Hello its me again the guy who likes to talk about random stuff and occasionally does a review who is back for more 400https://c.tenor.com/qA9u4ETE66MAAAAC/hellotherekenobi.gif Why am I reviewing this one? Being honest is a pretty interesting movie and i find odd that there arent any reviews of it on the site so I wanted to be the one to do it and was desiring to make a new one for a while now. Disclaimer: the movie contains gore slight sexual content drugs aka is not for the faint of heart Before starting what the actual hell is Matafukaz??? Matafukaz or MFKZ was originally a comic project that was created and started in 1997 by the french Guillaume Renardhttps://iffr.com/en/persons/guillaumerenard pen named Run or 777Run the 777 being the number of his old apartment. That after some flash animations which seem impossible to find nowadays got a short film made by himself and the collective SemperFi in 2002 named Mutafukaz: Operation Blackhead. The short won different prizes and even was shown in 2003 at the Sundance Film Festivalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SundanceFilmFestival in Utah United States. The 2002 short so you guys can watch it its a supercompressed version of the story more than the movie and contains spoilers of all the plot. If you want to check it I recommend watching the movie first if you want the spoilerfree experience. But you can do the opposite if you like to go with the concepts already in your head. https://youtu.be/SCa8ZdLwlU After this Run tried to find a publisher for the comic version of the franchisehttps://mutafukaz.fandom.com/wiki/MutafukazbandedessinC3A9e luckily he was offered the opportunity to publish the series on Ankama Editionshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankama thanks to Anthony Rouxhttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm4247366/. The first volume was published in 2006 200https://i1.whakoom.com/small/3e/29/a9a94828e05a420c842c100420e2d1e3.jpg The story ended in 2015 and Run continued with a spinoff called Puta Madre. Then in 2015 the teaser for the movie we are here for dropped being premiered in 2017 at film festivals in France and Japan in both countries being nationally released in 2018. https://youtu.be/BHG8WONMEQ As you have seen this movie has a lot of backstory behind it with me not being specific with the festivals the authors professional career companies that own the rights releases around the world and all the stuff that happened in order to make the film version. The Story The best way to describe the story of this film is over the top crude and careless. Our main characters Angelino and Vinz live in Dark Meat City located in the fictional state of New California United States. They are short of stature live in poor conditions are in constant danger by multiple elements of the city like criminal gangs disease poverty and even the state. 500https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910199304421406/hy6h6h6h.png 500https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910104798355456/rg5tg5g5hhy.png But why do I describe this movie with those two adjectives? Well if you have watched and enjoyed movies like Dead Leaveshttps://anilist.co/anime/974/DeadLeaves/ Redlinehttps://anilist.co/anime/6675/Redline/ Tailendershttps://anilist.co/anime/6162/Tailenders/ or series like FLCLhttps://anilist.co/anime/227/FLCL/ and Inferno Cophttps://anilist.co/anime/16774/InfernoCop/. You are probably going to like this one however Matafukaz goes for a more gruesome and unforgiving atmosphere compared to the surreal and expressive tone of Dead Leaves which is the movie with which it shares the most similarities. Dark Meat City its an unwelcoming place from which a lot of people want to escape but arent able for one reason or another. The movie has this social critique of how poor people in urban zones have to live on horrible conditions meanwhile not being able to get out of that situation and improve their lives which is a really present theme throughout the film especially at the start. Adding to that we get to witness a lot of gang violence / conflicts and organized crime in which the average civilian is subject to on a daily basis a crude representation of todays Los Angeles where Dark Meat City is based off. Another thing is how the movie shows the mexican influence all around the city with multiple mexican locals civilians and spanglishhttps://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spanglish dialogue. This was because I watched the dub version as it was impossible for me to find the japanese dub however this proved to be a big plus for the atmosphere of the movie because of how talented the voice actors were bringing more genuinety to the dialog and setting. 500https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910201925828608/rg4g4gr4g.png 505https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947917064511848578/tg5tg55.png 500https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947917063064801290/tg5th5h5.png Sadly the story of the movie as a whole is really underwhelming with it having a lot of criminally underdeveloped characters plot holes and with the pacing consistency of an animated anthology. Sacrifices had to be made to adapt a 5 volumes / 600 pages story into a 1 hour and a half film and i think the work in the other departments is outstanding apart from how bad the story was. So really dont expect a good or complex story with well written characters. Characters One of the most disappointing aspects of the movie. The main cast gets decent development meanwhile is not great its still noticeable with Angelino and Vinz strengthening their friendship throughout the entire movie. The secondary characters are left with extremely lackluster development and even fleshing out. Angelino the lead of the movie is and insecure person who wants to be someone in the world and to dont live in fear of others. He cares for his friends even Willy who is the cunt and coward of the group. Throughout the course of the movie he starts to become more confident and discover his origins coming to terms with himself. 400https://resizing.flixster.com/slWWdbyUMb95F6DMDcV7NkBUNIs=/740x380/v2/https://statcdn.fandango.com/MPX/image/NBCUFandango/377/226/thumb0C13A021B5214D028493112F9DA512F7.jpg Vinz is a guy with a skeleton head which is on constant fire hes more reserved compared to Angelino and likes to think before acting. Being weak physically but strong mentally. He serves as Angelinos most trusted person helping him during the movies events. 400https://m.mediaamazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzJjMTA3Y2ItYzQzNS00MDQxLTg1YjQtNGY4OWJiZTMyNjhjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODEwMTc2ODQ.V1.jpg Willy is basically the cunt / coward / clown of the group with a prepotent attitude he resembles some kind of cat or small mammal and believes in all kind of conspiracy theories lecturing both Angelino and Vinz when he has the chance. Hes not so important for the plot but its with the two protagonists during a good part of the movie. 400https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/original/public/image/featured/1047675gkidsannouncesenglishlanguagevoicecastmfkz.jpg?itok=zW3rWpmL The villains and other secondary characters are pretty interesting but at the same time underdeveloped. Most of the opinion on this part needs spoilers so you know the deal. Overall the characters for the most part are kind of lackluster and dont get much development. This caused by the need i mentioned before of adapting a long story into a film which cut a lot of the villains fleshing worldbuilding and characters interactions. Animation / Music If there is an aspect this movie excels at its this one. The film was made by Studio 4Chttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio4C2B0C in Japan and Ankama Animations in France. 400https://c.tenor.com/OvyfYxq7DNMAAAAC/vinzmfkz.gif The film posses great ambientation / scenery filled with details and even easter eggs of all types everywhere. You certainly can feel the unwelcoming yet culturally diverse atmosphere of Dark Meat City and his inhabitants. 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947917063412924446/5th5y6hy6h.png 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947917064214024232/g5th5h5.png 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910104303431680/5g5tg5t5.png 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910104022417498/ff4g4gf44.png On the references department there is this thug who looks identical to Cesarhttps://gta.fandom.com/wiki/CesarVialpando from the famous GTA San Andreashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrandTheftAuto:SanAndreas. Even in some dialogs the characters make allusions to the game franchise. I could even say that the movie evokes the game a lot with one of the gangs who appear look exactly has members of the Ballas Ganghttps://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Ballas3DUniverse from San Andreas too. 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910103745572894/3fr4f44fr.png 400https://i.yt.com/vi/GFeL7YrzGE/maxresdefault.jpg Now lets talk about the cream of the crop of the movie the action. In general the film has amazing animation fluent with a lot of facial expressions and movements. Being an action movie this is an essential thing to have and oh boy did Studio 4C alongside Ankama Animations nail this aspect. By far the best in the movie from tense tailings on the streets to high octane chases and shootings in which our main characters get involved. 315https://media4.giphy.com/media/8AgIqRFdvXO8X7FpVG/giphy.gif 325https://64.media.tumblr.com/f5bf28192521304067936b35abdbc14f/tumblrpo0dkrzlNX1vbt0zqo3540.gifv This movie will keep you entertained and waiting to see what comes next. Is a fullblown visual spectacle from start to finish. The music is another gem of this movie there are tracks of multiple genres like: Electro / Retro Under Siege by The Toxic Avengerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheToxicAvengermusician https://youtu.be/Uhk5BMcBqnE Palm Hill Rules by The Toxic Avenger https://youtu.be/mk2Hv9XWAs4 Reggaeton Acelera by Angel Miro Romero https://youtu.be/Upa4BzNjHw4 Pop Rios Rosas by Guillaume Houz https://youtu.be/TLFSpYBROq0 As you can hear the movie has a decent plethora of songs that alongside the animation and great scenery immerse you really quickly into the movie and setting. The songs complement the atmosphere in a way few films that ive watched have achieved making the movie a better experience by far. As a side note this is one of the extremely few times ive enjoyed listening to reggaeton as it is a musical genre I despise. But that sadly has become the standard of what latinoamerican music is for the world. On a technical level the movie is a masterpiece in all the right nailing the representation of a multicultural city in decadence filled with all kinds of dangers and peculiarities from the eyes of three underdogs that suffer oppressed by their environment. Conclusions Matafukaz is certainly an experience. Meanwhile the story misses a lot of the character development and consistency present in the comics in favor of action and an emphasis on Angelino / Vinz relationship. The sole existence of the film is a miracle in all the ways possible and I am grateful I was able to experience it in a good quality. Getting to know an obscure franchise that it has been in development since 1997 which was able to pull off a collaboration between two studios in two different countries. Creating in the process a flawed hidden gem of action animation with a crude / unforgiving representation of what it is like to live on the low stratus of society with some incredible and wacky overarching plot about a hidden enemy that threats all humanity. Its not the best by any means but oh boy its a great fun Adding to that the author is planning a sequel to the comic story and maybe a sequel to this movie. If you want to explore more about this world i suggest you to check out the comic series and his spinoffs as they dont have the fundamental flaws i talked about in this version. 800https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/465649094476562447/947910128554889216/r3g4g4tg5t5g.png If you want to: Give suggestions to improve my reviews or mini reviews Point out stuff i missed Express Thoughts Leave me a comment. I will gladly hear it out Any feedback is really appreciated Consider dropping a follow if you liked this review and the things i talk about Have a great week everyone