Garm Wars: The Last Druid (Blu-ray) (2014)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	Interviews-Cast-(16:40) Featurette-Shout Out (2:49)
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	91:55 (Case: 102)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Mamoru Oshii
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Lance Henriksen Melanie St-Pierre Kevin Durand Summer Howell
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Kenji Kawa

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, after the end credits

     For the first 30 minutes of its 90 minute running time Garm Wars: The Last Druid is a total and unremitting overload of spectacle and exposition thrown at the screen. On the planet Annwn god created a race of clones called the Garm, divided them into 8 tribes according to their specialities, and then abandoned them. The tribes then engaged in unrelenting wars, devastating the planet, until only three tribes remain: the Briga, who control the land, the Columba, whose speciality is the air, and the Kumtak, IT specialists, although the Kumtak are almost extinct and only survive because they have made themselves useful to the Briga.

     As Garm Wars: The Last Druid commences an air battle is raging: Columba six wing fighter aircraft (which look somewhat like giant wasps) led by clone Khara 22 (Melanie St-Pierre) intercept a Briga combat aircraft chasing a Briga pod. Khara is killed (but is shortly after re-cloned as Khara 23) and the pod captured by the Columbians. Inside the pod is the ancient Kumtak mystic Wydd (Lance Henriksen), a Gula (a basset hound type dog with some kind of spiritual powers) and Nascien (Summer Howell), the last Druid (although the Druids were thought to have been extinct). Under interrogation Wydd reveals he is taking Nascien to a far off sacred grove of trees where their creator may reside and where Nascien can unleash unimaginable power and finish the Garm wars. Before the interrogation is complete the Columba command craft is attacked by Briga soldiers led by Skellig (Kevin Durand); the craft is destroyed in the fighting but Skellig escapes with Wydd, Nascien and the Gula in a pod, chased by Khara in her fighter. Both the pod and the fighter are damaged in the fighting and crash onto the planet below. Then the film takes a breath and the rest of the story commences.

     After an initial confrontation Khara and Skellig agree to accompany Wydd, Nascien and the Gula to the sacred grove. Wydd gradually reveals another agenda; there is discussion about the nature and memories of the Garm, the reason for their existence and why they were abandoned by their creator as the group travel across the deserted landscape. When they finally reach the sacred grove they find it is guarded by hostile giants that must be destroyed. And then Nascien reveals her true nature.

     Garm Wars: The Last Druid is a live action film with copious amounts of CGI directed by Japanese director Mamoru Oshii, best known as the creator of Ghost in the Shell (1995). The film is visually stunning with imaginatively designed combat vehicles and flying machines, command centres, alien creatures and strange landscapes filling the screen. Each frame of the film has been manipulated to give a soft, hazy look and the colours have also been enhanced or degraded, leading to a dreamlike, or maybe nightmarish, quality to the viewing experience. Thus the film is very beautiful, but clearly it is an otherworld and not real. There are some big ideas here to do with the nature of existence, creation and the destructiveness of war, but the complexity of the world created, the almost impenetrable jargon and the stupendous visuals overwhelm and actors and the plot, such as it is. There is also a large degree of pseudo-spirituality that runs through the film which is ponderous and also impenetrable but which the film almost gets away with due to the best part of the film besides the visuals; the beautiful score by Kenji Kawa.

     Kawa is an experienced composer with 174 credits currently listed on the IMDb. He did score Ghost in the Shell but his range runs beyond anime to TV shows such as Eden of the East (2009), to big screen adaptations (the Gantz films (2009 / 2010)), to horror (Ring (1998)) to historical action epics (Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords (2005) or Saving General Yang (2013)). In Garm Wars: The Last Druid the score can be deceptively simple yet it combines with choral sections that add religious feeling and depth without ever being bombastic or overwhelming. This is a memorable and beautiful score which I will certainly try to find for my CD collection.

     With its complex world and full on exposition, all in just 90 minutes, Garm Wars: The Last Druid feels fragmentary and incomplete, more like the first film in a series, a feeling reinforced by the film’s final sequence. Maybe subsequent films, if made, will provide more coherent plotting and additional information about this world.

Video

     Garm Wars: The Last Druid is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     As noted in the review each frame of the film has been manipulated and the colours enhanced or degraded. This is the look the director wanted thus the film cannot be judged by the normal criteria. Detail is often hazy but there are brilliant bright colours, greens, reds and yellows, some degraded silver looking landscapes, and dull brown, hazy sections. Often Khara’s crimson skin-tight jump suit provides a contrast to grey backgrounds, none more so than when we first see her with a billowing cloak or during her night time conversation with Skellig. Skin tones vary from ghostly white to tanned, often in the same sequence, but blacks are rock solid and shadow detail impressive. With such a heavily manipulated print it would be difficult to spot artefacts, and indeed I did not see any.

     There are no subtitles provided.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is a choice of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 or English LPCM 2.0 stereo.

     The audio is what one should expect from a sci-fi / action film. Dialogue is clear, except when it deliberately reverberates at the climax when subtitles would have been useful to help work out what is being revealed. The rears and surrounds are constantly in use as combat craft flash by, cannons fire and aerial torpedoes are launched, giants crash through the trees, vehicles move. There are also ambient effects plus the beautiful music of Kenji Kawa which is nicely added into the mix. The sub-woofer provided impressive oomph to the explosions, crashing combat craft, giants and the music.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Interviews (16:40)

     In individual segments Lance Henriksen, Kevin Durand and Melanie St-Pierre are interviewed in costume on set amid noise and general racket. Many of the questions posed by the off-screen interviewer are inane! They do talk about their characters’ names, the role while St-Pierre also talks about how she got the role. Mostly a waste of time.

Shout (2:49)

     Melanie St-Pierre walks around the set with a microphone chatting to various cast and crew members. Pointless.

     I cannot find reviews of Garm Wars: The Last Druid in other regions but as far as I can tell all releases seem to be the same. Buy local.

     Garm Wars: The Last Druid is really an anime with live action. There are some big ideas but they are lost in the action set pieces, the pseudo-spirituality, jargon and stupendous visuals which overwhelm the live actors and the plot. But, forget the complexities and watch Garm Wars: The Last Druid for Oshii’s stunning visual style and the beautiful score.

     The video and audio are very good. The extras are pointless.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall