Gô Naga's comic story comes to the big screen in a big mess of a live action film. If it were enough to survive on looks alone then this might have had a snowballs chance in hell, but as it stands now this is a movie thats tough viewing.

Where do I start? The plot is whats best described as episodic. Telling the story of two friends who are become changed when a scientific experiment goes wrong and demon energy comes into our world. One becomes "Satan" the other becomes Devilman, a demon with a human heart.There are other demons on the loose, many hiding in human form and they go about killing and eating any human they find. The remaining humans fight back and a war between the demons and the humans ensues, which becomes a war between nations. As Devilman battles his friend and humans and demons battle each other it looks like its the end of the world.

The simplicity with which I recounted the plot is misleading since the story makes no sense except on the simplest of levels. Things happen and are important until they are not. We learn of the creation of the demons in such a way that makes you think you've missed something. Who are these scientists? There is a newscaster giving news reports in English in the middle of a Japanese language film. We are given endless scenes of goofy soldiers in white suits and gas masks shooting people they think are demons. An old lover of Devilman's demon side shows up for no reason but to have a fight. Events take a global turn except only to suddenly end up back in Japan. Characters come and go and we have no idea who they are, even though they seem to be important. Nothing holds together.

The two leads are awful. Apparently they are non-actors, having made their mark a J-Pop idols. They should stay in the music field. They stand and stare. They walk or run then stand and stare some more. Mostly they look stoned. I've never seen a movie where the leads looked so completely fried outside of Dennis Hopper's Last Movie, certainly I've never seen a movie where the leads were so fried that they couldn't at least phone in a performance. They have no personality. Worse the kid who becomes Devilman is quite ugly for an idol and one makes you wonder why he was chosen to star.

The effects are from a bad video game or from some of those low budget animated series. The design is good but for the most part they never drop into the world of the film, they are forever outside of it. At times the fights between demons shows its manga/anime origins by using the frozen image that artists use to produce an effect of action on a limited animation budget. It doesn't work here and just produces laughs as the two demons in question suddenly become statues instead living objects. its a WTF moment. I won't go into the makeup effects which are even worse, as spiky bones act like comes of latex rubber.

And yet there is some good things in it. There are some nice designs, Devilman, his demonic lover and Satan all look great, at least in theory.The designs were what attracted me to the movie in the first place, and had they not been as good as they are I would not have even bothered with the film. The reaction of the frighten crowds is quite good, even if there is no logic, other than the need to move the story, for most of what they do. And there are some genuinely creepy moments such as the last moments of people's consciousness showing up on the back of the demon that ate them, or the weird eyes of the father of a little boy who doesn't know his dad has been taken over. These moments are sad because you get the sense of just how good this movie really could have been.

I can't really recommend this movie. It's one of those annoying films that could have worked but doesn't so sinks to the bottom of the pile. They actually got some things right, but the fact that the leads, the story and to a lesser extent the effects don't work destroy this films hopes. (Though if you study film visuals, then you might want to look, if you can see it for free) A sad major misfire.

I saw the first Manga back in the day, and I happened to get a chance to watch the 2004 live action movie "Devilman" back in around 2004 or 2005. But truth be told, I couldn't remember a single thing from the movie. So as I had the chance to sit down and watch the 2004 movie for a second time here in 2021, I did so.

And it sort of was a waste of time. First of all, the storyline in "Devilman", as written by Machiko Nasu, just wasn't all that entertaining or impressive. The movie progressed at a rather slow pace, and there just wasn't enough contents to the storyline to actually maintain interest in it. So director Hiroyuki Nasu just wasn't stepping up to deliver an impressive movie.

Sure, the cast of actors and actresses in "Devilman" was actually rather good, and they had made some good choices with certain performers. Just a shame that the actors and actresses that were part of "Devilman" didn't have much of a solid script to work with.

As it is with a lot of movies that make a transition from an animated media to live action media just doesn't really live up to the animated work. And such was the case with the 2004 movie "Devilman".

Now, the most noticeable thing about "Devilman" was the horribly outdated CGI effects. Wow. Just wow. The CGI special effects in this movie are so aged that it is reminiscent of a computer game. In the aspect of CGI effects, then "Devilman" hasn't aged well.

Overall, then "Devilman" just wasn't a great movie, and it is not one that I would be returning to for another round. My rating of the 2004 live action movie "Devilman" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

The weak teenager Akira Fudô (Hisato Izaki) has been protected by his best friend Ryô Asuka (Yûsuke Izaki) since they were children. When Akira's parents die in an accident, the family Makimura brings him to live with them, and Akira falls in love for the gorgeous Miki Makimura (Ayana Sakai). When the father of Ryô accidentally opens a gate to hell in Antarctica, demons are released, merging with humans to survive. Akira hosts Aman and becomes Devilman but keeping his humanity while Ryô hosts Satan. The hysteria and panic replaces reason and mankind initiates a war against the demons, but destroying also themselves.

I have never read any comic book of "Devilman", therefore I am not familiarized with this character of manga. But this movie shows a promising idea wasted in a messy but also entertaining screenplay. This apocalyptical story shows Akira and Ryô as best friends, but never explains the motive of the evilness of Ryô. Further, it seems that there are "good demons" and evil ones, and Akira is the last hope of the human race, but the story does not develop well the motives of the two friends. Anyway this movie is underrated in IMDb with 3.8 and I liked it in the end. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Devilman"