The greatest compliment you could pay an exploitation film is to say it looks like they designed the poster first and then recreated it on screen. This formulation describes Inframan perfectly. Every one of its scenes could be bullet-pointed with the word “SEE!” in front of it (“SEE! Hong Kong engulfed in flames! SEE! The evil sorceress with an army of kung fu monsters!”) It is, in many ways, a perfect film, in that it is resoundingly successful in achieving what it sets out to do—which is transport its audience into a hyperbolic comic book world and entertain them beyond their wildest dreams. Its production values are high enough that it never seems to be striving beyond its means–its art direction, set and costume design all combining to create a seamless alternate reality. As such, it never once betrays its commitment to being a nonstop celebration of color, speed, style, violence and the joyous suspension of disbelief. In short, it is cinematic escapism in its absolute purest form.
#1 by Alaric on September 9, 2016 - 12:05 pm
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Um… aren’t “super” and “infra” more or less opposites?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist pointing that out…)
#2 by ronald on September 13, 2016 - 10:36 am
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“Infrared” is neither super-red nor lesser-red. Most people probably don’t know any more about it than that’s a kind of light which we humans can’t see, which itself sounds like a contradiction in terms.
“How can you not see a light? We use light *to* see. Light makes what you can’t see into what you CAN see, everybody knows THAT. An invisible light is, well, that’d be like the GHOST of a light and that’s just creepy, it’s weird, it’s…it’s *unearthly*.”
So there’s that, I guess.
#3 by Alaric on September 13, 2016 - 3:00 pm
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Infra-red is actually light that has less energy than red light (which is the lowest-energy part of the visual spectrum). So, it’s light that’s lesser (in the amount of energy) than red light.
#4 by ronald on September 14, 2016 - 7:44 am
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My point was, most, or at least a noticeably large number of, people don’t know that, so they won’t know what “infra-” means. If you find that hard to believe, well, you’ve just told me that you don’t live in the United States. 😉
Anyway, the film’s original title apparently translates *literally* as “Chinese Superman,” which in that context makes it a moot. One guess on why that wouldn’t have been an acceptable name for distribution. 🙂
The likelihood of anyone involved with the film still remembering, after FORTY-ONE years, why whoever decided to use the prefix “infra-” decided to do that seems rather slight, but I suppose there’s always that chance. Maybe that piece of, uh, ultra-obscure trivia is floating around the internet as we chat.
#5 by The Rev. on September 14, 2016 - 8:51 am
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Along with infrared, I always thought of infrastructure, like it’s Infra-man’s infrastructure that makes him super-powered, being a cyborg that has all that hardware implanted in his body and all.
That doesn’t explain the costume, of course, but what explanation besides “Because it looks awesome” do you really need?
Which is really all the explanation you need for anything in this movie, or why you love it.
#6 by ronald on September 14, 2016 - 8:59 am
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Also, the name just IMHO sounds cool. And if super-heroes really existed, that’s EXACTLY how many of them would choose THEIR codenames, the same way many bands choose THEIR names: because it sounds cool.
Regarding the Marvel super-team The Avengers: I’m sure some people wonder exactly what the Avengers are supposed to be avenging. Anyone who has read one of the many reprints of Avengers #1 (1963) knows exactly why the Avengers chose that name: The Wasp thought it sounded cool.
(Well, okay, to nitpick myself, the Wasp thought it sounded “dramatic” but that’s kind of the same.)
#7 by ronald on September 14, 2016 - 10:11 am
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“Never once does Reima pause to have an existential crisis about the monster he has become, or to mourn the loss of his humanity”
“Who in the hell would want to be human?” — Howard Howe, Tusk (2014)
That has absolutely nothing to do with anything, it’s just the first thought I had in response to first quoted statement. Yes, it’s entirely possible that I need help. 😉
#8 by ronald on September 17, 2016 - 7:49 am
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I don’t know if anyone’s likely to still metaphorically be in here at this late date, but there’s that chance. 🙂
1] As you’ve probably seen and have less probably forgotten, Stomp Tokyo, in their review of Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors from the Planet of Light (1998), outlined the standard roster of an Ultraman (and, unless I’m mistaken, other series) “science team.” In abridged form:
1. The Captain.
2. The hero who turned into Ultraman [or whoever].
3. The comic relief guy.
4. The guy we never found anything out about.
5. The girl.
I’m guessing that, if applicable, Bruce Le played the #4 role here, not the #3. Bruce LEE, of course, could surely have handled both. 🙂
2] Not really on-topic except regarding “obscure” super-hero films and I for whatever reason happened to recall this one: A super-hero film that it’s remotely possible even you haven’t heard of is Mighty Man (1978) from South Africa (who knew?). Pretty much all I know about that can be found http://internationalhero.co.uk/m/mightymansa.htm
The film was also mentioned on the Superhero Lives site (a now-useless link to which is given in its IMDB entry), which documented live-action super-hero films from around the world but which, alas, has vanished into the inter-ether-net (the IMDB doesn’t know that yet). 😐 I hope you got a chance to see it while it was active.
3] Totally off-topic: I vaguely remember a review of an Italian or French film, possibly a giallo, in which a cult in debatably cool animal masks entered the plot entirely out of nowhere. It seems like a film that you would’ve reviewed. Ring any bells? Thanks very much.