AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, SEASON FIVE ( 2018-19)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological, sociological*

I've made no secret on this blog of my low opinion of the two live-action BLACK PANTHER movies from the MCU. The MCU's ultraliberal agenda was a major betrayal of both the seminal Marvel comics character and two high-quality comics-runs that established the character's sophisticated (for a superhero) appeal. I certainly never thought that around the same time as the first BLACK PANTHER movie, a cartoon teleseries in its last season could outdo the showier live-action effort.

When AVENGERS ASSEMBLE debuted in 2013, it replaced a previous AVENGERS series I'd been enjoying, the 2010-2012 AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES. By comparison I found the first two seasons of ASSEMBLE superficial and repetitive. However, as I've noted in my reviews of Season Three and Four, there was some improvement once the previous showrunners, the triumvirate called "Man of Action," departed. But both the short tales and long arcs of those seasons were just fair at best. Strangely, the last season of ASSEMBLE does a much better job than the "mainstream" MCU at translating the best aspects of the Black Panther mythology into a new format. I'm sure the decision to de-emphasize the other Avengers during Season Five in favor of the Panther was made for business reasons: Disney wanted publicity for the 2018 PANTHER movie, so the ASSEMBLE teleseries was drafted for that purpose. But the movies bastardized the two great comics-runs of the Wakandan king-- the 1970s Don McGregor run, which first built up the internal world of Wakanda, and the 1990s Priest run, which showed the Panther taking Wakanda politics onto the international stage. The final ASSEMBLE season gives King T'Challa his best treatment outside comics, so much so that, unlike my reviews of the other seasons, I'll show my appreciation by breaking down each of the 23 episodes.

SHADOW OF ATLANTIS-- This two-parter is more focused than later episodes on showing T'Challa's activities with the New York-based Avengers. Nevertheless, the writers elaborated an aspect of the comics-Panther that later appeared in the 2022 live-action film: conflicts between Wakanda and the subsea kingdom of Atlantis. The original King of Atlantis, Namor the Sub-Mariner, never appears in the TV show, but earlier seasons substituted Namor's sparring-partner Attuma in his place, and here another Sub-Mariner villain, Tiger Shark, gives T'Challa a Namor-like opponent. An Atlantean contingent under Tiger Shark's command attacks New York, but the heroes learn that this is a rogue mission, serving not Attuma's Atlantis, but a mysterious conspiracy, the Shadow Council. The Panther is blamed by the US government for fomenting diplomatic tensions with the subsea kingdom, and so King T'Challa resigns from the Avengers. Captain America, who has a spiritual bond with the Wakandan king, promises to lend him aid whenever possible, but T'Challa not infrequently butts heads with Iron Man, which was a major feature of the Priest run. The Panther had appeared in earlier seasons, but in Season Five, the writers get a better lock on his character: an unflinchingly moral aristocrat whose occasional stubbornness is pointed out by his annoying kid-sister Shuri (who plays a similar role in the 2018 movie).

INTO THE DEEP-- Attuma takes Tiger Shark into Atlantean custody, but Panther needs to interview the villain despite Attuma's opposition. With Shuri's help, T'Challa infiltrates Atlantis, and learns from Tiger Shark that the organization he works for is a new iteration of a villain-group that included the original WWII Baron Zemo, a group defeated by Captain America and T'Challa's grandfather. The episode also introduced the McGregor "Big Bad" Killmonger, though here he's just a Wakandan diplomat secretly allied with the Council.

THE PANTHER AND THE WOLF-- Panther and Shuri return to Wakanda, looking for more intel on a relic, the Key of Wakanda, being sought by the Council. They encounter the Dora Milaje, the king's warrior maidens, and The White Wolf, a Caucasian adopted by the father of T'Challa and Shuri and thus raised beside them as a de facto brother. White Wolf is the opposite of the Panther, being more of a scofflaw, though he has the intelligence they want on the Council. But another Council pawn, the super-strong M'Baku, interferes. (In the comics, he dresses up like a gorilla, but this imagery is elided in the cartoon.)

THE ZEMO SANCTION-- Hoping to learn more about the Council's plans, Panther seeks out the modern-day Baron Zemo, son of Captain America's WWII enemy. To I'Challa's surprise, Zemo II renounces his father's ways, and the two men find some common ground re: domineering fathers. But the Council frees Tiger Shark and sends him to wipe out all intel on the Key of Wakanda. This version of Zemo owes more to the Marvel Comics version than the one that appeared in the MCU.

MISTS OF ATTILAN-- Panther learns that one piece of the Key was given, by T'Challa's father, to the Inhumans in their floating city. He invites former fellow Avenger Ms. Marvel to go along with him when he petitions to Black Bolt and Medusa for the artifact's return. The bubbly teen hero finds out that the reason the king invited her is that she's part Inhuman, and that helps T'Challa in his attempt to burgle the object when he's refused custody. However, once again the Council sends a pawn to steal the Panther's prize. This time it's Princess Zanda, a 1970s Jack Kirby character now endowed with shape-changing powers. After Zanda is driven away, the Inhumans agree that their security is unable to protect the artifact, and the Panther gets his treasure.

T'CHALLA ROYALE-- Zemo II becomes a Wakandan house guest as he seeks to decipher the files of his father for intel, but the Council hacks Wakanda's computers. For good measure they send another assassin, Kraven the Hunter, apparently a take on the comics character courtesy of a contemporary SPIDER-MAN cartoon.

THE NIGHT HAS WINGS-- This minor story feels indebted to dozens of old jungle-tales about Europeans manipulating the superstitions of African natives. Here tribespeople are being attacked by what some believe to be traditional boogeymen, but the monsters are giant bats created by Ulysses Klaw. After Panther defeats the villain, the hero leaves Klaw to die at the claws of his bats. However, Klaw survives and appears again, serving Killmonger and the Council.

MASK OF THE PANTHER-- Captain America escorts the Panther to a SHIELD installation to investigate a derelict ship from which, as I recall, the heroes cull the last piece of the Key. Along for the ride are the Avenger Hawkeye, and the former criminal scientist Whitney Frost, now working for the good guys. However, when the quarter investigate the derelict, automated defenses threaten them. Frost tries to control the ship by interfacing with it through a masklike apparatus. The interface drives her nuts, so that she starts calling herself Madame Masque (as in the comics) and makes common cause with Killmonger.

THE GOOD SON-- When Captain America visits Shuri and the Panther in Wakanda, he's attacked by the White Wolf, who believes all outsiders are threats to Wakanda security. The captain is somewhat torqued to learn that Panther is sheltering Zemo II, so almost no one in this episode trusts anyone else. Panther and Wolf end up having a big battle that works out many of their old grievances.

THE LOST TEMPLE-- Panther, Shuri, Captain America and Zemo II learn that the purpose of the Key is to allow access to a hidden temple, which in turn grants one access to a unique artifact, the Crown. Once they enter the temple, it proves to be a disguised spaceship that transports them to the moon's far side, where they find the Crown-- but also four Council villains: Killmonger, Tiger Shark, Klaw, and Madame Masque. The battle of heroes and villains is interrupted when their ship is about the crash-land in New York, and only Masque's interface-talents can save them.

DESCENT OF THE SHADOW-- Though Masque and Klaw are neutralized, the Crown goes missing, so now the heroes must fight Tiger Shark, Killmonger, and Zanda for the prize. Thanks to the crashed ship, Thor and Iron Man make the scene and add to the chaos. Zemo II is first to access the Crown, only to find that the power it bestows has a deleterious effect on the mind. During the battle with Zemo, Captain America appears to be destroyed.   

THE LAST AVENGER-- Black Widow tells her fellows that the Panther caused the Captain's death, but T'Challa can't take time with explanations. He and Shuri have to get the dangerous Crown back to the land of Wakanda, where the presence of ample vibranium will neutralize its ill effects. To do this, T'Challa must fight his way through his old friends, and though he reaches his goal, the battles, for once, aren't just shrugged off. T'Challa resents the Avengers' opposition as much as they resent his, and he closes Wakanda off from contact with the rest of the world.

THE VIBRANIUM CURTAIN-- In this two-parter-- whose title references the "Iron Curtain"-- the whole world believes the accusations against Panther, and all countries, even Atlantis, resolve to arrest him if he appears outside his borders. But T'Challa needs more intel from the captive Klaw, so he sneaks into the US. After Panther's taken down Iron Man and Thor, it's satisfying to see him given a hard time by Ant-Man. He again defeats Iron Man, but the hero unleashes the Winter Soldier on him (though they lack the connection seen in the MCU). Panther's defeated and imprisoned, but this is the way he manages to meet and interrogate Klaw. The villain reveals that Killmonger seeks something called "The Heart of Wakanda," and can help Panther find it in exchange for Klaw's freedom. Both Spider-Man and his enemy the Vulture guest-star, but not to very good effect.

T'CHANDA-- Panther and Shuri take Klaw to an ancient crypt, where Klaw says that Killmonger planned to use the Crown to cull secrets from one of the Wakandan ancestors. A mind-contact lets T'Challa re-experience the events when his grandfather allied himself to Captain America and Peggy Carter to prevent an early version of the Council, who have sent Hydra troops into Wakanda. Both the first Zemo and Arnim Zola make appearances.

YEMANDI-- Not having enough info from the first gleaning, T'Challa taps into the memories of another late ancestor, the warrior queen Yemandi. She has an arena-fight with a young version of the Mighty Thor, and then the two of them team up to look for Thor's hammer. This is the weakest episode of the season, which doesn't substantially affect the main plot, and an appearance by Marvel's version of Morgan Le Fay doesn't improve things.  

BASHENGA-- The third and last "adventure with the ancestors" has the Panther experience contact with Wakanda's first king Bashenga. Panther sees Bashenga and his twin sister Bask when the two are both warriors of the Panther Cult, battling the incursions of Atlantean raiders. They find the meteoric mineral from which the Crown was made, and Bask's exposure to its power pushes her into insanity. After concluding this mental traveling, Panther makes two more discoveries: Bask has been cryogenically preserved in the crypt, and Captain America is still alive.

KING BREAKER, Parts 1-2- No big surprise: the Black Widow who accused T'Challa of murdering Cap is actually the shape-changer Zanda. Panther, allied with White Wolf, infiltrates Atlantis to prevent Zanda from fomenting war between the marine city and the surface world. Zanda is buried by falling debris, but when Panther and Wolf seek to succor Attuma, he picks a fight with them. The Atlantean king finally gets over his Namor fit of pique, but Killmonger frees himself from confinement. Not long after T'Challa, Iron Man and Hawkeye save Attuma, he's killed but his rational daughter takes power, preventing the Council's attempt to generate world war. Killmonger faces off against Wolf and Panther. Defeated, the heroes need to escape with the villain to find out Black Widow's location, and this pisses off Attuma's daughter moments after she pledged her indebtedness. One of Sub-Mariner's old enemies, Orka, pops up in a support-role.

WIDOWMAKER-- Panther, Cap and Iron Man search for the Widow in one of Killmonger's hideaways. The heroes are attacked by plant monsters of the Council, but the rescuers are rescued by Black Widow, who's coincidentally broken free just in the nick of time. Then the villains of the Council assemble, including the newly revived Bask. She dons the super-power Crown and seeks dominion of Wakanda. So maybe she's "The Heart of Wakanda?" She then takes the place of Killmonger in the 2018 movie-- which had debuted in February 2018, a full year before the series wound to an end-- in that super-powered Bask engages Panther in trial by combat. She's not a great villain but at least she's a negative girlboss, something one never saw in the live-action MCU.

ATLANTIS ATTACKS-- Panther is rescued from Bask by White Wolf. Bask prepares to attack the surface nations, but Queen Elanna attacks Wakanda. Panther tells Wolf that, having been defeated, he can't challenge Bask, but that Shuri, the only other person with a royal bloodline, can do so. Instead of fighting, Shuri flips Bask against Killmonger, resulting in another throw-down where Panther and Wolf take on Killmonger's forces. Then T'Challa has to fight the invading Elanna too. Bask dies but pronounces Shuri queen and tells Panther that he alone can save the day by donning the Crown. He does so, but he can't prevent White Wolf's death. 

HOUSE OF M-- After sidelining the Avengers for the last half-dozen episodes, the heroes make their return, in an episode named for a comics-storyline centering on the X-Men. Somehow Thor has suffered, in between his last episode and this one, the loss of an eye seen in one MCU movie. Panther joins the team while they're mopping a bunch of old enemies allied to the Skull, belatedly bringing back the loose Hydra connection. But just to emphasize Panther's arc a bit more, he joins the other heroes while tracking down one escapee from the Wakandan imbroglio, Madame Masque. The final ASSEMBLE episode is mostly a long fight-scene that doesn't play into the geopolitical themes of the season, but it doesn't cancel out all the stronger story-arcs. 

Though the final episodes of Season Five seek to shoehorn too many incidents into the mix, BLACK PANTHER'S QUEST is still much more mature than the grievance-happy liberalism of the live-action movies.  

DEADLY INHERITANCE (1968)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny* 
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

Contrary to the creative poster illustration above, the "perilous psycho" of DEADLY INHERITANCE doesn't wear a mask, and both he and his fellow conspirator are very ordinary-looking. This early giallo-- probably the only one by director/co-writer Vittorio Sindoni, whose other credits I don't recognize-- doesn't offer any sadistic set-pieces like the slightly later works of Dario Argento, and in many ways, INHERITANCE seems like a lot of the 1960s versions of "old dark house" movies. Sindoni may have seen Bava's groundbreaking BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, because he places a lot of visual emphasis on good-looking women. But there's never any doubt that the motive of the mystery killer is largely pecuniary.

In a small French country-town, a rich old fellow dies and leaves a will that has the heirs up in arms. The late father left behind three beautiful daughters-- Simone, Rosalie and Collette-- and a quirky-looking adopted son, Janot. At the reading of the will, the heirs learn that none of them can collect their share of the bequest for the next three years, when Janot comes of age. Why the old guy couldn't just put Janot's share in a trust is not raised by anyone, and soon, a mystery killer starts knocking off possible heirs, starting with Janot. 

Normally, these "all heirs die but one" stories make no sense, because the remaining heir will inevitably fall under suspicion of the crimes. INHERITANCE does have a work-around of sorts, but I can't claim the killings are anything watchable. Of the three main actresses, I only knew Femi Benussi, while I'd seen the guy playing Janot in the later giallo TORSO. Sindoni keeps things percolating well enough, though, and never better than an early scene, prior to Janot's demise, when the aforementioned Janot peeks on his adoptive sister Simone (Benussi) while she's showering. This seeming throwaway nude-scene does figure into the denouement, though, and it adds a little spice to the generally routine story. If Sindoni had worked a little harder giving the victims even minor characterization, I might have upgraded this flick's mythicity to "fair."             

GHOST SWEEPER MIKAMI (1993-94); GHOST SWEEPER MIKAMI MOVIE (1994)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous* 
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*

I'd seen a few random episodes of this anime teleseries long ago but recently decided to take the plunge and watch all the subbed episodes online, as well as comparing them to the first two years of the 1991-99 manga series. Though some anime serials change many details about the manga-stories they adapt, or even produce totally original installments, all 45 episodes of the SWEEPER series are based on the tales of Takashi Shiina. The biggest changes are slight increases in slapstick violence and the injections of support-characters not in the original stories, probably just to increase their run-time.

Most of the episodes are done-in-one, with the exception of occasional two-parters. Starring character Reiko Mikami is a "ghost sweeper" in her late twenties or early thirties, and she uses a variety of supernatural weapons to exorcise troublesome ghosts and demons who plague modern-day people and businesses. Reiko is as courageous and resourceful as the best heroes, but she's also extremely mercenary, taxing her customers with huge bills so that someday she can become a rich woman. She's also slightly larcenous-- one episode displays her knowledge of burglary techniques-- and she constantly underpays her male assistant, seventeen-year-old Tadao Yokoshima. She gets away with this because she's super-hot and knows that horndog Yokoshima will accept any wage just to scope her out. The fact that she's exploiting the youth, however, does not keep her from doling out brutal punishment to the teen any time he tries to feel her up, or even expresses a negative opinion of her. Yokoshima, for his part, is clearly meant to be the "goat" of the series, the one who has all the terrible things happen to him-- and because he's such an unregenerate perv, his sufferings are funny. As contrast, Reiko also employs a naive young female ghost, Okinu, who's much milder in temperament than either Reiko or Yokoshima, but still generates her share of difficulties.

SWEEPER's cast has a healthy variety of equally wacky support-types, and as I noted, sometimes the writers injected them into adaptations of stories where they didn't appear. Happily, unlike some later manga-concepts, the first couple of years of the manga didn't overpopulate the series so as to distract from the central star and her two primary helpers, which arguably occurred with URUSEI YATSURA. This concentration on the three principals helps generate suspense about their responses to one another. While Reiko never becomes generous, she will fight for her friends, and sometimes even for "friendly enemies." It's not clear from the first two years of stories if she becomes a syndromic sadist through her constant thrashings of Yokoshima, though it will be interesting to see if the character changes at all in the manga as a whole. She does show some regard for his welfare at times, and even respects him a bit, until he inevitably loses that respect thanks to his horniness. 

SWEEPER is always light-hearted and non-serious, though manga-artist Shiina comes up with some creative concepts from time to time. For instance, when the team accidentally injures Santa Claus. they have to complete his rounds for him, though Shiina mentions that in modern times there are so many kids Santa has to choose recipients by sheer chance. A wilder sort of folklore-crossover has Reiko take on the Pied Piper of Hamelin-- albeit one put through a mythic mix-master, since his abilities include the power to turn adults into little kids (Reiko being his first victim) and to summon rats as his minions. The final episode adapts a story in which the ghost-sweepers get trapped inside a movie, interacting with fictional characters who are fully aware of being fiction. Something about the way treats the movie characters reminded me of the Japanese folklore-idea of the *tsukumogami,* an inanimate object that takes on a pseudo-life thanks to associating with humans. Neither the manga nor the anime is interested in any existential questions. But even ideas with potential unused can supply a sense of the creators' raw creativity. In conclusion, even before finishing my survey of the manga series, I like SWEEPER enough to say that its feminine protagonist ought to rank more highly in the lists of "best heroines ever."

ADDENDUM: After the teleseries ended the producers finally wrote what seems to be, from available info, an all-original story for the franchise. This hour-long OAV is also a very peculiar crossover, for it pits Reiko and her team, as well her usual support-cast, against the vampire Nosferatu. There's no resemblance between this monster and the character from the silent film classic, but it's implied that the spirit of the vampire somehow traveled to medieval Japan and possessed the body of the famous lord Nobunaga Oda. A contemporary exorcist seems to have slain the vampire-lord, but he reincarnates in modern Japan, along with his aide Ranmaru. Both Nobuaga and Ranmaru were real historical figures, though so far as I can tell most later expansions on their careers were not "fictionalized" enough for them to comprise crossover-icons. Anyway, the dead exorcist also appears in modern times and gives Reiko a magical spear with which the vanquish the demon. Reiko is her usual money-grubbing self but still steps up when Nosferatu endangers her world. None of the support-characters do much and Reiko's cowardly assistant Tadao only gets substantial time because the exorcist-ghost possesses him, using his body to help Reiko. The film recycles the usual tropes of the manga with no originality, though anyone in 1994 "shipping" Reiko and Tadao would have been pleased that when Reiko's life stands in danger, she thinks of her assistant moments before "he" shows up to save her. This Galahad fantasy, however, does not keep Reiko from beating up Tadao several times for his horndog behavior. There are a few decent scenes but overall, the movie-- given the subtitle "The Resurrection of Nosferatu" in a dubbed English version-- lacks the charm of the teleseries and the original manga.             

                                     

LUPIN III: LEGEND OF THE GOLD OF BABYLON (1985)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous* 
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

LEGEND, the third feature-film centered upon the LUPIN III franchise, is yet another treasure-hunt tale, and like many of the 1980s iterations, LEGEND follows the goony-cartoony approach of the Monkey Punch comics rather than the more streamlined adventures of later years. At the same time, there are odd mythopoeic elements here that don't often turn up in either the original manga or in the 1960s gangland stories helmed by one of LEGEND's two credited directors, Seijun Suzuki. Of the two writers, one worked on one Suzuki crime-film and several "pink" movies, while the other seems to have been more invested in television animation projects.

So there's a treasure being hunted by the Lupin Gang (included their on-off ally Fujiko) and by the Mafia, while in turn Inspector Zenigata is on Lupin's trail. There's nothing unusual about the treasure being some remnant of humankind's earliest generations, this time being a fabulous golden trove from ancient Babylon. But the script gives the treasure-trove a grounding in archaic myth: to wit, that in some bygone age, the supreme god of the Babylonians ordered his worshippers to gather together all of their gold into a great mountain, which the deity-- usually just called "God"-- then attempted to lift into heaven. But "God" dropped the tower of gold so that it fell into the uninhabited wilderness of the New World and was buried far beneath the earth of what would much later become New York City. Centuries later, both Lupin and the Mafia learn from ancient cuneiform tablets the possible location of the treasure, and they begin vying to seize the gold. In fact, the first time the viewer sees "Fujiko" seeking to find out what Mafia don Marciano knows about the bounty, the "mountains of Fuji" turn out to be an inflatable disguise worn by none other than Lupin. 

Now it's impossible to conjure with the image of a Babylonian mountain of gold and not think of the Old Testament's account of the so-called Tower of Babel. I don't remember what the LEGEND script says about the Biblical Tower, if anything, but I'm sure we never hear the canonical story in toto:

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. -- Genesis 11: 4-9.

Now, I'll concede that all the twaddle about the Babylonian God-- actually some sort of alien entity-- picking up the gold-mountain and dropping it was first and foremost a writer's means of getting the treasure from the Old World to the New. However, the basic idea of a deity taking some person or object into heaven follows the pattern of humans sacrificing goods to their deities. The original Tower of Babel story follows a parallel but opposing course: mortals are building a great tower that seems to reach to the heavens. God seems vaguely threatened by the project and confuses the languages of the builders so that the tower is never finished. (Some later retellings added the elaboration of the tower being cast down.)

However, the LEGEND script has an extra ET-fillip to add to its "was God an astronaut" concept. During Lupin's peregrinations he keeps encountering a wizened old woman, Rosetta, who makes weird claims about having lived for centuries while simultaneously offering her body to the flustered master thief. No viewer will be surprised to learn that Rosetta isn't just a crazed Earthwoman, and that she's really an ET who's been stranded on Earth since the age of Babylon. The script is never clear about how Rosetta got marooned-- though it would be logical if she was somehow compromised by the same difficulty that caused the gold-mountain to fall back to Earth. It's also never clear why the ET-ship left behind both Rosetta and the mountain and only visited the planet Earth at specific intervals; intervals that Lupin coordinates with the re-appearance of Halley's Comet. Maybe the basic idea was that the ET-ship was entirely automated. This might account for why it kept returning in mechanical fashion, and maybe for why Rosetta needs Lupin's help to gain access to the ship again. In the big climax, Rosetta transforms back into her natural form-- a space-babe, of course-- and she also tries to spirit away the golden treasure (with no mention as to why her people wanted the mineral). However, though Rosetta is able to return to her people (implicitly), she loses control of the treasure, which spills back down upon Earth. I think the script meant to imply that the gold was up for grabs to whoever could get it, so that this time, the Lupin Gang doesn't make an exceptional score.

The obsessed Zenigata furnishes some good laughs. After the inspector bungles catching Lupin in New York at the film's opening, his superior not only takes him off the Lupin case, he forces Zenigata to provide security for a New York beauty contest. Then, by a really weird conceit even for a cartoon movie, the superior gets in trouble for allegedly fixing the contest, so he placates the five runners-up by... talking them into becoming policewomen who help Zenigata track down Lupin again? The young women seem to get into their mission despite being saddled with the inept inspector, and a Chinese kung-fu beauty named Qing briefly tries to conquer Goemon, though she makes more impact on the samurai's heart than on his body. In fact, Lupin gets most of the good LEGEND scenes, with Fujiko and Jigen getting short shrift, while Goemon's most memorable scene has him dueling with a bolt of lightning. Clearly the writers were less beguiled with the regular Lupin gags than with their ambitious story of an astronaut/"god" who manages to leave behind a buried sacrificial treasure and its custodian, who looks like a "loathly lady" until she's reunited with her "dragon-hoard." But while LEGEND doesn't achieve the mythic concrescence of the better Lupin movies, unpredictable Lupin is always better than the predictable kind.                                      

           

HEAVENLY SWORD (2014)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

Though there aren't many high-mythicity sword-and-sorcery works in the world of live-action movies, there seem to be even fewer in animation. This situation seems counter-intuitive, since animation in theory would allow producers to get around some of the expense of FX in live-action productions. And HEAVENLY SWORD, a CGI adaptation of a 2007 videogame, certainly looks better than the average animated magical-era fantasy. And for once, the characterization is much better than the average sword-fantasy. So why does it fall short?

I don't know what elements in the screenplay might have come from the RPG and which might have come from scripter Todd Farmer. Given that Farmer's career has not been that outstanding, it's not likely that he added much of his own to the mix. Still, unlike a lot of S&S/D&D animated flicks, SWORD actually comes to a decisive conclusion with respect to the main hero's arc, and that's nothing to sneeze at.

There's a novel idea at the core of SWORD, and it relates to the titular object. Thousands of fantasies have been built around the concept of a "miracle weapon" which is the only means by which the good guys can overcome the superior forces of the bad guys. But SWORD at least poses the question as to how even fundamentally good people might make bad choices in seeking to fulfill destiny.

The Heavenly Sword was previously used to rout an evil deity in the fantasy-verse, so there's no doubt as to how powerful the blade is. However, it contains a supernatural power that can burn out an ordinary person seeking to use the sword. The usual dire prophecy asserts that a Chosen One alone can master the weapon, but how does one find-- or make-- such a Chosen One? Lord Shen, whose warrior-clan has custody of the Sword, tries to beget a Chosen One by inseminating various mothers. But since Shen believes that the only possible champion must be male, he's distressed when his only two children are both female. Nariko at least grows up knowing that Shen is his father, even if he deems her a failure, but Nariko doesn't know about Shen's other attempts. She does grow up in the clan alongside a best female buddy, the eccentric Kai-- only to belatedly learn that Kai is her half-sister.

Then Nariko and Kai must go on the run with the magic sword, for the tyrant Bolan invades the clan's stronghold, seeking the powerful weapon. Almost accidentally, the two females get a new mission beyond just keeping the sword safe, for they learn that Shen did beget a son, whom they presume to be the Chosen One. So this time the heroes must make a quest not for the magic weapon but for the only person who can wield it. Further, Nariko never doubts that the prophecy is true, for every time she uses the sword in self-defense, it drains her energy and threatens her life.

I won't reveal the question of just who the Chosen One really is, or further revelations about the Sword's nature. But even in the extroverted context of the story-- which includes a prison-break as well as the central quest-- there are a lot of good character moments for the two heroines. I downgrade SWORD's mythicity a trifle because it doesn't have any concept as to why the Sword's nature is as it is, which might have provided an apt counterpoint to Nariko and Kai's problematic relationships with their father.

Nevertheless, in terms of blade-action alone, SWORD is excellent, particularly a battle in which Nariko takes on a bulky warrior who fights by turning himself into an "armor-dillo." And the aforementioned conclusion is well-handled, demonstrating that there can be costs for even good guys when they mess around with the powers of heaven.     

THE MYSTERIOUS MAGICIAN (1964)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny* 
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

Opinions seem divided as to where DER HEXER, the "krimi" adaptation of Edgar Wallace's 1925 book THE RINGER, stands. Some reviews call it one of the worst of its ilk, others, one of the best. My take is somewhere in the middle: MAGICIAN is an enjoyable romp without a lot of substance.

A young woman is gruesomely murdered and her body gets tossed in the Thames. When Scotland Yard investigates, it's discovered that the victim possesses an indirect celebrity: she's the sister of a professional assassin, the Ringer-- whose name in German became "hexer," meaning magician or wizard. (The English dub uses the latter term, even though the movie's title uses the former.) He's called the Ringer because he's got an uncanny ability to assume many disguises in order to knock off his targets. The movie's vague about what the Yard knows about the Ringer: on one hand, they have the info that he was somehow exiled from Britain, yet no one knows what he looks like sans disguises. Perhaps the book's more consistent on that point.

I would guess that the book doesn't inject as many allusions to sex as MAGICIAN does. For instance, from Goodreads reviews I know that though the book-version of the story has the sister killed for discovering some skullduggery, MAGICIAN has her find out that her employer's involved in white slavery. Similarly, I'll bet the main character of the book isn't as much of a "player" as Joachim Fuchsberger's Inspector Higgins-- for all that the cop's engaged to a pert young miss named Elise (Sophie Hardy). The overall sexiness of the film stands in contrast to the comparatively higher quotient of violence in many krimis: only the opening murder and the Ringer's killing of the big boss-- with a sword-cane through his heart-- caught my attention.  

Edgar Wallace created a fair number of oddly named masterminds in his career, but the Ringer's only an "uncanny villain" by virtue of his power of disguise-mastery. It's suggested that the cops covertly admire the assassin because he's only targeted other criminals, and indeed the Ringer is really the star of the story, more than any of his pursuers. I can't speak for the book, but the movie ends with the assassin escaping after killing the last of the white slavers. I don't think Wallace usually resurrected his criminals for any encores, but Goodreads also informs me that the author also published a collection of stories, ALIAS THE RINGER.        

EL ROJO (1966)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

The "fair mythicity" rating on EL ROJO isn't at all for the generally routine spaghetti-western plot, but for an assortment of odd little touches writer-director Leopoldo Savona throws into the mix. 

We open on the scene of a wagon-train family arriving at the site of their newly acquired land, where they intend to work a gold mine. Then everyone in the family gets shot dead by arrows-- yet we don't see any marauding Indians about. Years later, four stalwart citizens of a nearby town are celebrating how rich they are before the admiring townfolk. Then a mysterious arrow is shot from an unknown Indian assailant, just missing the luminaries-- all on the very same day that a laconic stranger named Joe (Richard Harrison) arrives in town. Can there be a connection between all of these events?

No surprises here: the four rich guys-- Navarro, Wallace, Laskey and Ortega-- made their riches by killing off the family of goldminers and then by acquiring their mine. However, one member of the family wasn't there to be slaughtered, and it's the laconic stranger named Joe, who's looking for revenge. The Indian sniper, who has no lines in the picture, witnessed the slaughter of the family. Maybe the association of their bloody deaths is why Joe is called "Rojo" just once-- not counting a very oblique reference at the movie's end.

Though Joe has four obnoxious targets for his revenge-- one of whom, Laskey, married a local girl, Consuelo, who was apparently Joe's girl at some time-- director Savona doesn't play up the action/violence scenes as one might expect of a 1966 spaghetti western. Yet ROJO does maintain a curious offbeat charm in some little details Savona throws in. On a couple of occasions, Joe offers cubes of sugar to acquaintances and never explains where he picked up this habit. During one of Joe's revenge-plots, an accomplice-- also a patent-medicine peddler-- sets up a means of distracting the town by offering to burn the Devil in effigy, an odd ritual that the locals immediately embrace. Joe snipes at Consuelo for having sold her soul to one of the rich guys, and the script seems to agree with Joe, for unlike the majority of spaghetti-heroines Consuelo bites the dust.

However, the oddest thing in ROJO is also the only element that makes the film an uncanny western. At one point, a gunhawk comes to town, wearing a black mask over the lower part of his face-- except once, when he removes the scarf and displays an extensive scar that would do Jonah Hex proud. One assumes that one of the villains summoned the outlaw, not least because he's billed as "Nero Burt"-- in English, "Black Bart." Yet Bart (Angelo Boscariol) doesn't make any moves on Rojo. Then, near the movie's end, when Joe has wiped out the last enemy, Bart shows up and utters some cryptic line to Joe about how "the red and the black are together at last." Then the movie just ends, implying-- possibly-- some equivalence between the righteous vengeance-seeker and the Man in Black.

Savona directed four or five westerns I've not seen, some period historicals and one horror movie with the wild-sounding title, "Byleth the Demon of Incest." I may check out other sagebrush sagas in Savona's ouevre to see if any of them are as oddball as ROJO.