(CCR Original Content) I Am A Hero Review [Spoiler Free Review and Spoiler Review below picture] (8/10)
I Am A Hero is a 2016 Japanese action/horror movie directed by Shinsuke Sato and written by Akiko Nogi. It was produced by Toho Studio and Licensed by Funimation. It premiered at Sitges Film Festival in 2015 and in theaters in 2016. The film stars actors Yo Oizumi, Miho Suzuki, Kasumi Arumira and Masami Nagasawa.
Hideo Suzuki (Yo Oizumi) is a 35-year old assistant manga artist, living with his girlfriend Tekko (Miho Suzuki) who's questioning the choices she's made in her life as to why she is still with him. He's stuck in an exhausting low-paying job with unfulfilled dreams, strange hallucinations and delusions of grandeur and unsatisfying relationships with his girlfriend and people at work. His everyday life is forever changed when a disease called ZQN sweeps across the city turning everyone infected into zombie like homicidal maniacs whose first instinct is to attack and devour the nearest human. Meeting strangers along the way, he must run for his life armed only with his sporting shotgun that he's only used to shoot at clay discs.
This movie was pretty freaking awesome. At first I was a little thrown off by the appearance of the zombies (ZQN) but after I got over it, I really began to enjoy the movie. I like how the main character Hideo has these hallucinations/delusions where he kind of zones out into his own little fantasy. It made him quite unique when it comes to zombie movies also his personality in general and how he really is a nice guy. The ZQN's themselves were also a unique take on zombies and the whole eye thing (their eyes become the opposite of cross eyed, exotropia) which at first seemed to me as silly was down right freaky and upsetting later. Some zombies seemed a little fake or too crazy but like I mentioned once I got passed that, I really got more immersed in the film. The characters that come out were pretty interesting as well and while some were trope-ish, most were done in a way that that didn't seem too cliché and derivative. The plot could have been better hashed out but for having quite a bit of down time scenes there were equally a lot of actions scenes that kept the movie going. I was actually surprised that the movie didn't take more time in developing some of the relationships between the survivors and instead used the dire circumstances and alliances to bring people together. I have to say that this is probably one of the top 5 or even top 3 zombie movies I've seen for this years Zombie Movie Madness: Countdown to Halloween and I give it a 8/10 and my "Must See Seal of Approval".
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Spoiler Section Review:
I have to say that this movie is one of the best zombie movies I've seen lately. From the beginning I like the way that the main character Hideo has these little moments where he zones out and has these little fantasies where he imagines himself as being more outgoing or heroic. Even if its just something small like the first one where he's at work and get's everyone cheering about being proud to work there when in reality he was just muttering to himself quietly. I really like how he's this kind of everyday regular guy who's just kind of down on his luck doubting himself. He's not where he thought he would be career wise which is hindering his relationship with his girlfriend and his co-workers. His girlfriend even kicks him out because of this and throws out some of his stuff. He really has bad luck because as he tries to make up for the fight with his girlfriend Tekko, he goes back to the apartment to find out that she has been infected by the ZQN virus and she attacks him and nearly infects him too. The ZQN's were pretty cool by the way. At first I thought that the whole cross-eyed look to them looked a little too silly but as it became a signature visualization that marked when someone had become a zombie. When his girlfriend turned it was quite horrifying as she contorted all over the place and did everything in her power to try and eat him. She even bit the door so violently she broke off all of her teeth, which was quite lucky for Hideo because when she bit him she didn't break the skin infecting him. The scene when he is running through the city and everything is in chaos was one of the more memorable scenes for me because so much was going on. There were ZQN's and regular people running all over the place in all directions and cars hitting people, but the car scene with the business man, the school girl Hiromi, and the taxi driver was spectacular. In fact one of the coolest things I've seen in a zombie movie is the school girl Hiromi who becomes a abnormal ZQN. She says that she was bit by a baby who was probably infected from breast milk if the mother was a ZQN. She didn't exhibit any symptoms for like 2 days and when she turns she doesn't attack Hideo but instead saves him by killing a ZQN that was trying to kill him. She has one eye that looks like a ZQN and has crazy superhuman strength but for some reason sleeps a lot. Most of the time in these survival zombie movies the story suffers from a lack of plot structure but a news report stating that the virus can't sustain itself at higher elevations make traveling to Mt. Fuji a destination propelling the plot further in a direction that makes sense. I also like how they used foreshadowing in certain scenes like when he finds a shopping basket with a logo of a marketplace, you can tell that place is more than likely the next destination. I also thought it was pretty cool how Hiromi wasn't the only abnormal and there was a weird "grudge" spider walking girl and then the infamous track star zombie with the crushed head. That one ran super fast and jumped really high and was pretty cool. One of the things I kind of didn't like was that Hideo had a gun for a lot of the movie but never even shot it until close to the end but it did go with the characters personality and make the story more interesting. It's just a little hard to believe. Also why weren't there anybody using any samurais swords on the zombies. I mean with the ZQN's being hard to kill because you need to destroy the whole brain, cutting their heads off would have been really efficient and machetes or swords would have been perfect. And just because it's Japan, I don't expect there to be swords everywhere but I'm surprised there wasn't even one. This movie was just so unexpectedly good it's hard for me to nitpick at things with it and I'm sure there's more that bothered me with it but I really enjoyed and liked this movie. I give this movie a 8/10 and my "Must See Seal of Approval"