Black Jack is a medical thriller, and one of the most popular characters that Osamu Tezuka created. For this movie, one of his stories was adapted by Osamu Dezaki. The combination of these two makes it into quite a unique movie, which is actually pretty good.
This movie can boast well-drawn surgical operations (and quite disturbing ones at that!) that really show a significant amount of medical knowledge. It’s also got great characterizations for every character involved. Even the smallest side-characters stand out with their own character-designs, role and personality, which really is typical of Osamu Tezuka. The lead villain’s story is also well explored, and she feels complete at the end of only 90 minutes.
The story itself has quite a few interesting ideas thrown into it. The concept of super-humans was fascinating, and it’s well developed throughout the movie. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t always flow too well. Some events in the movie feel forced, and just there to keep the story going. One particular plot twist involving wine is just downright stupid.
Overall, I like this movie a bit more than the Two Doctors of Darkness, but the difference isn’t large. This one just has a better direction (courtesy of Osamu Dezaki), but they’re both pretty interesting movies. The one thing that I’m not sure about is whether Black Jack really needed this many adaptations. I mean, he’s gotten three movies, 14 OVA episodes and 78 TV-episodes. Isn’t that a bit overdoing it?
| Storytelling: | 7/10 – Good direction, though a tad forced at times. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – Good characterization. |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 – Great art and visual effects. |
| Setting: | 8/10 – Very nice amount of medical knowledge for the creators to work with. |
ummm what’s up with that red guy? Black Jack always had incredible character design.
I LOVED the movie. I have watched it twice and it is still amazing!!!!!!! XD
C’mon. This is silly. Who likes this kind of stuff? I saw a part of this movie and think its made for a very small audience.