Heavy Metal - Movie Reaction

I had absolutely NO idea what I was getting myself into with the Heavy Metal movie. The only things I knew going in were that it was a comic book related project and that it featured the music of a whole sack full of amazing musical talents.

Let's just say I was VERY surprised by what the movie actually is. I was expecting something akin to Across the Universe - a story that relies very heavily upon the music in it. And, sure, the film has a fantastic soundtrack. But the music is ancillary to the action, used more as a score than narration.

I didn't even know this was an animated film, let alone an animated film with the structure it has. The film is a series of very loosely related short stories, each one produced in by a different artistic team. So each short story has a completely different visual texture to it.

Having never read the actual Heavy Metal magazine, I was shocked by the maturity of the content as well. Let's just say that even though this is an animated film it's a far cry from a kiddie picture!

The first real story, featuring Harry Cannon, was perhaps my favorite. It nailed that noir feeling but in a futuristic setting.

I also really enjoyed the B-17 story and the Den story but some of the rest of them I thought kind of went nowhere.

The stories are all tied together by the Loc-Nar terrorizing a girl and telling her that she has a special power as it shows her stories of its power. The Loc-Nar is the one constant in all of the stories, although in some of them it is almost inconsequential (such as the Captain Sternn story) and in others it plays a central roll (such as the Harry Cannon story).

Overall, the film was a very pleasant surprise. I look forward to Heavy Metal 2000 but I'm likewise completely ignorant of that film so don't ruin it for me!