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The Bottom Line

In a parallel-world version of modern Europe, the "Kildren" -- young men and women who never age past a certain point -- fly fighter planes in a seemingly endless war waged between corporate adversaries. But wait: this is a Mamoru (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) movie; the story he's telling is secondary to his idiosyncratic style and personal obsessions.

Action buffs won't like it: it's slow and ponderous, and the aerial dogfight scenes (spectacular as they are) are few and far between.

But it's one of Oshii's better projects, and is gorgeous to look at thanks to outstanding work by animation house Production I.G.



Pros

• Aerial combat sequences are among the best filmed, live-action or animated.
• Thought-provoking in the long run, as all of Oshii's films tend to be.
• Great production design.

Cons

• Slow-moving and ponderous.
• Characters remain emotionally distant no thanks to the movie's glacial approach.

Description

• Director: Mamoru Oshii
• Released By: Sony Pictures
• Price: $24.95
• Age Rating: PG-13
• Anime Genres:
  • Feature Film
  • Alternate History
  • Drama
• Related Titles:
  • Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
  • Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Guide Review - The Sky Crawlers

Appearances deceive throughout The Sky Crawlers. It takes place in what looks like WWII Europe, but it's not. It's a hybrid of past and present, where war no longer exists and mutually hostile corporations wage aerial battles with each other as a substitute. One such company employs "Kildren", young men and women who stop aging shortly after adolescence thanks to experimental technology.

A new Kildren pilot has just started his term of service, the quiet and diffident Kannami. The pilot he's replacing, Jinroh, died under mysterious circumstances. Rumors swirl around the base that Kannami's commander, Kusanagi (a former Kildren pilot, promoted out of harm's way), was responsible for his death. When Kannami's not flying sorties and dodging the deadly gunfire, he's trying to make sense of his strange newfound feelings – such as whether or not he feels something for Kusanagi when she starts showing an interest in him that borders on obsession.

Kannami's a skilled pilot, and comes back alive again and again when many of his cohorts do not. But his life on the ground is lived in a haze of indifference, punctuated by the occasional clue that he was once someone else. "I feel like I've met you somewhere before," Kannami says, a fairly blunt clue about what's going on. By the time he realizes this isn't just a figure of speech, he's called upon to grow a soul (or at the very least a spine) and make more than one life-or-death decision on both his behalf and Kusanagi's.

There's barely a frame in Sky Crawlers that doesn't look great, even when there's precious little actually happening. It's about eighty percent dialogue and near-static imagery, rendered against painted backdrops and in moody interiors that beautifully evoke a specific time and place that never really existed. The remaining twenty percent is amazingly designed and photographed air-combat action; this may be one of the best-looking war-in-the-skies movies ever made. Fans of animation-as-art will love it for the look alone, shown off at its best on the Blu-ray edition. It's the slow and talky bulk of the film that makes it tougher going for most people.

Mamoru Oshii has the same aura about him as a director of animation as David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick do with live action. His work is brilliant and eye-opening, but emotionally remote (and often downright cryptic). He prefers ideas to people, and images and scenery to action and plot. Crawlers is in line with his usual style, and so he litters the film with references to his own work: e.g., the basset hound who hangs around the airstrip is Oshii's recurring symbol of memory.

Do you need to be an Oshii fan to enjoy Sky Crawlers? You don't, but it helps -- and if you're not one yet, this film is not a bad way to find out if you want to become one. The slowness grows on you if you're patient, and in the end it builds up a quiet emotional power of its own that can't be dismissed.