Movie Review: One Piece Film Red

One Piece, Film: Red (2022)

Two weeks ago, I had the fortune to watch this movie in the theaters... the first-ever anime movie that I watched in a full theater with proper subtitling. I was a bit late and the theater didn't quite have the huge turnout that it probably had in its opening weeks, but... it was still definitely an experience!

And probably becuase the story of Film: Red itself and how it is structured is so... different. Normalyl with any superhero movies based on a shonen work, no matter how good it is, it's still primarily an action-based movie with a villain and a lot of punchy-punches... but it's still so different compared to how these movies normally go, particularly One Piece ones. The antagonist isn't erally defeated by fighting. We don't get the colourful mooks that are defeated by Zoro and Sanji, and there's honestly barely any yelling of attack names in the climactic battles... hell, in stark opposition to the previous movie Stampede, most of the cast other than Luffy hoenstly gets relegated to this bunch of 'oh, they sure are fighting'. 

But the movie itself knows the story it wants to tell -- Luffy, Uta and Shanks -- and that's the bulk of the movie's screentime. Those that watched the movie's tie-in episodes like me get a bit more of a context as to the childhood dynamic between Luffy and Uta, but it's definitely not required watching to understand what's going on in this movie. 

Sure, as with most One Piece movies since Z, we get a slew of guest stars, many of whom persist throughout the movie's plot and kind of join this rather large army that the Straw Hats gather to confront Uta. Law, Bepo, Bartolomeo, Koby, Helmeppo, Blueno, Brulee and Oven (!!!) join our heroes; while Fujitora, Kizaru and Katakuri also have a not-insignifcant amount of screentime on the other side of the story. It really does feel special with some of these characters -- I don't think Blueno's done anything for the past decade, it's surprising to see Kizaru a bit more bloodthirsty and apathetic about civilian casualties, and Oven of all people hanging out all the way to the end of the movie is fun. 

But the movie does start off rather slow and innocuous, which is extremely crucial to the tone that this movie is going for. All the happy pop songs, the rapid-fire explanation of who this non-canon (quasi-canon?) character is, Uta's happy meeting with Luffy... and then the revelation of her Uta Uta no Mi powers. In probably one of the more interesting subversions of most One Piece movies, Uta actually interrupts the prologue segment that would've normally opened one of these movies, cutting away the reular showcase of each Straw Hats' fighting style and going straight into showing off Uta's own style, where she very effortlessly stops everyone from fighting by weaponizing music notes and sheets, taking down the generic Jellyfish Pirates, as well as Brulee and Oven who show up to try and kidnap Uta. 

And... yeah, this is something that definitely makes the movie genuinely unique. J-pop isn't a genre I'm particularly excited about, but the sheer dedication of Film: Red to break up the movie with songs and to frame a lot of the scenes with action scenes cut like music videos? It works. It works so well, and honestly paying attention to the lyrics and the sheer fractured, troubled mind that is Uta as her songs peel off more and more of her sadness and her guilt... it's great fun. 

Except, of course, as anyone could've predicted by all the marketing material, Uta's childishness and her constant bickering with Luffy turns into something a bit more sinister as her pop idol "you can listen to my songs forever!" turns into something more disturbingly literal, and that she's just trying to get everyone to stay with her in her illusory song-world to be happy forever and ever and ever and ever. And while it's not the most original anime villain plot ever, it is still something that's rather well-executed. The focus on Uta does make her initial good intentions (she wants to eradicate piracy and suffering) be juxtaposed well with how little she respects the wishes of people like Luffy or that one little girl that keeps recurring throughout the crowd scenes. 

And meanwhile we keep cutting away to other factions that have infiltrated Elegia. We get to see the Gorosei and Lucci do their typical enigmatic mumbling of how dangeous this is. We get to see that SWORD and Cipher Pol have both infiltrated the concert to make sure the threat of Uta doesn't really go everywhere, and there's the disapproving look of the Frankenstein-looking Gordon, Uta's caretaker who looks at the concern from the stage. 

And, of course, Luffy decides to leave and Uta goes all yandere-mode, using her Uta Uta no Mi powers to get the audience to help her hunt down the bad pirates. The non-Luffy Straw Hats are basically indisposed of at this point so that Luffy can run around with Bartolomeo and Law, who end up discovering Gordon while running away from Uta's creepy music demon soldiers. They learn part of Uta's backstory to match the parts that Luffy already knows about -- after all the happy moments of being with Shanks and whatnot, Uta seems to think that Shanks abandoned her in the nation of music, Elegia. Not only that, Shanks seems to have used Uta's talent for music to get into Elegia as an excuse to steal Elegia's treasure and burn down the whole fucking country, with the animation and dialogue pulling no punches at showing that the entire country's worth of people was wiped out. 

Also, at more or less the same time, we get the other characters trying to figure out how to beat Uta... and we get the plot twist that when Kizaru, Fujitora, Momonga and the rest of the Marines show up... that the Uta Uta no Mi doesn't allow Uta to warp reality, but rather puts everyone who hears her song to sleep and transports them into a dream world. We also learn why Gordon is so against Uta's plot -- in a misguided attempt to create a paradise, Uta plans to kill herself with a constantly-waking mushroom that will trap everyone in the dream world forever, since they will wake up if Uta goes to sleep. It's a bit convoluted, sure, but you can totally see just why they only ahd a single new character in this movie. 

We get the great contrast between the dark, gloomy raining real world as Momonga and Fujitora get assaulted by civilians that are puppeteered by Uta like zombies as she rants about the injustice of the world... with the bright, shiny, cartoonish dream-world where there are flying music notes and Uta's wackadoodle Alice in Wonderland minions. Blueno and Law are kind of instrumental at getting the various factions all bunched up together and sharing information, becuase the rest of the Straw Hats basically go off to investigate the hidden basements of Elegia to find the enigmatic 'Tot Musica' -- a mysterious musical piece that, according to Robin, is going to be able to bridge the dream-world and the real world with the aid of a 'Demon King'. (This sequence has the other Straw Hats fight some like, golem robots or some shit, which is where the bulk of the Straw Hats yelling attack names come from). 

Luffy, very pointedly in this movie, however, still wants to confront Uta. But as we have established is something that Luffy and Shanks have in common, they will not throw a punch to someone they don't have to defeat. So it genuinely is an oddity to see a full movie where Luffy refuses to throw a punch at his childhood friend and sister-figure who he sees as someone that's basically doing something that she hasn't thought through properly. We get action scenes, yes, of Luffy beating the disposable soldiers, but there's no triumph to it, none of the oomph when we see Luffy beating down goons in Stampede or Z or Gold. He just wants to reach someone he views like a sibling, confused at why she's saying all these horrible things. 

Again... this is the crux of the conflict, and I am impressed that the Uta story is kept so front-and-center after we were left to basically dig the wiki for the cliffs-notes version of Bullet and Tesoro's backstories. And for a good chunk of the movie, Uta's conflict seemed pretty simple. Shanks abandoned her, so she's pissed off... but Shanks is a good guy and Luffy (and the audience) can be sure of that, so there's a reason, right? So we need to bring the reason to her. 

Also amazingly shown is Koby explaining Uta's plan to the crowd of civilians... and I do really like that the crowd is realistically split in half. Some of them actually genuinely do appreciate Uta's fantasy world, others just want to go home, and there's a particular dork that goes "I like school!" leading Uta to freak out, turn everyone that's not a combatant into foodstuff and then flood the concert hall.

Things get complicated, of course, because more aggressive Marines start to show up. Akainu sics Kizaru and tells them to start shooting civilians, leading to a very amazingly voice-acted moment as Uta freaks out at the sight of this. (Oh yeah, Charlos and some Tenryuubito nonsense also happens, but I really do think that it's kind of a distraction that probably wasn't necessary since the movie already works well with the various Pirate and Marine factions). That scene where she panics and rips off her sleeve and tries to save one of her fans that got shot in the chest is pretty harrowing, because all she wanted to do is to bring her 'new era' to them. 

Oh yeah, and the Red-Haired Pirates show up at around this point, too, but Uta and Shanks' argument are a bit too violent, not helped by Kizaru shooting her sleepwalking fans at the same time. There is an amazing moment where Shanks beats the shit out of Kizaru with a single speed-blitz slash and forces him to stand down, but, again, these clashes really kind of are the back-end to the Uta story. Beautifully animated fanservice, yes, but still. 

 

At which point Uta brings out the Tot Musica, and... summons a goddamn CGI demon from hell! The piano demon that Uta summons is a bit more thematic compared to Bullet's vaguely-defined PS2 video game boss fight, though, and this music demon basically ends up becoming the enemy for the final 15 minutes of the movie. 

And normally I'd be pissed off at this, but... we actually do have a good reason, because it ties to the huge Uta revelation. Gordon reveals it all and it's actually believable, for once, that he's keeping this a secret from Uta. Turns out that Tot Musica is actually haunted, possessed by the spirit of the Demon King -- which in and of itself makes Tot Musica already a bit more unique and more threatening than just another Devil Fruit user, but also believably a one-note villain that lasts a single movie. When Uta was a child, the music sheets rose up and ended up appearing in front of Uta, causing her to sing it and get possessed by the demon. It was Uta, in demon form, that massacred the entire kingdom, while Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates are the ones who saved Uta. They left Uta in Gordon's care to both let her talent grow, and also to absolve her of any of the guilt. 

Again, is that an excuse for missing out on Uta's growth for a dozen years, without a single Den Den Mushi call? Debatable. But at least, there's a good reason for Shanks skipping out on her.

What's not an excuse, though, is Shanks and Gordon leaving Uta behind in... literally the place where the demonic sheet music slumbers. That's a gigantic dumb move on their part. 

...and then we learn that as Luffy is about to stretched his hand out to her and solve the day with the power of friendship, Uta gets consumed by the shadowy enery of the Tot Musica as she reveals that... yeah, she knows her culpability all along. part of her intense emotions towards Shanks is based off of her own refusal to acknowledge her guilt. It's complex and messy and there's not just a single factor, but poor Uta basically gets consumed by that giant Tot Musica demon, and just like smoe kind of SCP cognitohazard, Uta's concert continues to put more and more people to sleep and into the dreamworld as the Tot Musica's power grows stronger and stronger. We get a bunch of chaotic action scenes, a lot of screaming, and a lot of fun moments from the Red-Haired Pirates, who actually do stuff. There's a guy that screams lasers, the monkey and his handler does stuff, Lucky Roo does a fuusen, Benn Beckman uses Armament Haki... cool stuff!

Which leads to a surprisingly grat moment. As all the players finally gather -- including Katakuri, who's there to save his little sister -- and Shanks reaffirming that Uta is his daughter, we get a surprising connection via Observation Haki between Usopp and Yasopp, who allows the two teams in the real and dream worlds to coordinate their attacks and destroy the piano demon's tentacles. It culminates in the animation jumping up all the way to eleven as Shanks and Luffy combine their punches, and Luffy even goes to Gear Fifth for a while as the artstyle goes nearly black-and-white with heavy inks (which helps disguise Gear Fifth) to punch Uta out of Tot Musica. 

...and you'd think that's the end of it, but no. Luffy and the others are still trapped in the dream world, and the weakened and dying Uta ends up singing one lsat song to break Tot Musica's influecne and free everyeon. Shanks unleashes a blast of Conqueror's Haki to scare off the two Admirals in such a great showcase of badassery, we get a flashback to Shanks discovering baby Uta, and... and Luffy gets a bit of a fever dream as he meets Uta in a heaven-esque realm. Luffy wakes up, we get the implication that, yes, Uta died in Shank's ship. 

And... you know what? Surprising downer ending, but ultimately the movie is probably my favourite of all the One Piece movies. Yes, the final act did stretch on a bit more, but they definitely did the right thing focusing on a single plotline and just staying with it instead of trying to script this and split people up by their battling capabilities. I still find it impressive that characters like Oven and Blueno still continue to be relevant all the way to the climax, but the focus is still on Uta, Luffy and Shanks' stories. Slightly convoluted plot, sure, and the musical aspect might catch some people unawares, but I did enjoy my time watching this movie. 

Random Notes:

• "New Genesis" is the obvious award-bait song, and "Tot Musica" is awesome, but no song caught my attention as much as the amazing IKARI-YOOOO screaming in "Backlight", easily my favourite musical piece in the whole movie. 
• This movie is released in the midst of the anime serialization of the Onigashima raid in Wano, but we do get some hints of the power-ups received at the end of Wano. To wit, we get to see Luffy briefly dip into Gear Fifth mid-punch; Zoro activates Conqueror's Haki and Asura for a split second; and Sanji has some blue flames in his Ifrit Jambe. It's things that you really won't realize isn't just the stylization if you don't already know. 
• As usual, it's impossible to put this into the canon timeline. It has to happen after Wano since Luffy is considered a Yonko and Jinbe is part of the crew; but Big Mom, Koby and to a lesser extent many of the other guest stars appearing make it hard to shuffle this into the manga timeline. Uta herself is canon, though, having a brief cameo in one of the chapters. 
• For all the fuss made by the fandom when they saw the 'chibified' Thousand Sunny, the anthropomorphic Sunny barely had anything beyond funny events and hanging out with chibi-Bepo, chibi-Chopper and chibi-Blueno. 
• In addition to the names and some powers of the members of Shanks' Red-Haired Crew, some other interesting confirmation we get in Film: Red include the fact that Blueno and Kalifla are part of Cipher Pol, that Helmeppo is part of SWORD (only very recently confirmed in the manga!) and that Roger and Rayleigh seemingly find Shanks in a treasure chest.
• There is also mentions of Shanks and Uta being part of a 'Figarland' family, which I initially thought referred to the kingdom of Elegia... but no, it's just a random subtle hint of Shank's parentage snuck into the movie, isn't it?
• I am disappointed that Brook didn't get anything interesting to say or do other than the do-re-mi sheet music singing, but the rest of the cast got shuffled into the background too, so I really can't complain too much. 
• Ah, yes, Sanji considering Brulee a lady. She looks like a hag, but Brulee's still actually not that old, is she?
• In addition to Benn Beckman, Yasopp and Lucky Roo, this movie kind of establishes like around three or four extra members of the Red-Haired Pirates and shows off what they can do. Hongo is definitely the crew's doctor, and the more muscular-looking Gab can shoot laser beams out of his mouth. 
• Also, Big Mom, Perospero and a bunch other members of their crew show up, but they really don't do jack-all beyond that brief cameo. 
• I kinda forget to mention that Uta's also suffering elevated emotions thanks to the wake-up shroom. I mean, the backstory does explain a lot of what she's doing, but having an extra psychedelic tossed in can't be good for her mindstate, explaining why she's so melodramatic in the movie. 
• Also, a great foreshadowing when Sanji finds the mushroom and chucks it into the trash. Sanji, who will never waste even leftover food, recognizes it as poison. 
• Usopp cosplays as KISS and Jinbe cosplays as Elvis Presley. This is amazing. 
• Uta is actually adopted, but there is no point in the movie where Luffy, Uta or Shanks ever refers to Uta as anything but "Shanks' daughter". If anything, it's other characters like Gordon and Benn Beckman also claiming quasi-parenthood of Uta. Adopted family is real family.  
• WE ARE plays in instrumental over Luffy and Shanks's double-punch, and I cannot stress just how cool it is for a music-heavy movie actually, even briefly, cover the original One Piece song. 
• It does speak to how much I read/watched One Piece that I can kinda remember a bunch of the attack names and even sorta hear 'Counter Shock' or 'Asura' or 'Monster Point' or 'Franky Fresh Fire' or 'Elephant Gatling' at the back of my mind even though the characters don't actually say the attack names. 
• That said, when every fucking person starts unloading on the demon at the end of the movie, it did get a bit confusing to follow at points. 
• A lot of the visuals of Uta's powers are great! The colours, the music videos, the psychedelic Tot Musica demon, the weird carriage she rides around in... but I'm not the biggest fan of her swarms of musical notes. Which doesn't look bad, but just looks not as good as the rest of the movie. 
• Some of the critics of this movie is that people expected more Shanks, and... from a movie called Film Red, I can kind of get it. On the other hand... I actually am surprised that we got Shanks around the 2/3rd's point instead of like, the last 5 minutes? Yeah.