Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal released in 1981 is an adult animated sci-fi/fantasy/horror film. The film is created by the creators of Heavy Metal magazine, which is a magazine that publishes serialized graphic novels, and adult comics, and also features some of the best graphic fantasy artists, such as Louis Royo (who is one of my favourite artists). This film is comprised of multiple inter-related short stories; Soft Landing, Grimaldi, Harry Canyon, Den, Captain Sternn, B-17, So Beautiful So Dangerous, Taarna, and Epilogue. The film features the voices of famous actors such as John Candy and Rodger Bumpass (best known as Squidward on Spongebob), among other famous Canadian actors. Heavy Metal is one of the greatest animated films of all time, featuring mixed media animations such as rotoscoping and the use of models. The exploding house at the end of the film is an actual model and not animated at all, where the B-17 bomber in B-17 was a model that was then rotoscoped. The mix of animation comes together beautifully to create amazing imagery. Honestly I prefer the animation that was coming out in this era over almost anything that is coming out in the current era. The art in the animated films of this time such as Heavy Metal, the films that Ralph Bakshi was doing like Lord Of The Rings, Wizards, and Fire And Ice, and also the Ranken Bass films like The Hobbit for example created beautiful art with a darker side that seems to missing in much of today's animation, which seems to rely too heavily on digital rendering rather than actual paintings and animation styles that were used in the 70s and 80s. The art in this film probably stands above the actual story telling, which is often the case when reading Heavy Metal magazine as well. I mean honestly I always bought it for the art, not for the depth of the stories. This is also definitely not animation for children, you will see blood, violence, graphic nudity, and graphic language, but again that is also a staple of Heavy Metal magazine as well. All in all this is just a great looking film, with amazing mixed styles of animation, that has stood well the test of time, and the graininess of the film actually adds to its beautiful look honestly, and helps to create the dark and gritty mood of the film. Heavy Metal is an unapologetic film about an evil orb that passes from world to world from generation to generation, creating evil, greed, and destruction in its path, and only a few can stand against its evil power. The film is filled with violence, drugs, sex, and of course rock 'n' roll. Aside from the great animation the sound track also stands out as being part of what makes the film so great with songs by: Sammy Hagar, Devo, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Nazareth, Journey, Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath, Stevie Nicks, along with other classic rock bands. The classic rock sound track helps to set the hard gritty edge of the film, and even includes a live (animated) performance by Devo as the bar band in the Taarna story. The title of the film might lead one to expect bands like Dio or Judas Priest, but the title doesn't refer to the genre of music but rather the name of the magazine, which I feel sometimes confuses people. I remember the first time I saw this film, back in the 80s on like HBO or something like that, and I was blown away because I had never seen anything like it before, I soon after found Wizards by Ralph Bakshi, and realized that cartoons were not just for children, this is no soft-serve Disney bullshit, this was hardcore, this was violent, this was sexy, and this was great. back in the late 90s when I turned 18 and could buy Heavy Metal magazine I bought every copy I could get my hands on, and I was also so excited when Heavy Metal 2000 came out and bought it on VHS as soon as it was released (which sadly I have lost over the years), I even followed the photo shoots of Julie Strain (the lead actress and model in Heavy Metal 2000) in Penthouse. I loved the graphic fantasy art style, nothing is quite as sexy as a bad-ass woman with a sword. I know that some women view that style of art sexist, but I as a young woman saw Taarna as a strong woman that inspired me, she didn't need a man, she didn't need anyone other than her trusty bird, she was strong and powerful and brave, and everything I wanted to be. Now to talk about the stories themselves, honestly the plots and story lines are a bit weak. I mean I like the over arching them of the Loch-Nar, but the stories themselves that made up the movie were not engrossing, few characters were endearing, and there was nothing that really urged the viewer to have any vested interest in anything that is really happening from story to story. The voice acting is alright, heard better, definitely heard worse, but nothing really amazing going on there. The stories were all thin and brief, sometimes almost pointless other than just to illustrate that the Loch-Nar brings out the evil in people that it comes in contact with. The stories play out as more of a crazy drug induced trip than they do an actual coherent story of any sort. Of course some were better than others, definitely my favourite being Taarna, but Den was also a decently written, though John Candy really did in my opinion a poor job of voice acting, making the story more cringe worthy than it really needed to be. I also do love the dark horror aspect of B-17, but as far as story going on, there really isn't much of one. When looked at as a whole it does have this interesting story of how this ball of evil has passed down through generations and worlds, and really all the stories in between do is serve to illustrate how, but do so very shallowly and at times incoherently. That all said, I absolutely love this film, though it is as I have pointed out flawed. Would I recommend this film. Yes, IF you are looking for a beautiful example of mixed animation styles that really do work together and look beautiful with a drug induced trip vibe to them, and don't mind a lot of violence, sex, drugs, and rock n roll to go along with the beautiful visuals. If you are looking for a beautiful piece of art, with a great soundtrack this is a must see. If you are a fan of animation from this era then this is definitely a must see. This movie is one of the greatest animated films of all time. But if you are looking for concise story, with engrossing characters, and depth in story telling, then this one isn't for you and you should probably skip it. Also if seeing naked women, drugs, sex, and violence offends you, then probably steer clear of this film, it isn't for you. But I really do encourage people to watch and appreciate the artistic achievement that the animators have accomplished here.