Category: Action
Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, India Eisley, Callan McAuliffe, Carl Beukes, DeVille Vannik, Deon Lotz, Keci Eatock, Lionel Newton, Jaco Muller, Terence Bridgett, Zane Meas, Cleo Rinkwest, Russel Savadier, Matthew Van Leeve, Liam J. Stratton

Duration: 90 min
Rated: R

You might Like this Movie if you enjoyed:
Leon (1994), Kill Bill Vol. 1 + 2 (2003/2004)

Long Story Short:
After her parents get killed a young woman enters the underworld of human sex trafficking to track down their murderers to take bloody revenge.

Review:
Not having any background information about it, I watched Kite and enjoyed it for what it was. The picture treatment is interesting; very dark and dull with a few color splashes in it like the bright red wig the main character is wearing. The storyline is simple but enough to fill a 90-minutes action spectacle, and may I add we get a lot of action here. There Martial arts sequences, plenty of gore and one on one fights, and it almost seems like a whole different world we are thrown into.

Samuel L. Jackson is doing what we are expecting him to do, no unpleasant surprises here. Indie Esley – known from the TV-Show The Secret Life of The American Teenager (2008- ) – on the other hand seems a little stiff, which can be due the lifeless script. That leads me to the character development that doesn’t really exist. We have very two dimensional characters without any depth; even if we want to connect to the lead it is hard because even though we know her motivation that feeling of desperation and rage doesn’t really come across.

After watching Kite I found out that it is based on a very cruel anime series from 1998 that included multiple explicit rape scenes of the protagonist, and since the she was under age it was forbidden in many countries to sell the uncut version. Due to its cruel content it was hard to imagine to even make a movie without getting a NC-17 rating. But not only did the director toned it down, he also changed the storyline. So I assume that many fans of the original would be very disappointed, not because of the missing rape scenes, but the complete change of events that would have given our leading lady the needed depth. Furthermore I don’t understand why – if based on a Japanese series – there weren’t any Japanese or at least Asian actors chosen for the movie????!

Nonetheless, I would say Kite is a decent movie that impresses with its style, setup and soundtrack. It is worth a watch if you don’t expect a thought provoking message at the end. It won’t stick with you, because at the end it is just another movie.

Rating: 6/10

Published by Elias

Biracial Kid, born in the late 80s. I write short stories, lyrics, books, I love Food, and I watch as many TV shows and movies as I can. My dream is to share my happiness and joy with the world... and to open a luxury hotel. View all posts by Elias