MovieChat Forums > Kyaputen Hârokku (2014) Discussion > Harlock: Space Pirate

Harlock: Space Pirate

posted 10 years ago by dan-willi84
4 replies | jump to latest

The film came out on DVD last week where I live and I watched it for the first time 2 days ago. I thought it was a good film. I've never heard of the Magna comics and the cartoon, which the film was based on. But I gotta admit, the film reminded me of Serenity, the 2005 film. It had some similar plot elements. The human race leaving the Earth to colonize thousands of planet. The government Gaia Sanction ruling the universe. The Homecoming war. Captain Harlock and his crew of space pirates and Harlock and his crew learning the truth behind Earth, which the Gaia Sanction hid from everyone and Harlock and his crew deciding to expose the truth to bring the Gaia Sanction down. Space Pirate Captain Harlock, mostly the cartoon could had been one of Joss Whedon's influences behind Firefly.

[–] mabuse786 10 years ago

I watched it today on Blu-Ray and I can say, it reminded me of every and each Sci-Fi Film in the last decades.
Starting from Shinji Aramaki quoting himself from Appleseed to Star Wars to Battleship Yamato - you name it. Your idea could be also right - who knows?

I enjoyed this movie a lot and for me it is a big step forward in 3D animation. So good, that I could oversee the problems in the plot which become quite evident, especially at the end when the sequel is squeezed in.

However, a visually stunning and quite entertaining movie. I liked it and I also don't know the OVA and the mangas.

[–] gatorstang23 10 years ago

The irony is that Harlock dates back to the early 80's and was written and drawn by the same people as Yamato and such. So its not too much of a coincidence and many things named came decades after Harlock. (Look up Arcadia of my youth)

[–] CrowdedMinds 10 years ago

Actually Harlock dates back to late seventies. You should try to find the original anime (or manga) from that era: it was awesome. Loved it then and still love it now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Harlock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pirate_Captain_Harlock

[–] doctorcrimedog 9 years ago

It also reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Phantom. What it didn't remind me of, regrettably, was the original Captain Harlock. It's safe to say Joss Whedon didn't look to Harlock for inspiration for Firefly (try the British sci-fi series Blake's 7 for that), because the Harlock cartoons were nothing like this. Harlock was not some unkillable superhuman, he was just a man notable for his principles, none of which can be found in this version. The character used to be a man of honor and conviction, an idealist who would never give in to despair in the bleakest of circumstances. Now he's some bitter shell of a man who's so broken by his failure that he'd rather see the whole universe destroyed than go on as it is, making him basically the biggest psychopath in all fiction. Other characters such as Kei and Yattaran are visually recognizable but otherwise have pretty much nothing in common with their original counterparts. If you've never seen any old Harlock, you might enjoy the film for what it is, but for me it just discards everything that made the old stories great. If you want to find out about those, I recommend you go here:

http://www.cornponeflicks.org/harlock/harlockmain.html

-There is no such word as "alot."