Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2000) - Third Window Films Review

January 24, 2023

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility! You are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema; I am the (questionably) knowledgeable Sensei, more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite.

"The dragon lives in the human heart..."

Every now and then, a movie comes along that reminds you exactly why you want to spend all your spare time thinking, talking and writing about Asian cinema. Sogo (now Gakuryu) Ishii's 2000 cult classic Electric Dragon 80.000 V is one such film.

Move Over Detective Pikachu...

Highly reminiscent of the works of Shinya Tsukamoto, Electric Dragon is an electrifying, punk renegade sci-fi, that draws on an exquisite B-Movie aesthetic.

Shot entirely in black and white and set in a vaguely dystopian future/alternate reality Tokyo, we meet "Dragon Eye" Morrison, the great reptile detective. Trawling the backstreets and side-alleys of the city, Dragon Eye makes his living tirelessly searching for lost or missing pet lizards.

Whilst Dragon Eye (Tadanobu Asano) is peering and pawing on all fours on the ground, high above the urban skyline presides Electric Buddha (Masatoshi Nagase), aka "The Electricity Man... all wavelengths are mine..."

This oddly robotic, cyborg-esque man - with half his face covered by a gleaming Buddha mask - spends his days amongst telecoms towers and aerials, picking up radio frequencies and absorbing energy.

Their two paths are about to cross in a way that puts the lyric "Danger! Danger! High Voltage!" into a whole new perspective.

Cane VS Abel, Mufasa VS Scar, Dragon VS Buddha

From the opening montage and throughout, the viewer learns through the retro narration of Masakatsu Funaki and comic-book style text cards, that both Dragon Eyes and Electric Buddha are in fact brothers. One imbued with the power of 80,000 volts of energy, the other... 20,000,000!

While Dragon Eye seems fairly chill, Electric Buddha has none, and vindictively antagonises his brother (John Wick, but make it lizards) into a high-octane, hair-raising, action packed showdown.

Who will emerge the victor?

Honestly, the real winner was most likely the electricity supply company! Think of the bills after filming on this scale... Well, as Dragon Eye says while harnessing the power of electricity for ferocious fisticuffs "Conserve electricity!"

Major Wattage

Despite the low-budget science fiction aesthetic, the plot is fairly straightforward - and the film itself lasting a polite 55 minutes. Electric Dragon 80.000 V is painfully, effortlessly Cool. (Yes, with a capital C.)

The slick, stylish cinematography belies the maverick DIY energy - there may be props obviously wrapped in tinfoil paper, but they were wrapped by absolute professionals.

Cine-noir shadows, trippy shots of Tokyo, a ceiling of thunderous clouds, creative use of strobe effects, amazing layers of photography (Norimichi Kasamatsu), intense lighting (Kenichi Mizuno), edgy filters and montages of reptile biology over-whelm the senses and commands the viewer's full attention.

Both actors carry out their roles with relentless aplomb. The charming Dragon swaggers with Big Rockstar Energy, Buddha is alive with a wired mania. Watching both their interviews on the Third Window Films Blu Ray extra features was a delight. These men care deeply for their characters, and are exactly as punk as you'd expect. (Masatoshi Nagase going so far as to trash the microphone at the opening premiere...)

How about some feedback?

It would be grossly remiss of me not to mention (a) the music, and (b) the snake skin trousers worn by Tadanobu Asano.

Thanks to Mach 1.67 and Hiroyuki Onogawa, the film is wrapped in a squealing, cacophonous, three chord guitar score that amplifies the raw punk energy of the film. Screaming feedback, wailing whammy bars and rhythmically percussive synths will rouse the sleeping dragon in us all.

Lucky attendees at a 2001 showing of this movie had the rare opportunity to see first hand Dragon Eye's very own snake skin covered electric guitar, his co-star for the film's iconic jam scene. (Not to spoil, but the scene in question was meant to be much shorter, but the director himself thought that Asano's guitar playing was "so cool", he let the lad play on.)

Ah, pants!

Not content with just his guitar being adorned in the skin of his spirit animal, Asano rocks a pair of snake skin pants that apparently came from a a very old leather shop on Asakusa. We're told in the extras that those self-same pants were offered up as part of the film's merch line.

Another cool bit of merch were the Dragon Eyes and Electric Buddha action dolls, created by the same company that catered for the Morning Musume merchandise.

Come worship at the Electric altar...

Through interviews on the Blu Ray extras we learn that the movie was approached like an extended trailer, just introducing the characters, for what would hopefully one day become a series of films.

The film opened in July, was still packing out theatres two months on (with fans on their second and third watch), and seemed to have accumulated a devoted cult following. Why there was no sequel, I will never understand - and sadly Google wasn't exactly forthcoming with this information.

All I know is, is that Electric Dragon 80.000 V, coming soon from Third Window Films is an underground essential addition to any fan's home collection, particularly if they fancy wallowing in the glorious nostalgia of noughties Japan.