ELECTRIC DRAGON 80000V

Drug Inducing Punk Fest

I'll start with my all time favorite Japanese movie. Electric Dragon not only blew me away after viewing it, I was craving for way more. I don't know what possessed Sogo Ishii to make this film, but it's a gift that's under-appreciated. Sure it's loud and nonsensical, but Ishii uses this element and changes it into some kind of sick guilty pleasure. Although clocking in at only fifty-five minutes, it's fun as hell.

The story is really irrelevant as you'll be mesmerized by the visual content, but I'll take a stab at it. The intro starts with a boy climbing up a pylon in an attempt at a dare. He consequently gets hit by a bolt of lightning, survives, and is super charged with 20 millions volts of electricity. Thus, the schizophrenic baddy is introduced and is dubbed 'The Thunderbolt Buddha', played by Masatoshi Nagase. The protagonist is the ultra cool, guitar playing, lizard collecting 'Dragon Eye', played by cult favorite, Tadanobu Asano (also seen in Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi). He had a troubled childhood and as a result, was given shock therapy from a young age. He builds a tolerance for electricity of up to 80,000 volts, not nearly as much as Mr. Thunderbolt Buddha. After finishing his therapy and being poked and prodded by scientists, he self administers the same shock with his homemade electrocution bed back at home. But 'The Thunderbolt Buddha' tries to pick a fight with 'Dragon Eye' by destroying his guitar and killing his lizards. Cut to the finale where the two men have an electricity charged fist flying showdown.

ED 80000V combines an electric (pun intended) soundtrack played by the band, 'Mach 1.67' and has very crisp sound effects. The visuals are a super charged punk inspired feast, mixed with black and white psychotic reels reminiscent of the film "Pi". It has some hilarious scenes and quotes that makes fun of itself. It also contains tributes to other characters and movies, like Bruce Lee, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, rock legend Jim Morrison and more. Despite what you may think of the synopsis, it's a highly charged original piece of art. Essential!

Director: Sogo Ishii
Genre: Punk Action
Year: 2000
Rating: 8/8
On DVD at HKFlix