I Am a Hero (2015) Reviews

• A New Gem

  aji4u4ever2017-01-13

  I Am A Hero is a Japanese Horror MangaThriller directed by Shinsuke Yoto which is fresh in its appearance, narration, action and performances. Film revolves around a manga artist Hideo Suzuki who is struggling throughout and is leading an unsuccessful life encounters zombies which was a result of outbreak meets Hiromi, a teenaged school girl and their survival forms the crux of the story. Brilliant direction, omitted 99% of the clichés in the zombie movies. Absolutely brilliant action, graphics, the performances of the junior artists (Zombies) makes this movie a beautiful, engaging horror thriller. This movie has got the comedy, action, thrills, emotional quotients and mesmerizing acting by the lead actors. The music and background score was absolutely brilliant. A gem added to the zombie list. Don't miss this.. My rating 8.2 on 10

• The best Zombie film since 28 Weeks Later!

  manuelasaez2016-11-14

  For the past few months, I have been hearing praises for "Train to Busan", South Korea's contribution to the zombie/undead genre. After watching it, I was left unimpressed, as it was a bit too tame for my personal tastes. I sought something more graphic, gory, and indicative of a more adult take on the genre. Fast forward to two hours ago, having finished I AM A HERO, and I am still giddy with excitement. The film is impressive in almost every conceivable way; As a film based on a well-respected manga, I did not expect much from the movie. Usually, movies made from manga reflect a very sophomoric take on the story, to appease more "sensitive" audiences. This film, however, goes all out with the blood and gore, and keeps all of the useless stuff (sex, romantic interests, comedy) to a minimum. The directorial style is indicative of an understanding in how to perfectly translate manga to film, the cinematography is impressively nuanced and clear in its presentation, and the acting is superb all around. The real stand out, however, are the special effects. Every single instance of a head exploding, an arm being ripped off, and blood spewing from an open wound is handled with so much love and care, that even Hollywood films could learn a thing or two about being restrained with showcasing blood and gore, but when something is shown, it should be done with this much knowledge and skill in the craft. I was thoroughly engrossed with how the story transpired, and I was happy with the lack of romantic interest in favor of creating a story about an ordinary guy thrust into a very extraordinary situation. For anyone with a more discerning horror/action/comedy palette, give this film a watch. I guarantee that it will satisfy even the most ardent of gore hound, while still appeasing the average movie fan. Overall, the best Japanese film (outside of anime) I have seen all year. I offer a very enthusiastic recommendation.

• Exceeded my expectations

  agentk-773012017-04-06

  First, let me say this first - I read the manga this movie was based upon. This movie depicted the manga beautifully. The zombies were scary,as they should. You could feel how dangerous they are, which is very important in zombie films & shows. If you can't feel danger from the zombies in the film, that film probably has bad characters. The cgi was beautiful. It looked real and not heavily cgi'd. The ending was awesome. Watch it. You won't regret it.

• Check these Asian zombies out !

  cwchung-472852016-05-12

  I saw the movie few days ago. For me, this is an unprecedented Japanese movie on zombies ! If you already get used to the zombies in the 'Walking Dead' or in those in Hollywood. I guess this movie is a good choice for you as the zombies there pretty obviously show the salient features of Sadako (i.e. the Japanese ghosts), thereby redefining the concept of ghosts in the traditional Western sense that we are all familiar with. Although I have never read the manga before (I guess most of you also have not), I think that the movie runs pretty smoothly. Honestly, I even want to read the manga after watching this movie. I really enjoy this movie and for those who have spare time, they should definitely check this movie out !

• Good movie apart from one thing......

  freqeteq2016-11-15

  Let me say first that I've never heard of and have no knowledge of the source material for this movie, so this review will be based on it's merits as a standalone film, I'm one of these people who doesn't think that you should have to read a book or have any prior knowledge of the source material to understand characters motivations and actions in a movie, movies are their own entity and therefore should be judged so. Now that that's out of the way, onto my thoughts on this Japanese zombie flick. So it's another zombie movie and it's one of the better ones that I've seen. I like zombie movies that actually show us the apocalypse happening with the zombies taking over, and this film does that, it doesn't show news footage or a montage or anything, it shows our main protagonist on the ground experiencing society fall around him as the zombies overrun the city, and it's really good to watch, probably my favorite part of the entire movie. The production values are also very good, the practical zombie effects are well done as are the cgi effects. If you're a fan of gory deaths and watching zombies heads explode then this is the movie for you. It's not a cheap looking movie at all, you can tell that some real money has gone into making this. The story is nothing special, pretty straight forward with standard horror tropes and nothing new for anyone who is familiar with the zombie genre, it does introduce a very intriguing plot line involving an infected schoolgirl, but for some reason the plot line is put on the back burner and never really expanded on or revisited for the rest of the film, I'm guessing they're saving it for the sequels if they get made. I only have one real complaint about this movie, and it's kind of a big one so I'm going to write lots about it. I found the main protagonist to be very unlikable. I found him to have no redeeming qualities at all. He's a bit of a down on his luck nerd, which is fine, you can be dorky or a lovable loser like Shaun in Shaun of the Dead, but this movie is just over 2 hours long and it isn't until 14 minutes before the end that our main protagonist actually does something heroic, once Shaun realized what was happening around him he became the hero and started whacking zombies on his way to save the woman that he loved, he was a normal guy who showed he was selfless and heroic. For the first hour and forty six minutes of this movie our main protagonist hides from danger, cowers in corners, cries, lets other people die due to his inaction, lets other people kill zombies attacking him because he is incapable of doing it and just generally does stupid things, the only zombie that he kills in that first hour and forty six minutes is one that he kills unintentionally. He has zero charisma for a protagonist, and for me even his big hero set piece at the end of the film wasn't enough to redeem his cowardly and stupid actions of the first 104 minutes. During this time he does imagine himself being the hero, he imagines himself getting his gun and shooting a zombie, which makes it even more infuriating when he snaps out of his daydream so he can jump back into his inaction. As a viewer I'm confused if I'm supposed to root for someone who is a coward just because they dream of being the hero? I mean his cowardice gets innocent people killed, how am I supposed to like him? Maybe you will but I didn't. Even though I didn't like the main protagonist I still enjoyed the world that the movie introduced us to and would probably watch a sequel if one was ever made just to find out more about the schoolgirl who appears to have some kind of special power. I give it 6 cans of cat food out of 10.