“Knights of the Zodiac”: Superheroes from a manga

BUILD À DAY

Designed to be the start of a franchise, this mythological superhero film comes to us from Japan and stars Sean Bean, Famke Janssen and Nick Stahl. 

The “Saint Seiya” manga series dates from the years 1986 to 1990 and follows mystical characters derived from the constellations. Tomek Bagiński's feature film is set in the same universe and uses the same codes.

Thus, Athena (Madison Iseman), the goddess of war, is reincarnated in the body of a young daughter who must protect Seiya (Mackenyu), an orphan who does not understand exactly where his powers come from. Athena's enemy, Guraad (Famke Janssen), does everything to get hold of her, while Alman Kido (Sean Bean), the girl's adoptive father, tries to ensure her safety.

There's no shortage of good elements in this action-packed 'Knights of the Zodiac'. The fight scenes are extremely well done, the magnificent and surprising choreographies will delight fans of the genre (that of the fight in the arena at the start is a real dance). 

Unfortunately, the film is leaden by poor quality special effects, particularly visible in the rendering of the “cosmo”, this cosmic energy that surrounds the heroes. And since, unfortunately, “Knights of the Zodiac” cannot compete, in terms of budgets, with the sums spent by Marvel on their effects, not sure that this feature film is the start of a series.

Rating: 3 out of 5