Spriggan

Original Title: スプリガン
Romanized: Supurigan
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Yu Ominae seems, to most people, like your average Japanese high school boy. And, most of the time, perhaps he is. But when the mysterious ARCAM Organization requires his talents, he is also a Spriggan--a superhuman weapon of the highest order, gathered like his comrades from around the world. ARCAM uses the Spriggans to fulfill their unusual goal: Heed the wishes of a long-dead civilization by keeping the incredible technological artifacts they left behind from destroying humanity. When an artifact identified as Noah's Ark is discovered and someone launches a direct attack on Yu, he is again called into action. Since just about every government in the world is out to get their hands on the long-hidden power within the Ark, Yu's considerable talents will be necessary, particularly since it has the potential to give the one who controls it godlike power over the Earth... including the ability to wipe out humanity! Faced with the most evil and powerful of US operatives, only the Spriggans might have the ability to stop them.

Quick Review

Rating: 3 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-06-06

Spriggan has all the bases covered: a big budget, slick visuals, hard-hitting action, a dark, metaphysical plot, and even a dose of Indiana Jones-style "archeology" and adventure. Sadly, it squanders a lot of its potential, never managing to feel like more than a very slick action movie due to underdeveloped characters (if you haven't read the manga, anyway) and a mostly cliche story, and even as an action movie it bogs down severely in endless metaphysical villain-babble when the closing scenes should be heading for a climactic showdown.

To Spriggan's credit, there's lots of slick, expensive, and exciting action in the first half of the movie--grounded in reality enough to give it a distinctive feel, but with enough creative superpowers to keep the Ninja Scroll-loving camp happy. Between that and the gorgeously detailed international backgrounds, Spriggan is an impressive movie to watch. If only it hadn't gotten downright boring later on, it'd have been quite a ride.

Action fans and people familiar with the manga (aka Striker) will almost certainly find enough to love in Spriggan, as will folks who just can't get enough Indiana Jones, biblical references, and apocalyptic lost technology. Just don't come looking for anything particularly original story-wise, don't expect the premise to ever be fully explained (blame that on its manga heritage), and be prepared for the movie to slow down quite a bit after the halfway point.

US DVD Review

The DVD is a solid disc. The basics are covered with a clean, anamorphic video transfer and 5.1 soundtracks in Japanese and English. The video did seem a bit dark to me, but that could just as well have been the fault of my TV or the original film. For your pleasure, ADV kicks in some production sketches, as well as commentary by Matt Greenfield on the English dub.

Content Guide

Rated 17+ by ADV on account of some graphic violence and harsh language.

Violence: 4 - Though the bloody scenes were brief, there was plenty of gore, and a lot of fighting.

Nudity: 0 - Nothing of note.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Not even any romance.

Language: 2 - Some strong language.

Notes and Trivia

Spriggan is based on the second story arc of a comic series written by Hiroshi Takashige with art by Ryoji Minagawa. This explains quite a bit of the under-established characters and rather inconclusive story. Fortunately, the comic is available in English from VIZ (under the title "Striker: The Armored Warrior"); unfortunately, it isn't very popular, so a lot of people who end up watching the movie will have never heard of the manga.

Availability

Available in the US from ADV Films on bilingual DVD (buy from RightStuf or AnimeNation).

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store