Sky High (2003)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Tsutomu Takahashi (comic book)
Isao Kiriyama (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 December 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Fantasy | Mystery | Action | Horror

Plot:

A serial-murderer is removing his victims hearts and taking them with him. Kanzaki is a detective on the case...

Plot Keywords:

Heart | Based On Comic | Choice | Death | Katana Sword

Cast

Yumiko Shaku	...	Mina Saeki / Izuko (new Izuko)
Takao Ôsawa	...	Tatsuya Kudo
Shosuke Tanihara	...	Kohei Kanzaki
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuka Itaya
Yumi Kikuchi	...	Shuho Kamiina
Kazuki Kitamura
Aya Okamoto
Masato Sakai
Eihi Shiina	...	Izuko
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Kazuo Kishi
Naho Toda	...	Kyoko Aoyama
Maiko Yamada
Kimika Yoshino

MPAA:

Rated R for violent content.

Runtime:

Japan:122 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Toei Company

Quotes:

Izuko: Welcome to the Gate of Rage. I am Izuko, Guardian of the Gate. You have died. You exist only as a spirit. To the Gate of Rage come those dead of misadventure, or murder. Here you may choose one way to proceed, out of three.
Mina: Three ways?
Izuko: One: Aceept death, ascend to Paradise, and prepare for rebirth. Two: As a ghost, forever haunt the realm of the living. And three: Curse one living person, and bring about their death. One who kills, however, falls into Hell... to suffer eternal torment.
Mina: What's all this about? What are you?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Capitalism: The Movie (2008)

Kitamura's in the game as always

I'm a big fan of Kitamura Ryuhei and he ain't disappointing anyone with this one either, all though this one probably ain't my favorite by him. What you get here is as usual an original plot who at first, reading on IMDb, seemed a bit difficult but as soon as the movie went on it weren't hard to keep up with the plot development. I saw someone who really ranted about this piece, but I guess it was another Hollywood fan because Kitamura is, as always, bending the borders a bit and I do understand if the inveterately Hollywood fans will find this "controversial", by judging the camera work, plot, scenes e.t.c. The scenery in "Sky High" is lovely! What I perhaps lacked here was the more "diffuse" plot development, it was a bit too straight for me (yet good but I wanted more). It's a 7/10 and any Kitamura fan should see this!