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Heavy Metal 2000 - Superbit Collection

My main complaint with the original 1981 "Heavy Metal" was that the stories were too jumbles and incoherent, lacking the interest of the morbid visuals. It seems that the makers of "Heavy Metal 2000" were trying to address this issue, this time relying on a singular story that continues throughout the entire film, and using a different source that its predecessor ("Heavy Metal" was based on a magazine of the same name; "2000" is based on the graphic novel The Melting Pot). Now I'm left wondering if the collection of shorts in the original were really all that bad. ***

Truth be told, the only thing that truly impressed me about the first film were its visuals, mainly because they were so ostentatious, so unabashedly graphic, and so outlandish for their time. The animation world had yet to see the likes of violence or gratuitous sex in its realm, and "Heavy Metal," with its depictions of nude females and gory bloodshed, sullied what was once a sacred safe haven. With the sequel, we've seen it all before, be it in animation or live-action filmmaking: nothing about "Heavy Metal 2000" is shocking or eye-opening. Scenes of battle and fornication no longer have the shock value that they did when the first film was released. The fact that the animation itself is spiffier and sleeker comes off as little more than the simple passage of time. ***

The story, albeit more coherent than its predecessor, still lacks interest. With an obligatory opening voice-over that informs us of a mystical key to the fountain of immortality, we trudge along the weary plotlines of madman Tyler (voiced by Michael Ironside), driven insane after he comes into possession of the key, who plans to return to the planet housing the fountain of immortality. There is a completely off-the-wall subplot involving his stop-over on the planet of Eden, where he rains death and destruction, and kidnaps the sister and kills the father of Julie (Julie Strain Eastman), the requisite buxom babe who vows vengeance and follows Tyler during his exploits. ***

There's not really anything wrong with the plot in terms of narrative flow: everything moves along without leaving out anything vital to our understanding of the story development (I'm still wondering, however, about that whole Eden scenario, and the film isn't good enough to explore again to find out). It's just not that interesting, mainly because we've seen it all before. Betrayal of trust, misguided loyalties, lame one-liners, and surprise endings that don't really shock and shake as they should... it all falls into a specific pattern where the next event is predicted long before it happens. Case-in-point: in a scene in which Julie pretends to be "hot" for Tyler, she attempts to kill him before being interrupted. Since this occurs about halfway into the film, we know he's not going to die. Why not surprise us for once? ***

In one instance in the film, one character remarks, "This really sucks." I had this feeling more than once while sitting through what can only be described as a failure on pretty much all levels. The makers of "Heavy Metal 2000" seem to be stuck in the heyday of the original film, under the impression that over the last two decades, cinema has been all about cute-and-cuddly kitty cats and fluffy animals, and that their movie will set a new benchmark. Not even close.

After renting the original 2000 DVD release of "Heavy Metal 2000," and comparing it with this new Superbit release, I came to the conclusion that unless the film itself is dated, or the previous DVD was one of the first ever, there's not going to be much of a difference in the image quality. The 1.85:1 transfer for this new edition again features nicely-saturated colors that are vibrant and smooth, accompanied by clear, sharp edges that are grazed by enhancement artifacts. Shadow detail and contrasts are well-done. ***

The sound, once again, is aggressively loud and annoying, and should please any audiophile. The music is given the top priority here, and fills the room with ear-splitting sound from all channels, including the impressively-used surrounds, and the powerful .1 LFE, which is active almost throughout the entire movie. Sound effects also provide a terrific amount of energy, while dialogue sounds clean throughout, and isn't overpowered by the other elements. Of course, the DTS track exhibits a much more impacting experience, but both tracks perform admirably.