Review | Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya: The Beginning)

“Knights of the Zodiac is an entertaining and action-packed film, but it is deeply flawed. Nevertheless, it does explore Seiya’s story with depth and emotion which is the best part of this film. Mackenyu is simply perfect as Seiya.”

The famous manga franchise Knights of the Zodiac is finally getting a live-action adaptation. The film released today in Japan and yesterday in Latin America. It will then will roll out in other countries starting next month. In Japan, the film is called Saint Seiya: The Beginning, hinting that if successful there could be sequels.

Another adaptation of a classic Japanese franchise with Hollywood involved? Yes, I can understand that it doesn’t send a reassuring message. Fans have been disappointed time and time again. The difference here is that Toei, the famous Japanese production company is involved. But is it really enough to break the curse?

STORY

Mackenyu as Seiya in KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC. Cr: Toei and Stage 6

Unfortunately, on the story side, it is not exactly a success, far from it. The film rushes at a hundred miles an hour. It is supposed to be the first chapter of this live-action adaptation. Thus, there is a lot of things to introduce and explain. In fact, it is a whole universe with the Cosmo, Gods and Knights. Instead the film doesn’t take its time to present all of that to the audience and just fly over its mythology.

Nevertheless, it does explore Seiya’s story with depth. Throughout the film, we see his character evolve to become the Pegasus Knight that we all know and love. His story is really poignant and it is the driving force of the film. Undoubtedly, everything that concerns Seiya is the best part of Knights of the Zodiac. And I am glad that the writers treated the character with care as Seiya has always been my favorite character of this franchise. On top of that, the relationship between Seiya and Sienna takes its time to bloom, it evolves as the characters evolve.

Guraad is Alman’s ex-wife in this version, which adds a layer of complexity for these two characters. However, the storyline with the villains does not work at all. It is as generic as it gets. They are villains because they are villains. In fact, it feels like a waste of time to have scenes with them when they could have used that precious time to either develop these characters or spend time to introduce this universe.

All in all, Knights of the Zodiac is actually an entertaining and action-packed film. There is an epic dimension to the story and it is actually quite poignant. But, it is also deeply flawed. If there is a sequel, they need a new team of writers.

CAST

Moreover, this film avoided the usual mistake that Hollywood always makes when adapting Japanese works in live-action. They didn’t whitewash the main role and they actually hired a Japanese actor. This is a welcome surprise and a step into the right direction. I also suspect that the mistake was avoided thanks to the Toei company who was involved in the making of this film.

And they definitely picked the right actor for the role. Indeed, Mackenyu is simply perfect as Seiya the Pegasus Knight. He has put all his heart into this performance, as such the results are beautiful. Mackenyu brings his wit and strength to the character. I really want to see him play the character again. He truly deserves it.

Sean Bean is the same usual, he knows how to play tormented characters. Madison Iseman is also good as Sienna. And, it goes without saying that Mark Dacascos never disappoints. Plus, he gets a pretty badass action scene. Unfortunately, there is a problem of casting on the villain’s side. Diego Tinoco has no charisma and his acting is completely off. He often does a quick smirk to pretend to be bad but it does not work. It actually feels ridiculous. Finally, it does not feel like Famke Janssen is invested into her character. And it is a shame because her character was given an interesting twist but she didn’t do anything about it with her performance.

VISUALS

Furthermore, the fight scenes are absolutely stunning. Undoubtedly, there is an epic dimension to these sequences. And this is thanks to martial artist and stuntman Andy Cheng. It is actually action scenes that you can follow without a shaky camera. Besides, the slow motion is put to proper use.

Overall, the film has a good production design with great visual effects, scenery and costumes. Athena’s costume is literally the same as we know, it was an easy one to make. However, Seiya’s knight costume needed some tweaks to be translated into live-action. The results are amazing. In fact, this really feels like a knightly armor, it is imposing. There is a practicality aspect to the suit, it feels quite tangible.

SOUNDTRACK

Finally, Yoshihiro Ike delivers a fitting score that is both epic and emotional. Ike’s score goes hard during the action scenes. It is a great combo with Cheng’s choreography. P!NK’s song ‘Courage’ serves as the end theme, which beautifully sums up Seiya’s journey. There is a nice transition between the end of the film and the credits as the song starts.

VERDICT

Knights of the Zodiac is an entertaining and action-packed film, but it is deeply flawed. Nevertheless, it does explore Seiya’s story with depth and emotion which is the best part of this film. Mackenyu is simply perfect as Seiya, he has put all his heart into this performance. The fight sequences are absolutely stunning with great choreography and Yoshihiro Ike delivers an epic score.

Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya: The Beginning) is now in cinemas in Japan and Latin America. The film arrives in the United States on May 12 and in the United Kingdom on July 28.