Kevin Eastman hired his Amazonian B-movie actress wife (and former Penthouse Pet), Julie Strain, to use her voluptuous body as an animation model for the buxom female lead. She also contributed her vocal presence to the character (also coincidentally named Julie). Strain has numerous genre credits including THE UNNAMEABLE 2, SORCERESS, and ROWDY GIRLS. Michael (STARSHIP TROOPERS) Ironside is the voice talent for the scientist-turned-conqueror, Tyler. Former rock icon Billy Idol not only contributes a song to the soundtrack, but also voices one of the key alien characters, Odin. The voice cast is rounded out by Pier Kohl, Sonja Ball, Brady Moffat, Rick Jones, Arthur Holden, Jane Woods, Terrence Scammel, and Alan Fawcett.

A scientific expedition led by man of peace, Tyler (Ironside), discovers a crystal inhabited by an ancient alien force. When Tyler handles the crystal for the first time, the unknown force within possesses Tyler and corrupts his soul. He immediately turns his scientific exploration ship into a death ship, and his once-peaceful crew into bloodthirsty space pirates. Tyler sets course for the uncharted planet of Eden, a world that is supposed to be dead, but in actuality is home to a race of genetically enhanced humans called FAKKS. Tyler orders his loyalists to overpower the inhabitants, and many of the peaceful residents of the town are killed. The father of curvaceous resident Julie dares to challenge the invaders, but he is killed in battle, and Julie is injured as well (and unable to prevent Tyler from kidnapping her sister). Tyler also steals the scientific FAKK knowledge, and has his cyborg physician create an immortality formula that Tyler imbibes to ensure his scheme of domination can continue. With this serum, Tyler is able to withstand any kind of attack, but the formula’s effects are short-lived. He hopes to develop a permanent immortality formula by using the genetic code contained with in the body of Julie’s sister, who is also a FAKK.

When Julie recovers, she discovers Tyler’s ship has left Eden. She is burning with revenge, and reluctantly teams up with a member of Tyler’s crew that Tyler left on the planet to die. They follow the trail of the madman’s ship until they come to a space station, that acts as a Freeport for the scum and villainy of the universe. Julie tracks Tyler down to a sleazy alien nudie bar, where Tyler is enjoying the dancing of a six-breasted stripper. Julie removes an automatic gatlin gun from her overcoat, and forces Tyler to eat hot lead. However, the immortality formula is still in effect, and the bullet wounds heal up before her unbelieving eyes. Tyler throws out an explosive, and escapes in the ensuing fireworks. Tyler gathers his crew, and heads deep into hyperspace. He is unaware that Julie’s small spacecraft has latched on to the hulk of Tyler’s enormous ship. Julie’s ship is eventually detected, and Tyler orders his men to destroy it. They unleash smart bombs to locate and destroy Julie’s ship, but the weapons only serve to knock Tyler’s mammoth spacecraft out of hyperspace. Both ships are crippled, and end up crashing on the surface of remote planet, Uroboris.

On the surface of this cavernous planet, she is greeted by friendly alien resident, Odin (Idol), and his companion, a small, talking rock creature. Odin insists that her presence on his world is not coincidence; that she is the chosen one revealed in an ancient prophecy. The inhabitants of the planet Uroboris have their own problems; they are divided into two different factions: One, a peace loving race of humanoid proportions (though they have six eyes), the other a war mongering tribe of lizard warriors. Tyler uses his immortality formula to challenge the savage leader of the lizard warriors. When he defeats the leader before the eyes of the lizard people, Tyler claims his leadership position. The lizartd race bows to Tyler, and he assembles them into a huge war machine. Julie, meanwhile, allies herself with Odin and the peace-loving residents of planet Uroboris. Tyler directs his war machine straight into the populace center of their opponents’ city and a battle for supremacy begins! Can Julie help her alien compatriots to fight back for the mastery of the planet?

HEAVY METAL 2000 delivers adult thrills with science fiction eye-candy and a throbbing rock score. However, the film cannot hold a candle to the original. It’s tough not to compare the two, since HEAVY METAL 2000 tries so hard to capture the look and flavor of HEAVY METAL. On the surface, there are some similarities, such as character design and the general look of the animation. The script is basically a retread of the Tarna sequence from the original film, stretched out to feature length. But HEAVY METAL lacks the charm and humor of its predecessor. The original had many comedic talents involved, such as Ivan Reitman, and SCTV alumni John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis. HEAVY METAL also showcased different styles of animation, so even if you didn’t like the segment you were watching, you knew that minutes later a different sequence would be forthcoming. But you are trapped in the world of HEAVY METAL 2000 until the end, with the same soulless animation throughout. The filmmakers employ a constant fadeout to represent a change in locale, which proves to be highly annoying. In one action scene that takes place in a bar, the animation switches to slow motion (as if trying to set up a Sam Peckinpah inspired shootout). This backfires and the animation is poorly rendered. I’ve seen anime films from the 1970’s that accomplished this effect better.

In 1981, HEAVY METAL shattered the barriers of taste by showing sex acts and extreme violence in an animated film. Ralph Bakshi experimented with cartoon sex, drugs, and violence with FRITZ THE CAT, but HEAVY METAL took it to a whole new level. However, in the year 2000, this type of mature approach is common in Japanese animation; and even mainstream adult-oriented cartoons such as BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, SOUTH PARK, and even THE SIMPSONS have elevated the public’s awareness of adult themed content. Would animation fans who were weaned on the monster-rapists from the UROTSUKIDOJI series find anything offensive about HEAVY METAL 2000? If anything, the film lacks the sex acts and drug use of it’s predecessor; HEAVY METAL 2000 is actually a more sanitized version, perhaps because of the impressionable slacker youth of today. Believe it or not, the breast size of the women in the original put Julie Strain to shame (even though she’s large, too!)

One of the positives about HEAVY METAL 2000 is the pacing (there is never a dull moment). The other saving grace is the animated (and vocal) presence of Julie Strain, whose semi-automatic weapons are even bigger that her heaving breasts. Though she doesn’t possess much range as an actress, she makes for a fairly convincing Amazon warrior. Michael Ironside’s dark personality comes across perfectly to his character, Tyler, and subsequently turns in one of the best vocal performances of recent times. A surprise comes in shape of Billy Idol, who gives a very controlled vocal performance (you’d think the bad-boy rocker would play some rowdy type character) as Odin. The animation quality itself is inconsistent. The CGI stuff looks great depicting the space crafts, planets, and various hardware, but the character animation is not even as good as some of the mediocre anime I’ve seen. Overall, though lacking depth and detail, the character animation comes close to the look, characters, and costumes of the original HEAVY METAL.

HEAVY METAL 2000 features a handful of extras, but nowhere near as comprehensive as it’s progenitor. From the Special Features artwork, you can view the Photo Gallery, which displays 40 shots of the futuristic landscapes and space vehicles, or 3 character designs of Julie. There is also an Animation Test that depicts Taylor fighting it out with the lizard warrior. This segment features commentary by Kevin Eastman (in DD 2.0), and runs 1:13. Using the Isolated Soundtrack feature, you can watch (or listen to) HEAVY METAL 2000 sans dialog and sound effects. This soundtrack is in Dolby Digital 5.1, and includes the metal/rock compositions and the symphony scoring. There is also several Storyboard to Animatic Comparisons. You can view the finished footage in the lower right portion of the screen with the story board drawings taking up the full length of the screen. All these comparisons include the audio from in film in DD 2.0:

• Eden Airfight (2:26)
• Lizard Fight (1:26)
• Love Scene (2:15)
• Julie Bathes (1:46)
• Final Fight (3:22)

The DVD also features a couple short documentaries. One is called JULIE STRAIN: SUPER GODDESS, which explores the career of this former centerfold and current B-movie queen. Included are interviews with Strain and her husband, and shows clips from many of her films. This short is Full Frame, DD 2.0, and runs 13:17. The other documentary is a Voice Talent Featurette that shows the stars (Ironside, Strain, Idol, and others) laying down voice tracks for the film. There is also the requisite trailer for HEAVY METAL 2000 (FF, DD 2.0, 1:30). There are also trailers for other Columbia Tristar DVDs, such as DOGMA, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, BLACK AND WHITE (DD 5.1), and TIME CODE (DD 5.1).

- Darren Collette