Yesterday I praised Wolfcop for being ridiculous but fun. But sometimes a film can get just a little too ridiculous for its own good, and that's what happened with Deadball. It cranks up the slapstick/gore/craziness to unbearable levels. The Japanese film industry has long been at the forefront of insane-goofball-horror-comedies, but I think it's possible to out-extreme yourself. At the root of it, there still has to be some semblance of a story and characters you kind of care about, and Deadball just throws that stuff aside for ass-jokes and geysers of CG blood. I mean, a few of the (numerous) gags work, but it's so over the top that after a while you just kind of go numb and it becomes a slog.
It doesn't take long for Deadball to distance itself far from reality and get completely fucking ridiculous. A kid and his dad are playing catch, and the dad says "Throw a fastball, Jubeh!" He obliges, saying "okay... I'm not going to hold back dad!" At which point, he magically launches himself hundreds of feet into the air and whips the ball down from the sky, while it burns like a comet entering orbit. Dad apparently didn't know about Jubeh's wicked heater, because he's not prepared and is killed by the ball. Jubeh promises never to play baseball again.
This event (apparently) leads Jubeh to a life of crime, as shortly after we are introduced to him as an adult being sent to prison after he commits some crazy mass murder. Although all of the prisoners are treating him like some kind of hero, as he only kills criminals and people who deserve it. It's never really made clear just what his deal is. This prison is particularly brutal though - the prisoners are forced to get graphically anally probed (seriously), are forced to eat vomit at meal times (seriously), and are regularly abused by a nazi-sympathizing head-mistress (seriously). Good times? Anyways, Jubeh is offered a chance out - for some reason there is a prison baseball league. If he joins the team and they win, he and his teammates can go free. The problem? They have to face the vicious Black Dahlia High School Saints (or something) - i.e. "high school" girls in skimpy outfits. (They are prominently featured in the advertising for the film.) Also, the game is totally rigged - and not even baseball. The point of the game is not to score - it's to brutally murder your opponents. Usually this is done with some physics-defying magical baseball. Will the underdog team of misfit prisoners defy the odds and survive the game of Deadball? Tune in to find out!
Now, I'm all for movies being ridiculous, but I prefer it when they are grounded in some sort of reality. Deadball is so over-the-top, all of the time, that it's essentially meaningless. The story just exists to get from one gag to the next - and usually the gags are either extremely graphic or ultra-slapsticky. Occasionally, they work. But it gets to the point where these gags override everything else in the film, and it feels like a (kind of cheap looking) demo reel for an effects company rather than an actual movie. And since their aren't any rules (of behavior, or of physics), it just kind of feels like nothing is at stake. Deadball is a hard film to get invested in.
Horror-wise? There is a shit-load of blood, and a *lot* of people die. But the deaths are all played as comedic, and again - no stakes equals no tension. Most of the effects are pretty cheap looking too. Some of them are pretty clever conceptually, but more often than not the execution is lacking (and super-CG'ed).
AND, it has nothing to really do with baseball. I was interested in seeings a baseball horror movie, but Deadball could have pretty much been any sport. I mean, in the big game, there is a pitcher and a batter, but there aren't any hits or anything. The evil pitcher throws a ball that's magic (it has a ton of razor-sharp tentacles in it, for instance) and it just kills the batter. Not very sporting. Evil Tennis or Evil Soccer would work just as well. Baseball is not essential in the least, except for the sexy outfits of the Black Dahlias.
Overall, Deadball was just a bit much for me. It relies too much on gross out gags and Nazi imagery for comedy, and there just isn't enough story to be engaged by. I did laugh a couple of times, but it was less likely to be at the "aren't we crazy" gimmickry and more at the character-based/or genre-riffing stuff. (I got a kick out of how Jubeh could just reach out of frame and get a lit cigarette. Really badass!) But there isn't nearly enough of it to justify a watch. It's not offensive (although it seems to be trying) - it's just numbs you to the point of boredom.
I would not recommend this film.
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