by Ashley Strehl, Feature/Entertainment Editor
There is an interesting genre that is slowly, but surely making its way into the film industry and I am all here for it.
I first fell in love with the look when I watched the Netflix original series: “Love Death + Robots.” CGI animation is a growing style that literally has no limit to what it can do.
Sunday night, I had the absolute pleasure of watching “Gantz:0” on Netlfix. Originally released in 2016, “Gantz:0” shows the struggles of recently deceased people who are brought back to life and supplied with high-tech weapons in order to defeat an army of monsters in Tokyo and Osaka.
That is about as simple as I can put it, because it’s very weird and very complicated. It mainly tells the story of Masaru Kato who lives in Tokyo and takes care of his little brother, both he and his little brother are orphans, but they look out for each other. On the eve of his brother’s birthday, Kato is attacked in the subway and stabbed to death.
He awakes in a suite surrounded by an older man, Yoshikazu Suzuki, a girl, Reika Shimohira and Joichiro Nishi, who are both about his age. He frantically asks what is going on, but before they can explain, the black orb in the front of the room announces that the game is about to begin.
The characters are then loaded into the streets of Osaka and right off the bat; they encounter one of the monsters that are running a muck throughout the cities.
Reika shots a sonic ray gun at the monster, causing its head to explode and brains and blood to go everywhere. They focus on survival and as they walk to new locations, they try their best to explain the game to Kato.
The more monsters you kill, the more points you will get, the more points you get, the more likely you are to win. If you die in the game, whether it be by a monster or other opponents, you die for good.
If you get 100 points (which is quite difficult to get) you are given three options; one, upgraded weaponry, two, resurrection of a fallen teammate, or three, freedom from the game.
Without going into much more detail, I will say that this film requires a lot of focus. That can be hard at times, because every five minutes something or someone is getting their head blown off. So, this movie is not for those who have a weak stomach.
The story line is what pulled me in. It’s a story of bravery and hope. It’s all about making the right decisions and choosing to be selfless above all else. The CGI is amazing and the monsters are well illustrated, I can say I have never seen any monsters like these ones.
I give this movie a 5 star rating, not only are CGI movies visually appealing, they always have a great story line to go with them.