Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline

Redlinkkid★ 6

I just got out of Lupin the 3rd Immortal Bloodline, and I swear I came out of it with more questions than answers regarding the plot of the Koike universe stuff. I'm going insane. Are they going to do Mystery of Mamo 2 or something?? But they had the clone stuff already in Zenigata's film, and then this new guy Muom shows up, then Mamo uses his Toki No Wa Captain Harlock time travel machine and I don't know where the story is going after this man, THIS IS A CRY FOR HELP. I saw some people say that Mamo using that 4D device at theend implies he goes to the Part 1 Lupin universe that goes into Mystery of Mamo. I don't think thats the case because that would be utterly confusing compared to it just sequel-baiting more Koike Lupin stuff, especially with all the unresolved plot points left over from Zenigata and the Two Lupins as well as the 10 more plot threads introduced in this one. My only guess is that the point of that 4D time travel device, straight out of a Leiji Matsumoto manga, is that the alt Lupin from Zenigata's film that was meant to be a prequel to this was actually some alternate Lupin who traveled to this world because of the device, which is why he had no face mask underneath, but heck if I know. This movie does a great job introducing new unresolved stuff that there is no way this is the end, which is funny to me, since I came in expecting to be the end for everything that came before (minus Woman called Fujiko Mine, but they treat that as its own thing) But why is there some assasin lady with a bow and arrow who exists for 3 scenes, one sniping Jigen, the second interrupting Jigen and Yael's fight, and the third as she gets swepted away in the Blood Tsunami. Is she coming back???? I DON'T KNOW. If you've watched this movie, you'll understand this exact issue. There are several moments like this in the movie, from that archer lady, to the assassin Lupin fights near the beginning and leaves the plot, to the time travel device Mamo uses, to the fact that several polticians know about this island's existence which doesn't really make sense since its this weird barbaric landscape, so why would any of them want to go there. In Mystery of Mamo, living on the island had Mamo give the artists and politicians Immortality so they could provide their gifts forever to Mamo. Here all of them are just defective tribesman I guess. Its so absurd to the point that Master Muom literally being the island is somehow the only thing that makes sense (which is good, dont get me wrong, that twist is done really well) Its kind of annoying because I can't call this a bad film, just really confusing for no reason, The villian is an amazing threat, even compared to previous Koike Lupin villians, the actions and movements he performs during his fight are a wonder and make him feel inhuman in the way he moves and fights, Yael Okuzaki is back and feels like a threat and still gets overwhelmed by Muom in an interesting way. A majority of the old plot points like the assassin factory and this fact this secret island controls the world are wrapped up very well, it just gets dragged down by all the new ones muddying things. Congratulations to Zenigata and the Two Lupins for being the first promotional prequel short film to better than the film it was promoting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah its not horrible or anything, but it has a lot of stuff holding it back man Ranking for all the Koike Lupin stuff now goes as follows for me 1. Zenigata and the Two Lupins 2. Jigen's Gravestone 3. Goemon's Bloodspray 4. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 5. Lupin the IIIrd: Immortal Bloodline 6. Fujiko's Lie. Theres a massive gap between 4 and 5 for the record. None of these are outright bad, but man am I little let down by this movie.

emberreviews★ 6

Lupin the IIIrd: the Immortal Bloodline is the latest entry into Takeshi Koike’s take on the Lupin franchise with results that I would charitably describe as “mixed.” It is still very much a Koike film so the action set pieces are top-notch as always, with his tendency to drift towards a grittier style of action leading to some excellent kill shots and badass feats of skill from most of the main cast. I was also genuinely surprised by the big reveal at the climax, with Lupin’s wit pulling together the many clues he accumulated throughout the film in order to finally defeat a seemingly unbeatableenemy. All that said, this is easily the most light on plot and character I’ve seen from a Lupin entry so far. Granted the only Koike Lupin I’ve seen prior to this is Zenigata and the Two Lupins (and thus the other three entries ended up spoiled for me with a 5-minute summary at the beginning of Bloodline), so perhaps viewing this as a final chapter in a marathon session would be more ideal, as opposed to a standalone film that mostly feels like a series of action set pieces; tied together very nicely mind you, but the connecting string isn’t all that interesting. This is also another entry where Fujiko is left on the backburner for pretty much the entire film, so that was another disappointment, and I’m also kinda struggling to think of something legitimately cool or impressive that Lupin himself did aside from the aforementioned big reveal. Still, I didn’t feel like I wasted my time, and the sheer coolness of Koike’s aesthetic kept me glued to the screen, so at the very least I’m more interested in going back a bit further to see how all of this came together.