Heavy Metal

Ever since it bombed in theatres back in 1981, Heavy Metal has earned a bit of a cult following over the years, in the way that most cult movies do now, through vhs and dvd releases. Now, Heavy Metal has been scrutinized to death, since it was released, again--becuase it is less of an actual movie, and more of a long string of short stories strung together in between a limp and crudely constructed narrative, and, to match that, none of these stories are really related in the least. And, of course, let's not forget, that another big reason as to why this film got such a panning upon initial release, is it's now infamous plethora of graphic sex, violence and extensive female nudity, making this one movie that feminists will probably always revere. But, just so that I may avoid an argument and any taken offense by female readers, I can't really blame women for hating it, because it isn't exactly the most senstivie film out there as far as the opposite sex is concerned, as nearly every single big-breasted woman who is shown on screen, at one point or another, ends up stripping fully nude, and, occasionally, having sex. Now, to the "plot" of the film: Heavy Metal's running narrative device is that of an astronaut who encounters a strange object while in space, and brings it home to his young daughter who lives in his mansion, located in a secluded area of the countryside. Now, once released, this strange and mysterious space-spawned object turns into a menacing orb, melts her father (among many, many, many others. Seriously, this movie has quiet the obsession with melting people) and consistently proceeds to torment her verbally whilst spinning together an extremely disjointed and uneven slew of short animated films. Now, when I say uneven, I really, truly mean that. Some of the short films are actually quiet good, with some stand-outs being "Captain Sternn", a morbid and twisty little mindgame ingeniously disguised as a space-set courtoom of sorts; and "Taarna", about a mysterious female warrior's battle with the ever-powerful orb as it slowly takes over and zombifies the whole fantasy world that surrounds her. But, ufnrotunately, most of them pretty much just fall into the category of shameless sleaze (though intentional) and exploitation. Even if it is sometimes entertaining, you don't reall ever feel like you are watching a film. Instead, you just simply stare at these crude little short films bunched up together, as the directors call it a movie. Now, the animation styles of the film range from dull and messy to actually quiet imaginative, creative, and, on occasion, really rather stunning. Still, it doesn't save it in the end, even if there is some originality taking place, here. Now, as I mentuoned some explicit content earlier, I will give details here, as to why exactly, this film is Rated R: Heavy Metal contains an immense onslaught of both violence and sex. Violence consists of brutal warfare and battles with fantasy creatures and characters, with lot's of stabbing, mutilation, maulings, dismemberment, occasional torture, and many, many people melted to death by the orb, complete with buckets of spraying and splattering animated blood. Also, strong sexual content and graphic nudity is pervasive throughout, as well, with at least three sex scenes baring entire female bodies, and countless scenes of completely nude women on full display, with some male nudity as well; all in all, though an abundent amount of breasts, buttocks and crotches are shown, and for prolonged periods of time, but, as far as the film's high amount of violence, gore, sex and nudity is concerned, the fact that this film is animated (and, sometimes poorly, too) does weaken the impact of the film's content, slightly). Also, there is brief drug use, with a scene in one of the particular short films where two aliens creatures act as "stoners" and partake in a strange white snorting powder, which comically impares there ability to steer a space ship. And, finally, the film has infrequent but moderate language, including two uses of f--k, but several other uses each of sh-t, g-dd-mn, h-ll, cr-p, a--h-le, b-tch, b-st-rd, and more. So, is Heavy Metal really all that bad of a movie? Well, it really isn't very good, either. But, for what it is, this crudely imagined and incredibly sleazy animated mess of an 80's classic certainly get's points for ambition and occasional shamefull charm. Too bad that that isn't enough to save it in the end. Not Reccomended.