| Devilman | |
| Director: | Hiroyuki Nasu |
| Producer: | Riuko Tominaga |
| Starring: | Hisato Izaki Yusuke Izaki |
| Production Companies: | Toei Company |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Runtime: | 112 minutes |
is a 2004 Japanese superhero film directed by Hiroyuki Nasu.[1] It is based on the manga series of the same name.
The film was first scheduled for a May 2004 release, but was postponed to October 9, 2004 due to reshoots. Devilman was critically panned by critics and audiences, with many considering it as one of the Worst Japanese Films of all time. It was also a commercial failure, grossing 520 million yen, against a 1 billion yen production budget.[2]
Special effects were produced by Toei Company's tokusatsu and anime divisions, under the joint name T-Visual.
The movie topped an annual poll by the magazine Eiga Hihō for the worst movie, attracting five times as many votes as the second-place film, and also won first place at the Bunshun Kiichigo Awards and Sports Hochi's Hebi-Ichigo Awards. It was voted the worst Japanese film of the 2000s in an online poll, which noted that the excitement of the manga series getting a film adaptation increased the universal disappointment with the film.[3]
At the 14th Tokyo Sports Film Award awards ceremony Takeshi Kitano called it "one of the 4 most stupid movies ever made after Getting Any?, Siberian Express, and Pekin Genjin Who are you? and said "There is nothing better than getting drunk and watching this movie."[4] At the same ceremony Sachiko Kobayashi said she was suddenly called to the set to appear in the movie before she even knew what it was.
The film was universally panned by national newspapers and critics, and even by fans of the original manga, citing reasons such as the CGI being hideous, and the casting of various nationally popular models and teen idols, many of whom had never acted before. In addition, reportedly, CGI was used for the fight scenes because director Hiroyuki Nasu did not know how to direct one with live actors. Due to trying to force the whole story into a short run time, the plot was criticized for making little to no sense. It was also noted that the design of Silene on the poster was completely different to her appearance in the movie. Yuichi Maeda gave this movie 2 points out of a 100 on his writer, stating that the only thing good about this movie was the poster and the concept design.[5] Hiroshi Yamamoto created a whole separate part on his website to collect bad reviews of the movie. It links to several national newspapers that panned the movie as well as links to about 100 blog entries from various critics denouncing the movie.[6]
The movie has since become a benchmark in Japan for the reception of live action movies, with What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? in particular being dubbed "The Devilman of the Reiwa Era" by online users.[7] [8] [9]