ot on the trail of a scientist alleged to be using human organs to build an android, private investigator Shunsaku Ban (Tomita) and his nephew, Kenichi (Kobayashi), travel to the city-state of Metropolis, arriving just as the populace is celebrating the completion of the Ziggurat, a huge tower
which dominates the skyline. On the surface—both literally and figuratively—the people and their robotic servants seem content, but after a political protest interrupts the festivities, the detective realizes that there's trouble brewing between an anti-machine faction and individuals
agitating for robot rights.
These violent squabbles don't seem to bother Duke Red (Ishida), the municipality's most prominent citizen, who has surreptitiously hired the renegade scientist to create an artificial heir. Rock (Okada), the duke's adopted son and the leader of the robot-hating Marduk Party, finds out about the plan and destroys the researcher's laboratory, located in a restricted area below the city. However, the resulting explosion prematurely animates the android, named Tima (Imoto), who looks exactly like the duke's deceased daughter. Kenichi encounters her wandering within the wreckage, although before he can alert his uncle the two accidentally fall into an even deeper zone populated by low-level maintenance machines.
When he fails to find Tima's body in the lab's debris, the deranged Rock begins a frantic hunt for the missing android. At the same time, Shunsaku is searching for his lost nephew, and the scheming duke begins testing the Omotenium device, a top-secret weapon located within the Ziggurat capable of annihilating all artificial life. Meanwhile, as they struggle to make their way to the surface, Kenichi and Tima—who thinks that she's human—run across a group of anti-robot radicals planning to overthrow the government. Yet these perils pale in comparison to the threat the duke ultimately intends to unleash through the unsuspecting Tima—a force so potent it could obliterate every creature on the planet.
Confusing but contemplative
In the years immediately following World War II, Japan underwent immense social, political and industrial change. This turmoil was metaphorically reflected in the late Osamu Tezuka's famed 1949 science-fiction manga (comic book) Metropolis. In this absorbing anime adaptation, renowned director Rintaro (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, X: The Movie) has crafted an appealing adventure that ingeniously addresses contemporary concerns. The picture has a few major shortcomings—characters and their motivations aren't always fully fleshed out, and at times the action is incredibly confusing—but jaw-dropping, retro-futuristic vistas and a thought-provoking narrative ultimately engender a vivid and vigorous tale.
Like the labyrinthine landscape depicted within Metropolis, the plot is complex and multilayered. Duke Red isn't the only individual with nefarious intentions: The president of Metropolis wants to illegitimately arrest the duke for treason, and incites a range of political factions—including the Marduk Party and various pro-robot groups—to battle one another, eventually bringing about a bloody but abortive coup d'etat. These hateful political maneuvers subtly heighten the significance of the tender human/android bond that develops between Kenichi and Tima. Rintaro's animation, which nicely recalls Tezuka's expressive ultramodern style, cleverly intermingles hand-drawn and computer-generated images, further building upon the vision of humanity struggling to live in harmony with technology.
The convoluted screenplay—penned by another anime legend, Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Roujin Z)—is the picture's single most problematic area. Despite a few expository scenes early on, the motives for several of the major players remain unclear, and there are so many twists and turns in the subtitled production that it's nearly impossible to keep track of the action without becoming at least a bit perplexed (watching the film a second time is helpful, but even then some questions remain unanswered). Regardless, there's little doubt that both anime and SF fans should experience Metropolis. Although undeniably challenging, the movie's message is meaningful, affecting and provocative.
