Movie Reviews: Heavy Metal 2000

Title: Heavy Metal 2000

Michael Ironside as Tyler
Julie Strain Eastman as Julie
Billy Idol as Odin
Pierre Khan as Germain St. Germain
Sonja Ball as Kerrie
Brady Moffat as Lambert
Rick Jones as Zeek
Arthur Holden as Dr. Schechter

Directed by: Michael Coldewey and Michel Lemire

Country: Canada and Germany

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure,

Year of Release: 2000

Synopsis: Also known as “Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2”, this Canadian-German direct-to-video adult animated science fiction film starrs the voices of Michael Ironside, Julie Strain Eastman, and Billy Idol. The movie is the follow-up to the 1981 animated cult film Heavy Metal, which is based on the fantasy magazine of the same name. The story is based on the graphic novel titled “The Melting Pot”, written by Kevin Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot. The film was made by CinéGroupe, a studio based in Montreal, Quebec. However, this film is not a direct sequel to the original movie. The story revolves around a space expedition team, who discover a strange glowing green shard on board their ship, which just so happens to be a key to a chamber of immortality that can be found on the alien planet of Oroboris. However, the shard also has the ability to turn whoever touches it into an insane evil madman. And when Tyler touches it, he goes homicidally insane, and grows an insatiable hunger for power. He immediately kills his mining partner, and everybody else onboard the ship who opposes him and questions his desires. But he keeps some of the crew alive for the sake of navigating through space. He leads the expedition team to the planet of Eden, and they slaughter the inhabitants there. But he and his men capture some so he can extract their fluids to create a serum that keeps him alive even after enduring fatal wounds. He also keeps Kerrie for his own purposes, but when Germain resists the idea, he is left behind on Eden and deserted. Julie, the main protagonist of this film (and the older sister of Kerrie), is driven with a sole desire for personal revenge against Tyler for ravaging Eden. She reluctantly befriends Germain, who she treats like garbage throughout the entire film. Julie nearly succeeds in killing Tyler, only for him to be resurrected by his serum. Their chase ultimately leads them to the planet of Oroboris, where the chamber of immortality is located.

Personal Comments: In all honesty, Heavy Metal 2000 is a movie which I have mixed feelings for. While it was a unique film only in the sense that it was targeted towards a more mature audience with its level of gory violence, sexual themes, and profanity, everything else about this movie pretty much falls short of the fans' expectations hoping that this will be just as good or better than the original. In fact, this movie was considered to be a bit of a let down for fans of the original movie. I only briefly mentioned this movie in my review of “Dead Space: Downfall”. And like the latter, Heavy Metal 2000 was never released theatrically. But rather, it was released as a straight to video movie (like most 2D animated films are nowadays), and it was also shown on the Starz network on July 14th, 2000. And this movie came out almost 20 years after the original. Unlike the original movie, which had a variety of different stories crammed into one, Heavy Metal 2000 only has one story. And unfortunately, it's garbage. Trust me, it's the most cliched and redundant storyline ever thought of. And it gets old VERY quickly. The story in this movie focuses on a space crew, who for some odd reason come across what I assumed at first was a fragment of the Loc-Nar. But unfortunately, that's as close as this film comes to being a sequel to the original movie. As I said before, this movie is based more on the story known as “The Melting Pot”, which is part of the Heavy Metal comics by Kevin Eastman. So its no wonder why this film has almost no relation to the film that preceded it almost 20 years prior. But believe me when I say that this is the least of our problems. Because everything that the original film has, this film lacks. Especially in its presentation.

First of all, the animation sucks. In fact, it's just downright godawful in the lowest common denominator. And yes, I even go as far to say that it's just as bad as the animation from the animated Titanic films, the 1997 White Fang cartoon, and certain episodes from the American Megaman cartoon. The character designs are so bland and uninspired, and the colors and details don't stand out very much. Especially when compared to the masterpiece Ghost in the Shell, which came five years before this and looked much better in comparison. Heavy Metal 2000 has some of the worst artwork I've ever seen. The animation has such poor sense of color. The drawings are not very well polished, and everything seems to blend in with one another. The backgrounds are decent. But the characters and objects don't stand out at all. Not to mention the moving quality is lacking, and it's just not very spectacular to look at. In short, the animation is garbage. Even for its time it looks like crap. Seriously, they could have done a MUCH better job than this. I'm guessing this was done on a rather low budget. I mean that's the only explanation I can think of for the animation's lack of quality. One thing I will give this movie credit for however, was its occasional use of CGI. Similar to "Golgo 13: The Professional", this movie also made use of traditional animation and CGI. But in this case, it wasn't very well done. While certain scenes were CGI was used looks pretty good for its time, there are certain spots where the CGI doesn't look very impressive.

Some of the actors who participated in this film are actually famous celebrities. And well, it's a shame for them to have wasted their talents on this movie. Most people know Michael Ironside, as Richter from the original Total Recall film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And in more recent years, he played as the voice of Ultra Magnus in Transformers: Prime. This may come as a complete surprise to some people. But interestingly enough, Julie, the main protagonist of the film, is modeled and named after the very person who voiced her, Julie Strain Eastman, who is an American actress and porn star. Yeah, it's kind of funny how they modeled a fictional character after a real live person. But to be fair, its not that uncommon as it has happened many times before. Heck, Family Guy depicts an animated version of Adam West, who most people may remember as Batman from the live action 60s show. And of course we have Billy Idol, who did the voice of the character Odin in this movie. His real name is William Michael Albert Broad. But he is known as Billy Idol to to the public. He is a British rock musician, songwriter, and actor. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band called “Generation X”. Unlike other British punk rock artists, Idol claimed he was inspired by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Idol then embarked on a successful solo career, and was a member of the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. A series of music videos for songs such as "Dancing With Myself", "White Wedding", "Rebel Yell" and "Eyes Without a Face" made him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens, and is still making music to this day. But back to Heavy Metal 2000. I know I said this before, but the story is complete and utter garbage. While the theory of immortality is an interesting subject to explore, the way its handled and delivered to the audience is just piss poor. I mean you'd think that after almost 20 years since the release of the original film, they'd come up with a story that's original, engaging, spectacular, and memorable. But sadly, this movie fails miserably in its story just as it does with the animation. And it only seems to fit in with the lack of effort that the rest of the film has.

Now, there are some parts of this movie that I do like, and there are some parts that just throw me off. For the most part, I like some of the action scenes. They're pretty hardcore and intense. And as you would expect since this was geared towards a more mature audience, the violence and gore is off the charts. Believe me when I say that you'll RARELY come across cartoons like this nowadays. As for the parts I don't like, well, this movie does tend to lag a lot on the flow of its story. Not that it had a good story to begin with. But yeah, there are some pretty stupid and pointless moments in this film. As for the characters, most of them come off as obnoxious, unlikable, and uninteresting. Perhaps the most annoying character in the entire movie is Germain. And by God in heaven do I find this character annoying. I can clearly see why Julie despised him. He just wouldn't shut up; he constantly whines and complains throughout the entire film. And in all honesty, I was hoping he would die. But sadly, that never happens. And even in the last few moments of the film, he's an annoyance. Tyler is basically your typical everyday villain. Well okay. Not really. But there's really not much to him aside from the fact that he's an insane psychopath who simply wants to become immortal so he can satisfy his desires for power and control. But other than that, there's really not much too him. But I guess I can't really blame him for being insane. Mainly because he wasn't always an evil to begin with. Because at the beginning of the film, he was sane and rational. That is until he touched the green crystal, which not only drove him bat shit crazy, but also made his hair grow long. I'm not sure how that works. But I guess cartoon logic best describes it since no clear explanation is ever given for that. But anyway, yeah, as a character, Tyler is not really all that interesting. Because his background and life history is never explored, and he's just not very original. Now, characters like the Joker are more relatable and more well-respected. Not just because the Joker has been known for decades, but because in some cases, the Joker was given a backstory that explains to the audience why he's insane, and why he chose the path of the villain. Granted, the Joker's origin varies, and it tends to change a lot. But still, at least the Joker is given a clear explanation as to why he is the way he is. But with Tyler, its the most half-assed explanation ever thought of. He touches a crystal, he becomes evil, he wants to rule the world, etc. Not much can be said about this guy really. And as for Julie, the main protagonist, she's also not very interesting or original. But I will give her credit for two reasons; she's hot, and she's a tough badass girl who knows how to defend herself. But other than that, everything else about her is so bland and uninspired. What I dislike most about her is that she's too rash, reckless, and impulsive. Heck, even Odin would agree with me on that. In fact, Julie is nothing like Taarna from the original Heavy Metal film. Now, if you were to see the original film, you may remember that Taarna didn't have any spoken dialogue. But she let her actions do the talking. But she wasn't so brash and reckless like Julie was. And while she was out to avenge the people who were slaughtered at the village in her respective film, she wasn't as obsessed with it as Julie was. So yeah, Julie is yet another character in this film who is not very interesting or original. She's basically just "eye-candy". There's also this little rock creature named Zeek, who follows Odin around. And its worth mentioning that Zeek is also the narrator for this film. Yeah... Anyway, Zeek also comes off as a rather unlikable and uninteresting character. While he's not nearly as annoying as Germain, he does tend to get in the way of things. For example, in the scene where Julie was about to do Tyler in by dipping his head into a vat of molten lava, Zeek interferes with the fight and drags Julie away, saving Tyler in the process. That has got to be the dumbest scene in the entire film. Zeek did a bad thing in stopping Julie. He should have just let her kill Tyler right then and there so that way the movie would be over. But no, he had to interfere just to prolong the length of this film.

We also get some references to not only the original film, but also to the Terminator in one scene. Particularly, the scene where Julie bashes Dr. Schechter's face in, and we see that he has a mechanical skull underneath. Yeah, it turns out that the doctor was actually a robot. And as his laboratory catches on fire, his skin burns away, no doubt a homage to the final scene from the first Terminator film where the robot is burned out of his flesh. And of course, the movie even references a scene from the original Heavy Metal film. Remember the last story where Taarna appeared at the temple, took off her cloak to reveal her naked body, swam across a large pool, and slowly dressed herself in her skimpy outfit? Well, Heavy Metal 2000 pretty much pays homage to that as well. Only it's not particularly well done due to the poor quality of the animation. But yes, the exact same thing happens; Julie takes off her clothes, swims across a pool, and puts on her attire. Oh yes, and of course there's some lizard men in this movie. And well, one of the parts I do actually like in this film is where Tyler and his gang made their way over to a tournament where lizard men were fighting each other. Tyler easily makes short work of his first opponent by breaking his neck. And as for his second challenger, the lizard king, he dips his body into a vat of molten lava, and wears his skull as a mask. The final scene along with the ending is rather unsatisfying. Especially with the poorly executed fight scenes, sloppy animation, and the overall flow of things. The way Tyler goes out in this film is pretty anti-climatic. Julie breaks his neck, and kills him instantly. And when she kicks him, his face rots and decomposes even though he was only killed seconds ago. I guess it was a side effect of the serum he was taking that kept him alive throughout the entire film, and healed fatal wounds. Speaking of which, the serum was an interesting concept. Although Tyler had to be taking that all the time just so that he wouldn't die from fatal injuries. While I'll give this movie credit for that concept, I don't find it nearly as cool as having the ability to heal straight from the get go like Wolverine. The twist at the end is that Odin turns out being a villain, and as he takes off his disguise, he looks like something out of aliens, done in CGI. Although this form of CGI was not very well modeled or animated. And well, the ending in this movie is pretty stupid. Because get this, Zeek, the rock creature, takes the green crystal, and is descended into outer space with it, causing the chamber to close in on Odin and the dead Tyler. And after that, Julie, Kerrie, and Germain are the only ones left, and they just well... They pretty much just walk away. The movie ends as Zeek, now seen in CGI animation, is floating away into the vacuum of space, holding the crystal in his arms. He narrates the last few lines before we cut to the closing credits and that's the end of the film. And if you ask me, that ending was downright disappointing.

One thing I will give this movie credit for is that it had a very unique soundtrack. Because like I said before, hard rock and heavy metal music is very rare these days. At least when it comes to the soundtracks that are heard in films these days. However, unlike the original soundtrack, which consisted of songs from artists like Sammy Haggar, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, and Journey, Heavy Metal 2000's soundtrack only has a few bands that are well-known. The rest of them are just anonymous and unknown to most people, and they're not very popular or recognizable. Now, I'm not going to list all the tracks in this OST. But some of them actually did stand out for me. Particularly, the song “Buried Alive”, which plays in the closing credits of the movie. The soundtrack album features music by bands such as Pantera, Coal Chamber, Apartment 26, Billy Idol, Monster Magnet, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Puya, and other prominent alternative metal and hard rock bands. The album also features industrial-oriented selections, two tracks by alternative rock artists (Bauhaus and Queens of the Stone Age) and one hip hop track by Twiztid and Insane Clown Posse. The music is pretty much the only thing I really enjoyed about this film. But other than that, everything else about the film is not very impressive or satisfying in the slightest. Though, there are a few lines of dialogue from this film which I find memorable; the part where Julie says "Listen, don't talk, don't touch, don't even breathe, or I'll kill you. Got it?" which she says to Germain in one part. And one of Tyler's most memorable lines is when he says "When you kill someone, make sure they're dead." That line actually has a nice ring to it.

Not surprisingly, Heavy Metal 2000 received a lot of negative reviews; based on 9 critics, the film currently holds a 0% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. What's also interesting is that this movie had a direct sequel in the form of a video game. And there was also a line of action figures made. Quite frankly, I find it kind of strange that they made merchandise for a straight to DVD film that not many people have seen or care about. Because the film itself was not a big success. And it kind of boggles the mind why they even bothered making merchandise for it in the first place. But either way, I'm not that disappointed that this movie was never released in theaters. In 2011, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez announced at Comic-Con that he had purchased the film rights to Heavy Metal and planned to develop a new animated film at the new Quick Draw Studios. But so far, no announcements have been made on whether or not a new Heavy Metal film is in production. For all we know, this could just be a hoax.

Overall: In all honesty, Heavy Metal 2000 is a vastly inferior movie to the original Heavy Metal film which came many years before it. Sloppy animation, forgettable characters, and a garbage story easily makes this one of the most disappointing films of the early 2000s, and a pathetic attempt of a sequel. I'm tempted to call the makers of this film morons for how much of an inferior movie they made. But at least they knew this film wasn't very good given the poor ratings its received. And many fans feel the same way I do about this movie. But to be fair, this film does have some redeeming qualities and values. In fact, there's only two things that really stood out for me in this film; the hardcore action scenes, and the soundtrack. But that's about it. As I mentioned before, the movie is pretty gory, and if you like watching those kinds of movies simply for the action and gore, then you might enjoy this movie more or less. But I wouldn't really recommend it to you even if you're a die hard fan of the source material this movie is based on. The music is perhaps the only true redeeming factor to this film. But if you're watching this movie just for the music, you're doing it all wrong. You might still be able to get a hold of the soundtrack album for a rather cheap price given that it's a few years old now. And well, that's pretty much all I have to say about this movie. I don't totally hate this film, but it's just disappointing and unsatisfying.

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