Movie Review
Review Parasyte Part 1
Bigscreen adaptation of Japanese body-snatcher manga in good hands with vfx whiz Takashi Yamazaki, who builds on blockbuster success of his most recent hit, 'The Eternal Zero.'
Shinichi Izumi (Shota Sometani). When a shower of glowing space orbs falls around Tokyo, the gross, brain-seeking earworms that emerge go looking for human hosts, but the creepy-crawler that finds Shinichi is thwarted by his headphones, entering his body via his right hand instead. Shinichi awakens just in time to apply a tourniquet, thereby containing the creature’s takeover to that appendage, giving new meaning to the notion of “phantom limb.” Already a little awkward at school, Shinichi finds it even harder to act normal when a mutant eyeball and blubbering mouth pop up on the back of his hand. Next thing he knows, his hand is stretching and reconfiguring at will, its preferred form being a vaguely cute, fleshy pyramid with wavy arms and a 360-degree eyestalk. This weird entity, which Shinichi nicknames “Righty/Migi” may look strange, but clearly represents a more intelligent life form, teaching itself advanced Japanese overnight and devouring any and all information within its reach. Meanwhile, the other parasites — who’ve successfully infiltrated the brains of their respective hosts — have more sinister appetites, devouring any humans unlucky enough to cross their paths. They do not come in peace, although their true intentions remain obscure (yet guessable) until the pic’s final moments, when a parasite-controlled politician wins an election that puts “them” in control.
Most of the time, the film boasts a sleek, shadowy look, though it brightens up considerably when Shinichi’s at school, which is where the big showdown unspools. (The fact that there are casualties seems very un-American.) A robust score adds yet another dimension of suspense, as composer Naoki Sato’s “Godzilla”-style bombast makes the film’s scope feel bigger — and more than deserving of its forthcoming sequel.
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