I like animals. If I am going to somebody’s home they usually have a pet I can play with, I’ll in all probability spend extra time with the animal than the particular person I’m there to see. And if it’s a cat, you may change that “in all probability” to an “nearly positively.” I like all types of animals, however cats are my favourite. There’s simply one thing about them that fascinates me, so naturally, I merely needed to evaluate Mad Cats. Not solely did it sound like a extremely cool motion/comedy/fantasy flick, however because the title suggests, it’s about cats (nicely, form of…however we’ll get to that), so I figured it will be proper up my alley. I couldn’t wait to verify this film out, and after lastly getting the prospect to press play on my screener, I’m pleased to report that it completely delivers on its weird feline premise.
Mad Cats was directed by Reiki Tsuno, and it stars Sho Mineo, Yuya Matsuura, Ayane, and So Yamanaka. It’s a couple of deadbeat named Taka who appears to spend most of his time avoiding his hire funds, and at some point, he receives a mysterious cassette tape telling him the place he can discover his lacking brother Mune. Mune is being held captive by a gaggle of fierce feminine warriors with unusual cat-like tendencies, and the place the place these girls are holding him additionally homes a picket field that Taka has to steal.
As soon as Taka learns the place his brother is, he tries his greatest to seek out Mune and steal the field, however he’s solely partially profitable. He manages to pilfer the field, and he does discover Mune, however he’s pressured to flee earlier than he can rescue his brother. After that shut shave with loss of life, Taka meets a homeless man named Takezo and a mysterious lady named Ayane, and the three of them group as much as rescue Mune and defend the field from the cat girls who’re decided to win it again.
From that transient plot synopsis, you could be questioning what enterprise an internet site referred to as Horror Obsessive has reviewing Mad Cats. Like I stated earlier than, it’s an motion/comedy/fantasy film, not a horror movie, so why are we overlaying it? Properly, though it’s not straight-up horror, it nonetheless has just a few style components, and I believe followers are going to get pleasure from them fairly a bit.
For starters, the cat girls who relentlessly pursue Taka and his pals give the film a slight horror vibe. When one in every of them fails, one other one takes her place fairly quickly afterward, so the protagonists are nearly always combating for his or her lives towards these lethal assassins.
What’s extra, the mythology behind these unusual warriors can be considerably horror-centric. They appear human however act like cats, in order that they’re not precisely your typical motion villains. As a substitute, they’ve a little bit of a monstrous really feel to them, and at one level in Mad Cats, Ayane even calls them “cat monsters.” So sure, these are legit horror characters, and I’d even go as far as to say that it is a borderline werecat film.
Now that we received that difficulty out of the way in which, let’s transfer on to the extra urgent query: Is Mad Cats good? Fortunately, the reply is a powerful sure. In the beginning, the three important characters on this movie are tremendous likable. They’re admittedly all a bit one-note, however the performances and the writing are so good I merely didn’t care. Taka and Takezo present some nice comedian aid, and Ayane is wonderful because the badass motion hero who lets her fists do a lot of the speaking.
And talking of fists, the motion in Mad Cats is fairly nice as nicely. The combat choreography is superb, and the actors who play Ayane and the cat girls she goes toe to toe with are all superior martial artists. Seeing them trip is a factor of violent magnificence, so in the event you’re a fan of motion motion pictures, I believe you’re actually going to get pleasure from this one.
That being stated, I do have one tiny critique of the motion on this movie–I assumed the fights had just a few too many cuts in them. Granted, they’re certainly not dangerous, however I a lot desire a smoother, extra John Wick-esque fashion of motion cinematography that permits us to see the fights unfold nearly as if we had been there watching them dwell.
Final however not least, let’s discuss a bit in regards to the comedy in Mad Cats. As I stated, Taka and Takezo are the comedian aid, they usually’re fairly hilarious. They carry totally different types of humor to the film, however they’re equally efficient. For instance, Taka doesn’t normally attempt to be humorous, however the movie will get loads of laughs from his cowardice and his pathetic makes an attempt at being an motion hero. In distinction, Takezo is a little bit of a sarcastic jerk, so he’ll get you extra along with his dialogue.
On the unfavourable aspect, I’ve to be sincere, there isn’t a lot to dislike about this film. Positive, there are a bunch of issues I may nitpick, and I had that one minor difficulty with the motion, however on the entire, I don’t have any massive issues with the movie. It’s a fantastic watch throughout, so in the event you get the prospect, I extremely suggest that you simply take a look at Mad Cats when you may. It has nice characters, glorious motion, and hilarious comedy, so I believe you’re actually going to get pleasure from this film.
Mad Cats will play on the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition on August 4.
