SUMMARY
In
ancient times, there was a war against demons and Humans. In order to
defeat these creatures, the human race created shadow fighters. Stronger
than the demons, they were the only hope for the future. However, after
the war was over, the shadow fighters were no longer needed, and so they
vanished.
Now, it is the future. A young man named Patient X has escaped from the
research lab that created him. Hiding in an abandoned building, he is
cornered by a team of soldiers. In response to the threat they pose, he
transforms into an armor clad warrior.
Nathan Cage, cofounder of Emerson/Cage Industries, has decided that
Patient X must be eliminated, by any means necessary. When military
soldiers fail, he turns to former Emerson/Cage scientist Erica Suguyama
for help. At first reluctant to help, Cage promises to give her anything
she want, so long as she helps him stop X.
The events that are unfolding are being watched by Shadowdevil. Only he
knows the truth behind the origin of both Patient X and The Shadowskin
Project.
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO:
The DVD quality is excellent. There are absolutely 0 defects or artifacts;
no pixels, digital bleeds, or rainbows. This is a clean digital transfer.
AUDIO:A very well done Dolby 2.0 audio
track. The music is crystal clear, as is the dialogue, and all are blended
perfectly. Since this movie is mostly dialogue based, there is not a lot
of need for surround sound.
EDITS: None that we know of.
EXTRAS:More than on "Chaos".
There is an interview with Jim May, independent film maker and voice of
Nathan Cage. We have two "making of" segments, and trailers of
all three Studio ArtFX projects.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: While the dialogue is well written,
the story has a tendency to drag. Majority of episode one's dialogue is
exposition, which overshadows the cool action segments.
ACTING: Despite Shadowskin having a cast
of unknown actors, they do a wonderful job. Jim May is perfect as Cage,
and I was impressed by Michael Lightner as Colonel East. I would have
preferred a different voice of Patient X. Terrance Walker does a fine job,
but his voice is a little too rough for this young hero.
FAN SERVICE: Plenty. We have Erica
Sugiyama in her bra and panties for almost 10 minutes! We also have
numerous visually and audio references to Studio ArtFx's other film,
"Understanding Chaos".
CONCLUSION
First came "Understanding Chaos". Then came D7 Peacemaker,
with its superb digital animation. Now, comes Shadowskin, the next step in
independent animation. I would not be surprised if we don't see Studio
ArtFx have their own TV series one day.
Story wise, Shadowskin starts off well. Plenty of action and
breathtaking animation. Unfortunately, the action is soon over and the
story becomes 20 minutes of exposition. While the back story is integral
to the plot, I would have preferred it to be dolled out in little bits and
pieces. Much like "Understanding Chaos", this feels like a
prequel to a larger series.
On a technical level, it looks better than Chaos. The animation flows
very smoothly, and during the combat sequence, it is awesome. The overall
presentation is closer to traditional animation than its predecessor.
The making of videos are very informative. You amateur animators or
digital enthusiast can get an idea of how many different elements were
used, and how much work was put into this film.
DVD Vision Japan was proud to
bring "Shadowskin" and "Understanding Chaos" to Otakon
2002. The response to this film was generally well received. Thanks to
Eric Murray at Video Ops for helping us bring these fine films to Otakon
2002.
Well plotted and nicely executed, Shadowskin has the potential of
redefining the independent animation revolution. I will be interested to
see how the story evolves, now that all the exposition is out of the way.
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