'Knights of the Zodiac' movie review: Cheap big screen manifestation of Manga

Knights Of The Zodiac still

Film: Knights of the Zodiac
Cast: Mackenyu, Famke Janssen, Madison Iseman, Sean Bean, Madison Iseman
Director: Tomasz Baginski
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 112 mins

Knights of the Zodiac is the first feature film adaptation of the popular eighties Japanese manga Saint Seiya, illustrated by Masami Kurumada. The manga was the precursor to a long running and internationally successful anime series. But this particular adaptation for the big screen is a failed one. This live-action feature is replete with virtual production and is CGI-driven but that doesn't help any.

The film follows the journey of Seiya (Mackenyu), who is on a search for his missing sister, Manifested with powers beyond his understanding, he attempts to find out the connection between these abilities and the disappearance of his sister. Seiya soon discovers that he has to protect Athena, the Greek goddess of war, reincarnated into the body of a mortal woman (Madison Iseman). He is in fact recruited by Athena's adopted father Alman Kido (Sean Bean) to become a knight of the zodiac against an army of soldiers led by Guraad (Famke Janssen), Kido's ex-wife, who believes that Athena will bring destruction to mankind.

Mackenyu as Seiya is charming enough but he does not bring memorability to the role. Madison's unsuitable casting as Athena, and the presence of stars like Sean Bean and Famke Janssen doesn't help either. It's rather difficult to get invested in a story framed by turgid dialogue and unfulfilling visuals.The narrative tries hard to have martial arts fights in a dark, grimy underworld setting without much of a background score. This is an inconsistently made, poorly-acted CGI fest. The narrative feels rather bludgeoned by CGI effects which don't help either the narrative flow or manga logic to come through.

The cosmic energy sequences and the transformations of Seiya and other warriors feel crude and unrefined. The screenplay, low budget and overall mediocre production quality leave you dissatisfied. The final fight scene though, does look worthy enough of a big screen outing.