Lupin is a thief, from a family of thieves. He and his partner Jingen robbed a casino, only to find the money is all counterfeit. Excellently done, but counterfeit. They resolve to find the counterfeiters, and take over the operation, which brings them to the tiny country of Cagliostro, where they'll have to break into a heavily guarded castle. The job quickly turns into a rescue mission, as there's a young princess Lupin knows from his past in danger as well, and Lupin, being the charming rogue type, can't leave her to her fate.
It's a caper flick, but also an action-adventure story with a fair amount of comedy. Maybe that is a caper flick, but I tend to think of those as having fewer explosions and mysterious goons in hoods with metal gauntlets. I remember reading somewhere years ago, that Steven Spielberg took inspiration from this movie for Indiana Jones. Which I can see, given Lupin and Indy's less-than-squeaky clean natures. Plus all the death traps, ancient riddles, and narrow escapes. Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, among others - directed this and has a writer credit, so it's pretty high quality. There are some gorgeous shots in this film. One of Lupin scrambling up a steep roof with the moon reflecting off a lake in the distance really caught my eye. The animation is detailed when it needs to be, loose and expressive when that's what it needs.
Adult Swim used to show one of the Lupin III series, and I always felt bad for Inspector Zenigata. He was a cop tasked with arresting Lupin. He's honorable, decent, hard-working, and has no idea that's he's essentially Wil E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner. Or Sisyphus, if you want a more classical reference. He'll chase him and chase him, and never catch him. Or, on the occasions he might get the cuffs on Lupin, he'll turn around a moment later and find himself cuffed to an empty chair. The two of them usually end up teamed up, because Lupin's trying to rob someone worse, or Lupin maneuvers "Pops" into taking care of the guy for him. Still, there's a nice moment near the end of this where the Inspector, having been taken off the case because the Count has friends in Interpol, is able to use Lupin a pretext to get back in and expose the Count's criminal activities over international TV. He feigns innocence to an absurd degree, and I thought it was great.
A lot of the characters have backstory with each other, but the movie fills you in enough that you can follow along, rather than assuming you know all the history. Which was nice since some of it was different from what I remembered from the series.
I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy this or not, but I really did. A lot of twists, turns, and sudden reversals, plus some funny gags.
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3 comments:
My daughter is a big Lupin fan, which is why I am vaguely aware of his identity. This sounds pretty good though.
Have you read any of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese?
Can't say that I have. I wouldn't be surprised if my dad has some in his collection, though.
I love this film. It has so much movement and excitement, but also moments of beauty. You can feel the Miyazaki touches in it, and I'd love to see him have another go at the character.
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