JAPANESE MOVIE FESTIVAL REVIEW: PLATINUM DATA



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In future police implemented the new technology of DNA recognition. When everyone’s DNA is stored in the main database called PLATINUM DATA it becomes impossible to get away with any crime. But then a terrible murder occurs inside the headquarters of the PLATIMUM DATA institute. When the head scientist of the program, a young genius Ryuhei Kagura tests DNA of the culprit he finds that computer incriminates him. Believing that something had gone wrong deep in the system itself he becomes a fugitive. A detective named Reiji Asama, who had never approved of the program on the first place, is hot in pursuit.

PLATINUM DATA is a cross between the MINORITY REPORT and THE FUGITIVE. Bring in the split personality issues and some BIG BROTHER twists and here’s is a new angle of a familiar story. PLATINUM DATA is an action film at its best with the chases, explosions and a murder mystery to compliment. With the running time of over two hours the movie is amazingly easy to watch. It is entertaining and twisted and apart from a couple unresolved storylines it will not disappoint.

Disappointing is the character development and some credibility issues. There are many fabulous reviews of this film on the net and I wanted to love it with every fibre of my heart. In the end it was just one of those action flicks you will easily dismiss and forget about when the final credits will roll.

PLATINUM DATA is based on a bestselling novel and I believe a book would be much more entertaining. Especially the unfortunate who-dun-it part, the resolution of which you can see miles away. In the end the movie simply does not have one of this crazy sequences everyone will be talking about, like CARY CRANT running away from a plane in  NORTH BY NORTHWEST or TOM CRUISE jumping from one moving car to another in MINORITY REPORT.

There’s nothing that puts it apart from many other action flicks and a very simple resolution of so-called mystery did not help to appreciate a could-have-been high concept. 

But some interesting ideas simply cannot be dismissed. In a digital age, when personality is nothing but a set of numbers in an online catalogue, what does it take for a human soul to prove that it is unique, and what does it take to survive? 


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