Imagine if you will, it’s 1968 and you’re staring at a spinner rack full of comic books at your local 7-11. You want to buy them all but can only afford to purchase one title. After several minutes of serious thought, weighing the pros and cons of each and every book, you finally decide on an issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that has cover art by Jack Kirby (your favorite comic book artist) and Joe Sinnott (your favorite comic book inker). You pay your twelve cents and take your prize home to enjoy.
But when you get to your room and open up the comic, you’re shocked to find that the interior artwork is by Jack Sparling (one of your most hated of comic book artists) and that it’s inked by none other than Vince Colletta (hands down the worst inker in comic books at the time). It’s bait and switch of the highest order. You bought one thing that you hoped would be good. You got something that was terrible.
That’s the way I feel about IMMORTAL a 2004 science fiction film directed by Enki Bilal and based on the work Bilal did in the legendary French science fiction comic magazine METAL HURLANT (or HEAVY METAL as it was known in the states).
Trouble is, I hate HEAVY METAL. Oh sure, I bought the first few issues way back when, but I just never connected with the stories and art that was being published at the time. I didn’t like a lot of the French/European artwork on display. To add to this blasphemy on my part, I never bought into the Moebius is a genius school of thought. I thought he was vastly overrated.
I quit buying the title after a few issues and never missed it. I understand that it’s gone through multiple iterations in the years since and the brand, HEAVY METAL, was the basis of an ambitious animated feature film back in the ’80s. I just never liked HEAVY METAL. So sue me.
Back to IMMORTAL. It’s an issue of HEAVY METAL brought to CGI generated life. Trouble is that the CGI work is dodgy at best and the entire film constantly reminds me of other, better films. Does IMMORTAL swipe or simply pay homage to such superior films as METROPOLIS, BLADE RUNNER, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, THE MATRIX, the animated STAR WARS: CLONE WARS series and the entire first act of ATTACK OF THE CLONES.
You might spot other material lifted whole cloth into this weird, patchwork quilt of an SF film. I won’t bother recapping the plot here because, well, frankly it’s all a bit confusing. Something about ancient Egyptian gods mating with an alien woman in order for her to become human. WTF?
Oh, to be sure, there are some great visuals in IMMORTAL, but they exist side by side with some of the worst motion capture effects work I’ve ever seen in a major motion picture. I mean, just look at the digital version of Charlotte Rampling, an actress I’ve admired for years. She looks like she belongs in a video game because that’s certainly not anything close to the real Rampling.
Ambitious? Yes. Successful? No. IMMORTAL is a hot mess of a film, a project screaming at you from the screen, constantly calling attention to all of the cool things Bilal and his team have generated for your viewing pleasure.
Trouble is, there’s no pleasure to be found in IMMORTAL. Why?
Because it was penciled by Jack Sparling and inked by Vince Colletta.
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