The movie does not hold back when it comes to that, lots of chase scenes full of gun fire and lots of splatter, and since the protagonists can’t defeat any of their enemies by their own, they have to make every little dirty trick and use whatever shit they can find on the nearby to even start thinking of fighting against deformed gang members and a cyborg police officer, all while defending a porn actress. Combine all that with a fast pace and the splendid animation and direction and you assured yourself a fine brainless action flick if that is all you want.
Now that I mentioned that, let’s talk about the production values. Starting with the obvious, despite being on every major anime database, this is a South-Korean film, which means no generic character designs at all in the medium it belongs to, two ugly punks, a deformed woman, a transvestite, a cute little girl with a fucked up look for a Mayor, and some Smurfs-like creatures for antagonists, oh, and the cyborg, who surprisingly has the least interesting design in the whole movie. All of which made on purpose to look cartoony, creepy and, yeah, ugly. But it does not stop there, at all; the place where the story takes place is also a completely rotten country that looks crude, ugly, broken and dirty, while also having lots of references to Hollywood movies thrown-in there. But what good would all of that be in an action film if it doesn’t have fluid motions? And it does have it, starting with the vivid expressions and movements of the characters and finishing with the crazy but no random camera movements during action sequences; add to it references to Hollywood iconic films and a nice blend between 2-D and 3-D and you got one of the most remarkable visual departments in anime.
But just like it happens with A Kite, the sound department is not as good, the sound effects are awesome, as they are reminiscent to Hollywood action films sound effects, but the voice acting and music aren’t special, despite being extreme and fitting with the setting and tone, too much superior competition out there when it comes to this (you know, Panty and Stocking, Dead Leaves, Redline).
Speaking about the setting, I realize I didn’t even mentioned what the hell this movie is about, well, take this, a future where natural resources are gone and the government of a certain country uses the excrement of its citizens as an energy resource, while giving them candy-like drugs to people as a reward for all their shit. There, our two protagonists, the ones that give the movie its title, steal and sell said drugs, which ultimately results in them being chased by the police and a terrorist group composed of those people that consumed so much of those candies that they became addicted to them and transformed into some weird creatures…whatever. As you can imagine, the plot is stupid and an excuse for the action BUT is not crap. Is not really evident but the film is actually a satire of post-apocalyptic, action and political films, making fun of all of it clichés while making them into something completely amoral, hell, even the premise is making fun of those titles, a typical post-apocalyptic premise where everything went to shit, low resources, social control from the governments to people, social critique about the greediness of capitalists societies…and everything is literally about shit. I said before that the film references Hollywood action films but forgot to say that does not references only that, but also ideological movements as well, but it does not just show or mention them, but presents them as the worst thing ever.
Even the cast is atypical; they try to make a living in this rotten world just like in lots of post-apocalyptic stories…by stealing and selling drugs and being completely unlikable assholes that all they want is money and would betray even their partners for that. You don’t really want them to succeed, but seeing that their enemies are worse, what other option is left to you?
And above all that, despite its relatively short duration, it managed to bring a closure to every plot point it presents, not in a really solid way, since the film is still a brainless action flick with lots of bullshit unrealistic things; but a serviceable one.
So, in the end, is a satire of post-apocalyptic films with lots of gross humor and very little critique to capitalism shown in the most ugly, stupid and unrealistic but also the most creative, unique and entertaining way. Leave it or take it as it is.
For something similar you can check out:
-Dead Leaves (Another dumb but very creative action flick with a unique art-style, fast pacing, and toilet and sexual humor).
-Redline (Another fast paced movie set in a post-apocalyptic setting that only wants to show incredible animation and action with cartoony characters while not caring much about making sense out of its story).
-Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt (A very creative series with cartoony art style full of stunning action, sexual humor and cursing).
