Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler [Review]

How would you rate this movie?!

  • AMAZING. Loved every second!

    Votes: 21 13.1%
  • Enjoyable, but disappointing in certain aspects.

    Votes: 66 41.3%
  • Indifferent. It is what it is. Nothing more.

    Votes: 10 6.3%
  • Meh. I'll only keep watching cuz it's Berserk, but I'm not happy with it at all.

    Votes: 34 21.3%
  • HORRIBLE... it's an abomination to Berserk and Miura.

    Votes: 29 18.1%

  • Total voters
    160
I would give it 6/10 as movie.
As for berserk fan 3/10.

It does well the parts that it has close to manga (but is never faithful as much as anime) which adds to a few key scenes:
- Assassination
- Fight scenes between Guts and Griffith
- Water fountain scene between Griffith and Charlotte.

It was beautiful in animation compared to the anime. But it was very bad in a few scenes with the CG which was disappointing and looked like a video game cutscene while game was freezing up on you.

I like the animation of Guts and Casca. I guess they made Casca have lighter skin color of the manga of Casca after the eclipse which wasn't too bad.

They cut way too much out of key key moments and too little of a starting point movie to get people familiar with Berserk.
 
Hi everyone, hope I'm not late to the party, with my review here :serpico:

I ordered a few weeks ago one of the last remaining copies of the special Blue Ray edition of the movie on CDJapan. I've watched the movie several times, from start to finish, including once while flipping through the pages of volumes 4 - 6 of the manga to see which parts of the original story have been cut/altered in the movie and which parts remained intact. And boy, does this movie stink. No negative comments that I have read about "Golden Age I: Egg of the Supreme King" already could have possibly prepared me for this trainwreck of a film, nor could any positive comments really help me find much anything enjoyable or redeemable about it. Although everything that has undermined this movie has already been talked about before, I will try and be more detailed and in-depth in my review and give examples on some of the things that had made this movie the way it turned out to be.


I'll start off with the CGI "animation" - watching it last through the whole movie, it's even worse than seeing it in 30 second trailer clips. The jarring flippity-floppy visuals made it hard for me to feel any sort of emotional connection with Guts or any other characters during what were supposed to be the emotionally-gripping, action packed battle scenes. I don't know if this is what they'd call crossing the "uncanny valley", when a human mind gets repelled by an excessively blatant artificial computer-generated imagery, but this movie feels very close to it. The 3D CGI when used on human characters, in addition to making the said characters physically look bad while they only remain stationary, it also causes them to often move in a bewilderingly lethargic pace when they are moving. For example, in the opening battle scene when Guts confronts Bazuso, he walks up to him in what at first appears to be dramatic slow motion. But then quickly I noticed how all the soldiers in that scene as well as Bazuso himself, in fact, move about in that same laughable "slo-mo" effect. Forget about just only the usual video game comparisons here. Almost immediately it reminded me of a scene from Family Guy, when Tom Tucker is shown walking in dramatic slow motion, with moments later the camera zooming back and revealing that this is how Tom Tucker actually walks :ganishka:
This ridiculous slow motion "trick" is nauseatingly repeated for much of the rest of the film, particularly during the dramatic scenes, as well as the scene where Griffith shows his Beherit to Guts for the first time. In addition, the movie is made even worse by the overuse of Dutch angles, shaky camera movements and the George Lucas-esque ridiculously overblown camera pans and rotations.

Then there's the film soundtrack which, although hasn't received as much attention as the CGI, also deserves an honorable mention. Susumu Hirasawa's song "Aria" is excellent, and works beautifully for the movie. Its dark yet catchy melody has all the unusual and eccentric dynamic textures which're to be expected from the great master composer, and the whole song sounds refreshingly enjoyable. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the Shiro Sagisu's musical score for the movie. The main problem with this movie's music is how it has often gotten misplaced in the movie's scenes. In scenes where silence would have sufficed and no music was needed, there's music. Just one example of this is when we're shown autumn leaves being blown by the wind, after Guts gets spooked out by the Beherit, as Griffith reveals his ambitions to him. That schlocky Muzak-like piano was really unnecessary there. And in other scenes, the music just doesn't fit the mood of what's happening on the screen and ultimately spoils those scenes. Like in the nightmare that Guts experiences while in bed with Casca. During the first few seconds the music there starts off actually sounding like a passable cover version of a Hirasawa song. But then the music takes a turn for bad and then worse, when the Pro-Tooled, digitally enhanced "ethereal" vocalizations and synthesized orchestration kicks in. The other scenes that come to my mind are when Guts introduces himself to Griffith while taking a look around at the Hawks' camp, or during the scene where Julius and other Griffith-hating nobles are shown gossiping about him and the Hawks. In both instances, the music sounds like something straight out of the "Desperate Housewives" :magni:
There's a lot of scenes where music is overblown or not emotionally appropriate to the on-screen action. Basically, too much "operatic" vocalizations during scenes of battles, and too much elevator schlock music during the scenes of calm.

And of course, there's the issue of poor screen adaptation of the original manga itself. The excision of Guts' childhood already takes away a lot of the movie's fire as it is. But the whole slew of characters, dialog and scenes that have been cut from the film adaptation, when added up, is quite staggering. As a result of all the numerous cuts, the events and characters that take place in the movie not only have their importance in the story diminish significantly but they also all just "happen to be there", with no explanation. Without Carcus telling his fellow Hawks about how he'd wanted to be the one to kill Bazuso and collect the reward for it, we have no idea why he and his buddies are attacking Guts in the first place or why he always felt resentful towards Guts right from the beginning. Or when Griffith informs Guts that his mercenary group are the Band of the Hawk, in the original manga Guts is mildly astonished to hearing this and he mentally notes about what a feared and formidable mercenary band they are. But in the anime, his reaction is like "Ah, okay. Whatever." and to shrug it off. This creates an impression that the Hawks are just another merc band whose members occasionally happen to commit highway robbery upon random strangers. There's no Guts' first battle as a Hawk in the movie and no post-battle "induction" drinking scene, which would leave those unfamiliar with manga as to how Guts learned to fit in so well with the Band of the Hawk or why he chose to stay there after being forcibly conscripted against his will by Griffith. Also, without Foss encouraging him and giving him advise, we have Julius deciding to try and kill Griffith all by himself. This drastically takes away from the tensions of court intrigue and if he ever gets introduced in the future Berserk movies, it also reduces Foss' role as the conspiracy-minded master manipulator in the series. Then there's the dialog between the various Hawks at the beginning of the episode "Nosferatu Zodd (I), where they talk about Zodd defending the enemy castle that the Hawks want to take and the legends about his immortality and invincibility in battles. This piece of dialog gives us the clue on how mighty Zodd is. But no such thing occurs in the movie, where after a brief shot of the enemy keep, they cut straight to Guts shouting and cursing at his comrades for trying to restrain him from going inside there. There are many, many more of such cuts and listing them all would take days and require a separate thread. Thus, "Egg of the Supreme King" fails, both as an adaptation and simply as an anime film in its own right. I honestly have no idea why it ever had to happen this way. Perhaps it was the Studio 4°C red tape and their executives' demand that the movie's running time be kept at no more than 80 minutes that has resulted in all these cuts. Or, as some have suggested, with Kentarou Miura having given the producers and screenwriters a complete creative carte blanche with their adaptation of his manga, those guys just decided to go nuts with it and cut out/change whatever they pleased. I don't know. But whatever the cause, as a fan it's sad and disheartening to know that with Golden Age trilogy Studio 4°C had the golden opportunity (no pun intended) to rectify all the errors and wrongs that OLM had made with their '97 TV series. Studio 4°C could have brought Miura's story full and intact onto the big screen, win the hearts and minds of all the Berserk fans worldwide. And of course, in the process, more of the fans' hard earned money. But alas, they chose a different route and made their film adaptation so irredeemably bad, that not even Kentarou Miura's limited edition slipcase cover art can salvage it. And for that, shame on them.
So with that, it has been option # 5 for me :sad:
And for those who still haven't seen the movie or bought the Blu Ray - caveat emptor.
 
I finally watched this and I don't know if I have much to add that others haven't already pointed out. The CGI was atrocious and some of the directing was ... questionable. Those are the things that stood out the most while watching it. I generally watch movies with a pretty open mind, looking at the positives, but those two things really took me out of it. The Zodd scene was especially bad about both. As far as the actual story, I didn't HATE what they did, I knew they were going to make some cuts, but leaving out Guts' first fight with the Band of the Hawk left me scratching my head. Everything after that seemed to go in fast forward and too many characters were pushed into the background.

I didn't hate it, though. It was more disappointment than anything, although there were a few parts I enjoyed. For the most part, from the assassination on, it's pretty solid. Not great, but I thought it was the best as far as actually recreating the emotion of the manga. It's too bad that the movie overall is forgettable at best. The rest of the scenes that should have mattered (if they made the cut) were neutered.

You do have to admire them for keeping the sexual tension between Guts and Griffith on the staircase after fighting Zodd as high as they did. :troll:
 

ryuhayabusa6787

It's time somebody put you in your place, human!
It just basically recaps the series we all saw already just with fewer detail. i'm just waiting for the continuation of the series. series way better in every way but this is not bad to introduce new people to berserk.
 

Syaoran

I want you to remember
Doesn't look like anybody loves the movie


Well I didn't expect the movie to explain everything the book could (like always) but as a berserk fan it'll be nice to see it animated again :ubik:
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Well a friend of mine was lucky enough to see the movie before the Canadian premiere with her boyfriend and another guy I don't know. The all never read anything from Berserk. They all liked it. And my friend wants me to lend her the volumes cause she like it too much and wants to read the original material.
 
jackson_hurley said:
Well a friend of mine was lucky enough to see the movie before the Canadian premiere with her boyfriend and another guy I don't know. The all never read anything from Berserk. They all liked it. And my friend wants me to lend her the volumes cause she like it too much and wants to read the original material.

That's pretty cool that your friend is interested in learning more about the series. You should ask her what she thinks of the movie after she's read the manga for kicks.

Jaze1618 said:
Did someone pay you to write this? :femto:

Haha, it's an opinion dude. You don't have to bash it because it conveniently doesn't suit yours. Jackson's simply sharing his friends' experience of the movie.
 
IncantatioN said:
Haha, it's an opinion dude. You don't have to bash it because it conveniently doesn't suit yours. Jackson's simply sharing his friends' experience of the movie.

:ubik:

So I take it you guys are in cahoots? :ganishka:









:troll: :troll: I think its a great thing anytime one of these movies inspires someone to read the source material, and while I'm sure jackson' story is true, I found the description of 'liking it too much' a bit over the top.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Well I could tell her the series suck if you prefer... On my part I'm just glad someone liked it "so much" that she wants to read the REAL DEAL. (I did tell her a lot that she should read it anyway) Sometimes I don't understand you guys... :slan:


Edit : By the way, it was her words not mine. I'm still waiting for august 4th to watch it with subtitles.
 

Saephon

Die young and save yourself
I actually have had a couple friends show interest in the manga because of the movie, as well as seen a few similar topics come up on other forums. Guess the best we'll ever get for Berserk are animated advertisements for the real deal. Yay? :???:
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Well one more day before I go watch the abomination! But still excited as fuck to see it on a big screen!! I'm taking some picture for the berserk movie page since the movie is officially in the contest or whatever. For those coming to the Montreal presentation, I shall be first in line or something like that reading the volumes while waiting in line. Come and say hi if you dare to!

Edit: Okay, I will not review it since it's already been done a lot here. But you know what bothered me the most appart the cuts and changes (which sadly were to be expected)? It was the tone of the movie, it did not feel as serious as it should have been. I think in my opinion it was the music. At some part I found it very interesting but other then that it bothered. I am not a difficult guy when it comes to movies usually because I watch movies to entertain myself. So I got entertained, but the music...

Anyway I'm going to see it again tomorrow with other friends.

There was a lot of people who came to see it though (100 people or maybe more I did not count but I took a picture of the line up and my friend took my picture with the audience once everyone got inside and it was an early screening 11h45 am, tomorrow it's at 3h pm so maybe more people will be there)
 

Sammoniac

You taffers!
jackson_hurley said:
Edit: Okay, I will not review it since it's already been done a lot here. But you know what bothered me the most appart the cuts and changes (which sadly were to be expected)? It was the tone of the movie, it did not feel as serious as it should have been.

I agree, saturday I was in the same room as you and the overall ambience was very light, people laughed a lot (even in scenes where nothing was particularly funny). People seemed to enjoy it though, and they applauded in the end (but perhaps its a tradition at the Fantasia festival). I saw the movie twice beforehand without subtitles, so I was glad to finally be able to understand the dialogue. But unfortunately, it didn't make the movie any better :ganishka:
 

Sammoniac

You taffers!
jackson_hurley said:
Haha yeah I'm the one who started the applauding but it is a tradition mostly at the festival. :carcus:

Hehe that's what I thought...
Anyways, I brought 5 people with me who read the manga, exept my girlfriend who read only up to volume 22, and they all rather liked it for their own reasons (animation, music, battle scenes, etc). But they ain't Berserk experts, so that must be the reason why they were so positive :serpico:

For now, Let's hope that we somehow also get to watch part 2 in a theatre in Montreal.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Well I'm betting we'll get part 2 and 3 next summer (crossing my fingers cause other than fantasia fest, I'm not sure we'll get them. maybe at Cinema Du Parc).

Btw you form around or you were visiting? Are you the one with a brand tattoo? (my friend saw someone at the fest with a brand tattoo)

Ps: my pictures were shared on one of the facebook page of the films if anyone was curious to see how much people was there on Saturday, forgot my camera on sunday)
 

Sammoniac

You taffers!
jackson_hurley said:
Btw you form around or you were visiting? Are you the one with a brand tattoo? (my friend saw someone at the fest with a brand tattoo)

Actually I met someone with a brand tattoo in the metro two weeks ago, and I talked to him and congratulated him :guts:
And yes, I do live in Montreal. By the way, I saw someone taking a picture of the line-up, so it must have been you I guess. Good to know there's other people from around here on the forum!
 
thinking of getting Berserk Part 1 ( the USA one in English )

how much clearer is the picture in the Blu - Ray and does it come an Extended movie or any Extra's that does not come with the DVD one . ?
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
berserk36 said:
thinking of getting Berserk Part 1 ( the USA one in English )

how much clearer is the picture in the Blu - Ray and does it come an Extended movie or any Extra's that does not come with the DVD one . ?
I think the only difference is the obvious quality difference. The blu ray has much clearer picture as it's in high definition. As for extras I think they're the same. Not too many extras. I think it's worth buying if you like the movie though.
 
I finally got to watch it I've been waiting sooo long to see it...
Now that i have I'm left feeling alil disappointed :judo: i didn't really like the style they chose to animate it with and felt there were far too many things left out expected to see more of the hawks (judo,pippin,ricket and corcus) they were barely even in it i hope they have more screen time in the following movies and the zodd scene!?! it was so short! I think an extra 15-20min could have made this so much better! But ohwell it was still fun to see berserk animated again and some scenes were pretty daym cool still I'm hoping part 2 is better...
 
I havent read through all the pages of this thread yet so I dont know if the you´ve already adressed the dialogue issues, you prolly have somewhere though. Anyway I never watched the subbed version since I´d already watched the jap dub a thousand times before so I went staight to the english dub as soon as I got my copy. I dont really feel like watching it again right now but next time I do Im gonna go for the subbed one, but for now, do the sub and dub differ a lot? (and for you who know japanese are the similarities/differenses correct?)

To finally get to the actual point in question; there were places I really despised the english dub, for instance the first couple of times Guts speaks, and especially "You dont own me, noone cages me in" am I the only one who straight up hates how they changed that? Seriously compared to that I´d prefered it if they´d just made him shut up and ignore him through-out that whole damn scene. His supposed to say something that conveys that he actually wants to fight in more battles, and not that cheesy and pretentious "Im a pigeon, let me fly!" Oh what more?! He never grabs his arm, yet another point excluded :ubik: (not that thats anything new, Im just on a roll here :iva:) So of course theres more but this was the one that stood out the most and I just cant muster enough energy to make a hate campaign atm...

Sorry, guys, this ramble feels very random, I just had to get that off my chest :farnese:
 

berserker88

The Raging Demon
Does this movie cover volumes 3-6? or the second half of 3 I should say. Its been a while since I read the golden age arc and I'm trying to remember how accurate it was to the manga.
 
First thing: Hello all.

Secondly, personally my knowledge and experience of Berserk to date has been: '97 Series - Manga - Film. So as I just read through the past few pages of the topic I can sum up I too was very disappointed with this film. Not just in and of itself but if this kind of editing is a sign of things to come EG with the Conviction Arc as the tone will definitely become altered quite dramatically in the darker storylines to come. The Zodd scene was bad, as many have stated, although I did like the look of him. I did like that Gut's..encounter with Donovan was kind of shown here as opposed to completely skipped over in the '97 series. To actually shown the scene proper in the movie would probably have been a big No No. That said Gambino was virtually a surreal cameo with his relationship with Guts unexplored. Overall I'd give it a 6 or 7/10 and I just hope most of the omitted characters from the series final episodes (Skull Knight, the Bakiraka and Wyald) make their screen debut.
 
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