dark world of human trafficking only to uncover a devastating truth. [From the back of the DVD box]

Now, live-action versions of something animated (or even just from a book) aren't always that great, in fact a lot of them can be a real letdown. Look at most video game live-action adaptations, and it gets worse when it's something from another country that more often than not Hollywood tries to make into a live-action film. Every once in a while though something worth sitting down for, something that won't crack your skull open and make your brains melt away, will come along and make you imagine that there's hope still left in this world.

Movie poster. Click to enlarge.

Kite, amazingly enough, is one of these films. Now, I've looked around, gauged what others thought of this film as it did have a lot to prove – it comes from very risque and edgy source material – and the storyline just isn't something that can be translated completely onto a live-action screen. Not everyone enjoyed it. In fact I think I'm the only one who did, but that's okay. This isn't your grandpa's Kite and I imagine that's for the better.

One smart move Ziman and screenwriter Brian Cox make is leaving out all of the sex from the original OVA. In the original review I stated that I felt the sex served a purpose for Sawa's character growth and that this is a story that is hindered by not including them. I still stand by that point, but what Cox and Ziman do here is rework Sawa's story into something with a different angle and wider choices. The same conclusion, but different paths are taken to get there. They rework the story by adding new characters, and give familiar characters like Oburi (Callan McAuliffe) more room to work than the previous OVA did.

Does this make the live-action movie better than Kite the anime? Hmm, no I'd argue that the original is still better but there's more meat to sink your teeth into in the live-action rendition.

India Eisley depicts Sawa very well as a drug addicted, and merciless assassin who will do anything to find the secret to her parents past. The interesting thing about this depiction of Sawa, and one that's very different from the original, is that she is now a drug addict. Sawa's character has the means to remembering her past by getting off this memory erasing drug called Amp, but her killings are too much for her to bare that she's rather forget than to face up to them. This character dichotomy is very interesting and actually served to make Sawa a more interesting character than she was in the original OVA.

The ever-conflicted Sawa.

She comes well equipped for the job as well, we get to see the purse-turned-gun a few times and she even has the time-bomb bullets (this time they have a more well-rounded countdown to when they explode). There's one scene in particular I quite enjoyed seeing in this movie and that's seeing Sawa take a dildo and shove it into a guy's mouth only for it to fire a bullet out the back end of his head. I think more women wish they had a defense weapon like that to carry around with them.

Samuel L. Jackson and Callan McAauliffe are both great as Karl Aker and Oburi, respectively. The name Aker is a callback to the original character of Sawa's employer from the anime, Akai. Jackson does his best to play can't-be-too-trusted cop and double-edged sword character. He's subdued in acting, and that works in Aker's favor. Unforutnately the script does make it painfully obvious to all the characters that something just ain't quite right with the man and that is a big setback. Oburi gets a lot more to do in this movie than he did in the last movie, but I'm not exactly sure if I enjoyed his character being changed to one of Sawa's childhood friends – if not only childhood friend.

Aker wants nothing to do with Oburi.

One of the things I liked best about Oburi's character in the original anime is that he was just another teen drawn into this life of violence that he didn't want. It gave his character a lot of dimension, here Oburi is written as straight good and is doing all the best he can to save Sawa's life. In the end I think Oburi gets the short end of the stick as far as characters go. And that's really, really sad.

The rest of the characters aren't too bad, some play their parts a little too over the top for my taste, and some play their parts just right. Like the enigmatic Emir who runs the flesh-cartels Sawa is trying to take out throughout the film; believing him to be the killer of her parents. I really liked Emir as a bad guy and I think he was a wonderful addition to the story. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Emir's lackeys, the “Numbers” which are widespread gang members in this post-financial collapse world.

The Numbers are like the Putties you see in Power Rangers, they all look the same as 6 foot tall, skinny guys and a few girls. All in perfect shape, they're all expendable and it gets boring to watch when they'e on screen. There is a cool seen with some of them free-running in order to detain Sawa and Oburi but other than that scene it would have been rather nice to see more of a variety in people who are “Numbers” than just literally the same extras in every seen. I will give it to Ziman and Cox for trying to give one of the Numbers a personality but in the end it just doesn't fly.

Don't mess with this chick.

The action in the movie is very good, Sawa kicks major ass and so does Oburi in the few chances he gets. I like that Sawa does change outfits throughout the film and the use these as clever ways to get particularly important scenes from the anime worked into the film. Albeit they play out slightly differently, but that's okay. It was nice to see the opening elevator scene from the anime, as well as the infamously awesome bathroom scene with the gangster twins.

Kite, in live-action, is far from perfect. But it's also a far-cry from bad. It's truly entertaining to watch (except when the “Numbers” are on the screen) and I can safely recommend it. I do feel, when compared to the original, that Yasuomi Umetsu's original work is better but to be honest that's to be expected at this point. Rarely – though not impossible – are remakes or adaptations of something better than the source material. It just doesn't happen that often. If you're looking for something with a bit more kink in it, this rendition isn't for you, but it is bloody, brutal, honest, and action-filled. Sawa's personal journey is actually better this time around. And it's fun to just sit down too, even if heavily depressing – but that's how the original was as well. As far as adaptations go, this Kite is flying high.

Final Score: 3 AMP Doses out of 5


Have you seen "Kite"? How do you compare it to the original anime? 

Tagged: Tentacle-Free Anime, movies & TV, Reviews.

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