Review: Longinus

By kevin on September 08, 2006 at 11:07pm EDT

For fans of Ryuhei Kitamura’s work who see the DVD cover art for The Spear of Longinus and upon reading its description (particularly the part about vampires being involved) you think this is going to be a movie where some badass vampire hunter spends the duration of the film whooping up on vampires with a spear, it’s unfortunately almost nothing like that. What it turns out to be is a far more thoughtful story about humanity’s propensity for violence and how we consistently use any power we acquire to destroy ourselves. Because of that there’s far more talking than action so as not to detract from the overall message. Heady stuff for the guy that brought us Versus, but not completely unbearable if you go into it knowing what to expect.

The film begins at a military field hospital at a time where humanity is perpetually in the midst of war. The war has gone on for so long that people don’t even remember when or how it started, and they have no hope left for the future. To make matters worse the only doctor the hospital has (Toshiyuki Kitami) dies and only a nurse (Kanae Uotani) is left. With no doctor and hardly any supplies to work with anyway the two soldiers guarding the facility decide they should leave that place as soon as possible and move on to a new assignment. Before they’re able to leave, however, a group of 3 soldiers arrive carrying both a severely injured woman and a mysterious box. Apparently the woman, also a soldier, had been attacked by a vicious animal of some sort and needed treatment immediately. The nurse tries to explain that she’s not a doctor and the woman will not survive but the leader of soldiers (Yumi Kikuchi), dressed like some sort of fashion-forward cowboy for some odd reason, will hear none of it. She demands the nurse do her best with what little she has.

The soldiers from the hospital begin to get curious about the box they brought so the other soldiers explain that their mission is to transport the Spear of Longinus to their leaders, as it’s believed to have miraculous powers for curing any sickness or disease. Just then a strange looking man in a tattered coat (lead singer of the J-rock group BUCK-TICK, Atsushi Sakurai) barges in and begins warning them that the injured girl must be terminated for their own safety. He explains that she was actually bitten by a vampire and she herself will eventually turn into one if she’s not killed and burned immediately. According to him vampires have always existed in the shadows, but in the ashes of war with violence and death everywhere they have no reason to remain hidden. Of course they don’t believe him and after an initial struggle he allows them to tie him to a chair. It’s then that they realize the injured woman is missing and the real fun begins.

First off, a little historical context: It is believed that during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ a Roman solider pierced Jesus’ side with a spear. Following Jesus’ death another Roman soldier, whose blindness was miraculously cured by a splash of blood from the spear, is believed to have exclaimed “Surely this was the son of God!” Somewhere around the second century A.D. the stories of those two soldiers became merged and according to writings of the time the soldier was known as Longinus. This is all a bit heavy and probably beyond the scope of a simple movie review but it does offer a little insight into the connection between the actual Spear of Longinus and the film’s overall theme of power being used to harm or heal, depending on who’s wielding it. There’s a definite link between the dichotomy within the film and of the biblical reference it’s drawing from.

This is a fairly interesting film that’s completely focused on getting a point across at the expense of any sort of action or excitement. Although there is one actual fight scene with a group of vampires it doesn’t last very long at all—unfortunately vampires are much easier to kill than we’re led to believe. One has to think that this film could have been so much more if the fight scenes were extended but the problem with that is twofold. First, the message of the film would probably be completely lost; and second, being a first-time actor Atsushi Sakurai is probably not capable of full-blown fight scenes. Nothing makes this more evident than the scene in which he has to point a shotgun with his arm extended and you can visibly see his arm shaking so much that you just wish they would have had the foresight to realize rock stars have dainty little arms and made his gun out of Styrofoam or something.

At only 40 minutes long it’s more of a short film than a real movie but even so the cinematography is excellent. Unlike some of Kitamura’s other films everyone looks good in this one, not just the pretty girls. The music is simply too sparse to be judged. I guess this was another method of focusing all the attention on what the characters were saying over what they were doing. If you want substance over style and a really heavy message being reiterated over and over this is the film for you. If you’re looking for pure action I would definitely look elsewhere. Imagine Kitamura’s 2002 film Alive but without the fight scenes and you can get a handle on how droning Longinus can get.