Set fifty years after a devastating war which saw the Eastern Federation defeat Europa civilisation is still in ruins. Rebels are still fighting and the world is heavily polluted. Dr Azuma announces that he has found a way to regenerate any human organ using 'neo-cells'. While his research goes ahead his son is killed fighting in the army. Something goes wrong when lightning strikes the laboratory; it creates entire people; so called Neo-Sapiens. Those who escape kidnap Dr Azuma's wife and flee to the mountains. Meanwhile Dr Azuma uses his research to bring his son Tetsuya back to life. He is no longer an ordinary person though; he now has superhuman strength. It isn't long before the Neo Sapiens have built a robot army and are trying to wipe out humanity and Tetsuya is leading the fight to stop them.It must be said that this film looks great; it has a CGI-steampunk aesthetic and frequently looks like a pop video might be like if it had been directed by Fritz Lang. Unfortunately it is also a bit of a mess plot wise; at time it felt as if the makers thought up something that would look great without necessarily being able to explain why it was happening. The basic story is solid but the way it was told frequently left me a little confused about what was going on. I can't say how it compares to the original anime as I've not seen it; only 'Casshern Sins' that was made after this and is quite different. I'd recommend this to fans of the genre but wouldn't call it a must see.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Lat ANYBODY watch ANY 5 minutes of the movie and they will say "holy sh**t that is amazing". And at least back in 2004 it was mind-blowing what Casshern delivers in visuals and style. The director was a fashion designer or something and by all means: that shows. Casshern is a beauty.But a beauty that feels like 6 hours and has nothing interesting to say. At some point you just end up being exhausted and bored. And it really is a pity.We need Dario Argento to make an European cut with 75 Minutes runtime and have a blast with the outcome.

This sci-fi action film was in my opinion a total mess of a movie. It never seemed to know exactly what it was aiming to be. One moment it was ultra serious with endless monologues about life, the next a super-charged action flick. Nothing essentially wrong with this per se only that both elements were so poorly done. While the dialogue-heavy scenes were deeply tedious, the action sequences were shot like a computer game. Well, a computer game where you have little idea what is actually going on due to stupidly fast editing. Apparently the director came from a music video background and that may explain the fast editing and showy graphics. It was awful. Really tiresome. The film in general is very poorly directed and the screenplay was terrible. I don't know if the story line was more interesting in it's original comic-book format but I fully expect it must have been. It's often difficult knowing precisely what is going on, although admittedly this may have been due to the sheer tediousness of it's presentation resulting in my brain shutting down.Unfortunately this film has been brought to screen with lots of money but little inspiration. Last and certainly not least, is the fact that this movie is way, way too long. There is no justification at all for a two hour plus running time. I was bored senseless by this one.

Casshern is a hyper-stylized science fiction with some very strong action elements. If you realize that director Kiriya, who also penned the screenplay, is primarily known for directing music videos you'll have a good understanding of where he's coming from in making this film. Indeed, Casshern is at its best when the on screen action is complimented by the energetic music of veteran composer Shirou Sagisu. Several of the film's strongest segments are montage-like action sequences, yet action is not its primary focus, and action fans may feel a bit let down.Sci-fi fans, on the other hand, will have much to love. The film's retro-futuristic steampunk aesthetic is appealing and completely realized. The story, while plainly told, is interesting and has that rare mystical quality that leaves you wanting to know more. This film can be described as thoughtful, though this aspect of it seems a bit forced at times. The catastrophic ending with resolution is so common in Japanese film as to be trite, and it appears here as well, is less odious for some reason than it could have been.A note on subtitles: the American DVD released by Dreamworks comes with subtitles that are grossly inaccurate. Yet at the same time they do a better job of explaining the story than a strict "hard" may have done. Whether this is a positive thing or not comes down to whether your philosophy favors a completely faithful translation or one that better conveys the spirit of the film with clarity. As a proponent of the former, I was a bit disappointed in the subtitles, but those with no understanding of Japanese will not be led astray.In all, I found Casshern to be an enjoyable film, but may not please viewers who expect more of it than they should.