REDLINE Blu-ray review

To say that Redline is one of the most incredible, nail biting and eye opening experiences ever felt from an animated movie could even be an understatement. Redline brings with it a lot of joy - an utter thrill to watch, absorbing the eye candy overwhelming the senses.

Madman will release Redline on 14/11, just in time for Xmas, thus beginning my quintessential Madman releases review guide. For any lovers of sleek animation, speed and vibrant gorgeous visuals, this is a must.

Redline is the visual and auditory treat of a lifetime, indulge in the enhanced sight and sound of this over the top, no holds barred insanity. Once viewed there is an immediate need to see it again as it was just going too fast the first time!

Redline could be best described as Speed Racer warped with a copious amount of adult oriented themes thrown in to ramp up the insane grudges between each racer. There is a lot of video game influence in play in Redline - the commenters overblown English and the cheesy racer theme songs in particular. Redline takes its speed to preposterous levels - on their racing 'cars' there is always an option to go one gear higher absolutely shattering any sense of barriers to the point where it almost feels like you, the viewer can feel the speed and this is reflected beautifully in the actual animation, distorting and shaping the landscapes and auto machines.

In terms of the plot Redline follows a likable punk racer named JP and a very bitter antagonist - the ruler of an entire planet Roboworld that they illegally race across. The film is also a parody of the sport celebrity, one of the key scenes is a pre-race analysis and it details every competitor and their particular style, shtick, pet-peeves and rivals and this satire works to great effect.

There is in fact a plethora of weirdness in Redline, akin to the oddities of the Star Wars universe. Nothing registers as completely human, and there are enough terms, locations and characters to fill a lexicon. "Don't judge a man's skill by his character" quips one racer, and this statement could not be truer as an assortment of majorly corrupt and morally bereft individuals seek the Redline (which is the next level of the racing circuit) for their own selfish means.

JP seems to have a genuine passion for winning, and even helps his love interest and rival Sonoshi as an unfathomable event occurs on Roboworld. The race reaches a level of danger and insanity that includes magical girl-mech battles, massive bio weapons, huge lasers, an entire army and a secret weapon that obliterates the concept of speed as a determinable factor in racing altogether, completely going off-rails splicing genres and cackling madly all the way.

The soundtrack perfectly matches the feel of the film also, it is a new wave of super sonic techno sound that thumps and peaks at the right time and induces the throttling speed.

There are many other memorable supporting characters and for freaky alien people they have a range of believable emotions, motivations and intentions. It is hard to imagine within all this chaos that Redline successfully creates a very solid galaxy of different races and creeds, the source material is rife for expansion, as the ride is over way too quickly and just barely touches on everyone involved, still it is an intense experience and repeated viewing is highly recommended.

But that is not all! The Blu-ray comes with a stellar extra, The Perfect Guide to Redline. It is an obsessive fetishistic and perfectly descriptive overview of behind the scenes that runs just over an hour. It includes some facts and figures about the production and the usual casual meetings between key personnel in this case the screen writer and director. They answer a huge amount of questions getting to the nitty gritty of the film, play with model toys and draw on the spot explaining their design principles. The Q&A is very funny and honest and some very interesting and eye opening details are revealed about Redline. The other feature, the quick guide is not as interesting or presented, just a few more tid-bits from other key staff, a 24 minute promo that is a nice but unnecessary inclusion.