Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian adult animated science fiction fantasy anthology film directed by Gerald Potterton produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel and written by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum. The film stars the voice acting of Roger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon and Zal Yanovsky. The film is an anthology of various science fiction and fantasy sorties tied together by a single force the Loc-Nar an evil force in the shape of a green glowing ball, the film features a lot of graphic violence, sexuality, and nudity. Heavy Metal is a great highly enjoyable trashy film, objectively its not exactly a masterpiece but it’s a film I love despite its rough edges.
If theres one thing I can say about the film Heavy Metal it’s that it has an epic feel. The film starts with a car being dropped by a space shuttle with a spaceman driving it only for it to fall to pace with a parachute and drive off, as ridicules as the film is it still manages to capture that cool epic feel. The film has an interesting mix of tones form epic to light-hearted to horror as shown when the spaceman dad gets killed by the Locnar. I like the normality of the first sequence where a construction crew is digging up stuff. The first major section is the film however is about a cab driver who gets roped into helping a woman and has a cool noir feel to it. One of my favourite things about the film is that the world it creates feels gritty and lived and is full of scum. The section is ultimately a sci-fi but has a 70s feel with mobsters as the villains, this. Scummy world is felt throughout the section as the sorry is populated by corrupt police, gangsters, prostitutes, and illegal immigrants. I also like the lived-in feel of his apparent and the dynamic between the cab driver and the girl is good. The segment in full of sex and nudity but it does acting create a good serous mood as it goes on and there is a real cool case/fight sequence with the cab driver and the bad guys on hover bikes.
The next segment has an epic 80s fantasy style. This segment has a cheesy epic fantasy feel the protagonist Ben being a macho invincible hero, with him having a sex scene with a woman named Cathine, the world has a classic fantasy movie with monsters, villains, heroes, and quests. The section has a lot of epicenes mixed with comedy, such as Ben accidently grabbing the queens’ breasts in the darkness and only realising when the lights come on, I love how sleezy the film is as well as the epic fantasy feel throughout bens segment. In the climax ben wraps a chain around a spear throwing the other ned into the water to conduct it to zap both villains out of existence as he and the girl go off together.
After this there is a segment that is drawn like a kid’s comedy cartoon about a captain being put on trial. The film does a good job in thinking he is the good guy, but he is the bad guy, the segment ends in a hilariously anti-climactic way with him paying his friend off before ejecting him into space killing him. There is a good slow build up as Hanover Fiste tries to lie for the Capitan, but real accusations slip out. There is a good slow burn before he finally transforms. I like that it shows that Hanover Fiste is so strong he destroys part of the space station and that he must physically bend the metal port holes just to chase the captain. There is a good subversion in the climax of the story where it turns out Hanover Fiste was working for the caption. The captain pays him before he is jettisoned out into space, with the scene not only being funny but having some cool imagery of the flaming hand holding the ball. The next little segment again has cool epic imagery of a b-52 bomber flying through space with the crew engaged in a battle were almost everyone ends up dying in the fight, the segment. Has a great horror atmosphere with the last remaining pilot finding the crew dead and there is a great moody tone throughout the segment.
The segment with the robot and the secretary is good because it acts as a subversion of the traditional alien kidnap story. The sectary is kidnapped whilst the expert is accidently killed and disposed of and the aliens are in fact rubbish man, there are also a hilarious scene in this section were the agent goes crazy and starts sexually assaulting the sectary. I love the scene were the naked woman and the robot are lying in the bed after having sex as it’s so sleazy and funny as well as them saying they’ll get married and her asking the robot if his circumcised.
The final section of the film is in my option the best part with the bad guys massacring the city. There is an epic nature to the section with the idea of a single warrior seeking revenge for people that she didn’t even know but asked for her help. I like the way Taarna is naked and when she puts on her armour is barely covers her it’s so cheesy but so cool. There is an epic feeling when she pulls the sword form the water and holds it to the statue. I love that she has no dialogue put you can feel all her emotions with her losing the people she was meant to protect and her deciding to seek revenge. The sequence also has a great fight seen in a Mosley canteen type bar which ends with three guys getting decapitated and her getting the bartender to give her directions. She then gets captured along with her bird and then gets bound naked adding to the great sleaze. When the bird comes to rescue her, you can tell they genuinely care for each other. I like her genuinely morning the loss as the final epic battle between Taarna and Z commences. It looks like she’s lost until the bird uses the last of its life to drag him away as ana beats him up and kills him. The ending of the film is kind of confusing and doesn’t make sense, however I believe with the girl being on the flying animal at the end and turning into Taarna it shows that spirit of the defender tarakian is spread across time to stop the evil just like the locnar.
The acting in the film is good Percy Rodriguez does a good job as the Locnar giving the orb a deep menacing tone. Richard Romanus does a good job as Herry Canyon giving his character a rough 70s new yorker style. Susan Roman does a good job as the unnamed girl in the segment as both a naive young girl as well as acting like a femme fatale. Al Waxman does a good job as Rudnick the mob boss in this segment. Mary Ligthhouse does a good job as the queen in one of the segments as does Jackie Burroughs as Catherine. Eugene levy does a good job as captain Lincoln S Stern a charismatic but villainous captain. Don Franck, George, Touliatos and Zal Yanovsky al do a good job as pilots.
The writing in the film is cheesy but cool and epic. The film is an interesting mixture of different tones clashing all at once as the light-hearted opening ends with the dad getting killed by the locnar as it tells the daughter these stories. There is a sense of normality throughout the film despite the craziness, the film also doers a good job of setting up the locnar as one of the workers dies when he touches it highlighting its evil and power.
The cab driver segment is done in a classic noir style. The cool element of the cab is that the driver has a button on the floor that can disintegrate people, I also like how the cab driver just stubbles into his segment of the story. The corrupt police shows that stuff just keeps mountain on the cab driver. There is some good genuine tension between the girl and the mobster exchanging items and cool lighting as the orb kills the mobster as it’s pure evil. I also like the twist and the inconsequential nature of the ending in how the girl betrays the cab driver causing him to disintegrate her and drive off.
The next story plays off like an epic fantasy tale were a boy finds an orb in his garden. The sequence is funny and epic with him being the hero on the outside but a nerdy kid on the inside. The film is a classic fantasy tale filled with monsters, villains, heros and quests. These epicenes mixed with comedy is all over the film such as when they attempt to castrate him, but he beats them up. The Locknar here is used like the item in a fantasy story. There is a funny penis joke with one of the characters saying the monster is “six inches long sorry sixteen inches long”, and I like how the fantasy villains use modern phrases.
There is a great horror atmosphere in the next segment with the polit finding his crew dead. The parts also as a great Twilight Zone-esc twist ending as the only remaining polit lands on an island full of zombies. The next segment has a lot of good comedy with the doctor saying there’s no aliens just before they are abducted. There’s lots a great line in the segment such as the robot saying, “you’ll feel better after a glass of fresh zoax” to witch the woman reply’s “do you have any diet soda”. There is also a funny moment were the aliens spread white stuff around the UFO with an alien machine and its not quite clear what they are doing until it is reviled, they are snorting it like cocaine. The last segment also shows a cool sacrifice were Tana kills herself to kill the Locnar which causes it to die in the present, I believe this is because the girl is the reincarnation of Tana but I’m not too sure.
The cinematography in the film is good. There are some cool shots showing the epicness of space and close ups highlighting the intensity in the opening, with the Locnar bathing everything in a menacing green glow. The driver’s segment has some nice shots of the city and a gritty look as it is overall a gritty looking film. The are some nice tracking shots of the characters riding on giant flies. There is just lots of cool imagery in the film such as an almost POV looking shot of the bombs being dropped and a great shot from the outside of the gunner window of a zombie killing one of the crew. The film contains great shots of the lanes and the spaceship hovering over the building. I particularly like the handheld effect when the aliens are flying the spaceship high. There is great lighting as the locnar flies through the sky and a cool tracking shot of the messenger. Finally, there is some great imagery when Taarna holds her sword to the statue, and it creates a lighting effect.
Finally, there is the animation which is great. The animation consists of a rotoscope effect mixed with an 80s cool gritty hand drawn animation style, although not the greatest animation the style fits with the underground comics nature of the film. What I really like about the animation is how it constantly changes to fit the style. With the cab driver segment there is gritty animation, in the chapter where the nerdy guy becomes a hero there is a surreal blue ting to the art style, there is a lot of great animation in this segment such as the surreal trippy animation of him flying through space, the great use of shadows and the purple psychedelic background animation. There is also some great gritty cool old horror comic-esc animation in the b-52 sequence, form the cool gory animation of the guy’s guts being exposed and the great animation of the corpses turning into zombies. The in great looking old school sci-fi animation in one section as well, with great animation and visuals such has a smiley face spaceship. There is some great animation as well as they are flying through space and a star cluster looks like a cocaine line as well as interesting psychedelic animation in this sequence. Also, throughout the film there are some beautiful sci-fi, post-apocalyptic and fantasy landscapes. Final there is an interesting effect at the ned where a life action miniature of a house is blown up.
Heavy Metal is fun. Although not a cinematic masterpiece it’s a film I love and has great charm which makes it a fun watch.