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 f
you happen to be one of the few people desperately
trying to piece together the plot of Yuji
Shimomura's "Death Trance", let me lend
you a hand: Guy steals coffin because he's a dick
and he likes to fight; this guy is chased by
another guy played by Steven Seagal's son who
wants the coffin because he's told it can grant
wishes; a monk is also after the coffin because it
was stolen from his temple; a chick with black
mascara is helping the monk along for reasons
unknown; and finally, the Goddess of Destruction
is waiting to wake up once the coffin is opened so
she can Destroy the world and some such. They
meet, fight each other, fight other people, and
finally, coffin guy and the Goddess of Destruction
fight. And oh yeah, there's a creepy kid with a
creepy laugh that goes wherever the coffin goes.
One presumes she's the Goddess of Destruction in
child form, but I wouldn't put money on it.
That really is the full
extent of "Death Trance's" story, or
what passes for story. The entire film is little
more than an excuse for star and co-action
director Tak Sakaguchi, who rose to fame as the
convict/hero of Ryuhei Kitamura's low-budget
horror/Samurai/action epic "Versus",
to show what he's learned since those years under
Kitamura's tutelage. Director Yuji Shimomura,
himself a former Kitamura apprentice, also gets to
show off an eye for "cool", using a
script built on a foundation of, "Hey,
wouldn't it be cool if this guy did this, and this
guy did that, and we saw this really cool
thing?" That basically sums up your movie
right there.
Mind you, not that such mind
popcorn is not appreciated. At its basest level,
"Death Trance" is 90 minutes of
pointless entertainment, even if all the fighting
starts to get a little repetitive after the 3rd
scene of Grave (Sakaguchi) brutally punching the
Bejesus out of an army of thieves, toughs, and
finally, what appears to be black cloaked trolls
from the "Phantasm"
movies. Joining in on the fun is Kentaro Seagal,
son of Steven, who does an admirable job playing a
background character that helps to break out the
monotony of star Sakaguchi smirking for the camera
and, well, beating up an endless gaggle of
faceless guys.
Every now and then
"Death Trance" remembers that it is
supposed to be a movie with a story, which is when
Ryuen the monk (Takamsa Suga) interjects with his
story of the Goddess of Destruction and how she
will return to wrought vengeance upon the world if
someone opens that mysterious coffin everyone is
dragging around by chains (no, seriously, they
drag the coffin around on chains throughout the
movie). After what seems like 80 minutes of one
action scene repeated over and over, we finally
get to the battle we've all been waiting for --
Grave versus the Goddess of Destruction herself,
played by the gorgeous Yoko Fujita, who alas,
doesn't spend nearly enough time onscreen.
The best you can say about
"Death Trance" is that, unlike Shimomura
and Sakaguchi's old buddy Kitamura, their film
doesn't last more than 90 minutes. (For the
uninitiated, Ryuhei Kitamura has a very bad habit
of dragging a one hour movie into two hours.) The
film certainly moves well enough, and whenever
Ryuen starts to talk too much about the film's
plot, someone punches his lights out. Needless to
say, you don't want this monk on your side when
you're trying to save the Earth from being
destroyed by a very hot, but dangerous Goddess of
Destruction.
Nobody will mistake the
action in "Death Trance" for anything
other than elaborately choreograph stunts.
Sakaguchi punches and kicks his way through an
endless sea of punching bags, with Seagal only
getting one real chance to shine. Another
character named Yuri (Yuki Taekuchi) also has
little to do, and I wished she had taken up more
of the screentime reserved for our leading man.
Without belaboring the point, way too much time is
spent unnecessarily with Grave doing little more
than walking around with his coffin and
occasionally breaking the monotony by beating
people up in a series of lengthy fisticuffs that
seems to go on and on and on…
But of course I am not taking
"Death Trance" seriously, because the
filmmakers are playing everything for a chuckle.
This is made abundantly clear when Sid breaks out
a bazooka that fires a heat-seeking missile.
Later, another superfluous gag elicits a mild
tingle of amusement from the audience when Grave
reveals the true nature of his sword, which he has
never unsheathed until toward the end. The words
"superfluous gag" describes "Death
Trance" perfectly. For a 90-minute film, it
doesn't have nearly enough originality to fill its
running time, but one has to give it credit for
trying mightily to make up for everything it lacks
with what seems like neverending enthusiasm. It's
just too bad the fights are so pointless and goes
on for so long…
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