“Burning rescue” sounds like an STD cream. I gotta believe something is lost in translation here, which happens from time to time in Japanese film. Don’t even get me started on Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? No firefighting unit in the United States would name itself “Burning Rescue.” Ever.
Yet once the words were introduced, I knew we were in for a firefighting epic. I just didn’t quite count on the race of persecuted people who spontaneously combust, the “Freeze Force,” nor a mayor building a party rocket so he and his 10,000 fav besties can leave Earth indefinitely.
I think Promare is primarily about the pseudo-humans who combust-a-move at will. They showed up 30 years ago and just started setting fire to stuff. Now these poor souls are being hunted to extinction all because they just have a constant urge to commit arson 24/7. Can you believe the nerve of some governments? But Burning Rescue is on the scene, led by Goku. Oops, sorry, that’s Galo (voice of Billy Kametz), completely different guy. Why Galo is a daft-but-athletic young man with super powers, garish clothing, and a big mouth. I don’t know how I could possibly have mistaken the two.
Now, you may think that I’d dislike Promare on presentation alone, and you’d be correct. The film bookends with long, tedious action scenes of dudes either firing energy balls at one another or punching each other through the planet. There’s only so much of that I can see before my eyes just glaze over and I deeply wish I were watching a different film. However, Promare was clever in spots, and it had some great dialogue. On the former, the film presented several villain possibilities, but didn’t announce the true nemesis until Act II; that’s pretty rare for anime. The film also literally named a previously unknown life-saving rescue-being “Deus X Machina.” I’m not sure I can ever hate a film that self-aware.
On the latter, my favorite moment in the film occurred when two warring subplayers follow clues to an underground lair where a ghost hologram instructs the two on how to fight their enemy and save the world. When the boys why they were chosen for such a task, the ghost responds: “I didn’t choose you; you just showed up.”
And rarely, if ever, will one find a cat-and-mouse jawing match with the exchange:
“I’ll extinguish the Earth’s magma!”
“I knew you’d say that!”
There are prizes for films this self-aware and silly. And if that were the film in its entirety, I’d be promoting it like no other. The film I saw, however, was – for the most part- the animated equivalent of a big, dumb robot fight with a powdered sugar sprinkling of the good stuff. It’s tasty in parts, but not enough to recommend.
Animated fire-fighters convene
To keep this anime so green
What’s down this road?
“The Earth will explode?!”
Burning Rescue me from this screen
Rated PG-13, 111 Minutes
Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Writer: Kazuki Nakashima, Michael Schneider
Genre: Endless anime fights
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who can honestly discern this from the world of DragonBall Z
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you’re not a fan of anime, this won’t help
