Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)

Dir. Gakuryu Ishii

This movie is obviously influenced a ton by Testsuo: The Iron Man — so much so that the entirety of this feels like one big homage to it — but Electric Dragon 80.000 V is still awesome in its own right. And that’s exactly it: this is awesome. Don’t overthink it. The sound is earsplitting, the flashy visuals are ridiculously engaging and the movie as a whole exists purely to prove just how much the medium can be played with. 

I especially love how some of the effects on screen are made to look like they’re causing the camera to glitch. It’s also worth noting that the use of the dolly zoom in this film is one of the best I’ve seen since it became popularized. The way it’s utilized here is similar to La Haine’s famous use of it, in that it doesn’t feel gimmicky or like a rehash of what’s become overused by this point. 

It’s unfortunate that Electric Dragon seems to be fairly unknown because it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever watched. Also, fate made it so that this was one of the few movies I’ve watched without headphones, which I’m eternally thankful for (I still feel a bit of a headache coming on, though, but I think that was this movie’s goal).

8/29/23