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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

EMAILPRINTViz Films/Tidepoint Pictures

Jin-Roh:  The Wolf Brigade reviews
59
9.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 12 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Mamoru Oshii

Directed by: Hiroyuki Okiura

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 22, 2001
DVD: March 5, 2002

Running Time: 102 minutes, Color

Origin: Japan

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

This anime film presents a Japan that lost a different Second World War -- not to America, but to Nazi Germany. Now, more than ten years after the defeat, the occupation troops have left, but their legacy is Jin-Roh's twilight-zone city where the domestic terrorism of "The Sect" plays out in everyday bombings and street battles against the counter-terrorist Capital Police -- and their elite armored, helmeted, and red-goggled Special Unit. (Viz Communications, Inc.)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The plot is often bewilderingly complex and the dense layers of subterfuge hard to follow, but by the climax the fairy tale has been twisted into a fascist fable of realpolitik mercenary opportunism.

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90

LA Weekly David Chute

Where Okiura leads the art of animation into truly uncharted territory is in his character work, the precise behavioral strokes that bring people to life in two dimensions.

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80

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A superbly crafted science-fiction fairy tale that's both Grimm and grim.

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80

Los Angeles Times Charles Solomon

Offers a violent but compelling vision of what an animated feature can be.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

The film is built to quaver and buckle along with its victims and martyrs. In an almost soulful way, it bespeaks the reality lingering when the final fantasy ends.

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63

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Its plot and political symbolism manage to be both over-familiar and confusingly muddled.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

I liked the idea of the movie more than the movie itself -- though sections of it are mind-blowing.

50

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Characters are undermined by the inexpressive animation that mars the majority of animated films: Their haunted inner lives are clearly meant to take center stage, but their faces are blank and two-dimensional.

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50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Dubbed for U.S. audiences, the film has suffered in translation.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a gorgeous albeit depressing mess, as distancing and despairing as a realpolitik wipeout.

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50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story's emphasis is on action, but there are some sensitive moments and interesting ideas along the way.

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50

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

It makes as good a case as any for the use of animation as a medium for serious, mature features.

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40

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Something to behold; it's just not much to watch, despite admirable ambition and a few tense, well-thought-out sequences.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

William K. gave it a7:
Rather heavy-handed in the Red Riding Hood symbolism, and the various conspiracies are not well-explained at all. Why exactly are there so many terrorist organizations? What is the Wolf Brigade? Why is the girl so important? Who the hell is the protagonist and what is he trying to do? Even at the end you will have no idea what the answer to any of these questions are. Also it's way too slow-paced to be taken as a straight action movie, so it's not like these flaws can be ignored. That said some of the action scenes were great, and the beginning scene was pretty sweet. It only starts to disappoint near the end, where the characters begin to overtly refer to the symbolism and you realize that the movie will NOT be explaining what the hell is going on to you. I don't really get the criticism that the characters didn't express enough emotion. They expressed plenty. These are all stoic and traumatized people, they're not going to go around revealing their emotions by making goofily exaggerated faces. I think the subtle approach works much better than whatever Looney Tunes crap people were expecting.

Josh S. gave it a9:
Some of the negative criticism is spot-on, I will admit. The animation does not adequately convey the emotional agony that I think Fuse is going through. The background information provided in the movie is barely enough to make the plot sensible - a little more would have helped. But having said all this, I still find myself compelled to watch it again and again. I am only a casual fan of the genre, but the good things I could say about this movie would not fit in the available space! I strongly recommend it.

Steve C. gave it an 8:
This movie is very good. The scenario was made by Mamoru Oshii and his movies are the best !

Frank C. gave it a 9:
Well animated, great plot, and likeable characters. A little confusing, but all around good movie. Not the basic Tragedy story.

Pascal L. gave it a 10:
Incredible... Deep story.

Juan R. gave it a 9:
Jin-roh was an excellent piece of work.

Norman G. gave it an 8:
An artful anime film which mixes 1940's armament, 1950's cars and sci-fi technology in an alternate-reality take on post-war Japan. The human realities of living in a protofascist country and how what goes on in smoke-filled rooms affects many lives adds to the downbeat but interesting story line, which is layered enough to require real viewer attention, possibly a negative in this attention deficit riddled society. Ultimately though, an artistic triumph. Too bad it wasn't subtitled, though the dubbing was done well.

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