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Heavy Metal 2000
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Wikipedia article
'Heavy Metal 2000' (also known as 'Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.' outside North America) is a 2000 Canadian adult animated science fiction film produced by Jacques Pettigrew and Michel Lemire, and directed by Michael Coldewey and Lemire. Starring the voices of Michael Ironside, Julie Strain, and Billy Idol, the film is the follow-up to the 1981 animated cult film 'Heavy Metal', which is based on the fantasy magazine of the same name. The story is based on the graphic novel, 'The Melting Pot', written by Kevin Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot. The film was made by CinGroupe, a studio based in Montreal, Quebec.
Plot
In ages past, a malevolent race called the Arakacians discovered a place where space-time leaked a type of fluid. This fluid granted immortality to anyone who consumed it. The Arakacians built an empire and enslaved the known universe for centuries; they were unstoppable. The Arakacians were finally vanquished after the fountain chamber (where they gathered the water of life) was sealed by freedom fighters. The key to the chamber, a glowing crystal that will lead the bearer back to the fountain, but would drive anyone who possessed it insane, was cast into space and lost among the stars.
In a present-day asteroid excavation, space crewman Tyler and his colleague find the key by accident. Tyler touches the key and instantly goes insane. Tyler kills his mining partner, and takes over the ship, killing most of the resisting crew except for Dr. Schechter, and the pilots Lambert and Germain. His search for the planet with the fountain leads to Eden, a planet that is designated F.A.K.K. (Federation-Assigned Ketogenic Killzone to the second level), but has inhabitants whose bodies carry the immortality fluid. Tyler invades Eden, and kills many of the Edenites, capturing some so he can extract the immortality fluids from their bodies. He also keeps the attractive Kerrie for his own sexual purposes. When Germain resists the idea, he is left on Eden.
Kerrie's sister Julie, who survived the attack, finds Germain and they team up to follow Tyler. At a renegade space station, Julie finds Tyler at a restaurant and critically injures him. However, he ingests a vial with the immortality serum and heals instantly. In the ensuing gunfight, Tyler blows up the club. Julie escapes the explosion; she and Germain board a shuttle-craft that latches onto Tyler's ship with a tractor beam before it jumps into hyperspace. Discovering them mid-travel, Tyler tries to shake them off, but the fight causes the hyperspace to collapse and the two ships to crash.
Julie wakes up on the desert planet called Oroboris, and meets a mysterious cloaked sage named Odin and his assistant, Zeek, a rock-like creature, both of whom are guardians of the ancient fountain. Elsewhere, Tyler's ship has been destroyed and most of his crew and abductees are dead. Tyler orders Dr. Schechter to extract Kerrie's fluids. He explores the planet and finds a race of reptilian beings, which he conquers by defeating their champion and then their leader in a death match. Julie enters the reptilian city in disguise as a woman that the reptiles found for Tyler. That night, she seduces Tyler, but when she tries to kill him, Zeek captures her and takes her back to Odin. Julie infiltrates Tyler's ship where she discovers Kerrie is still alive. She takes out Dr. Schechter, frees Kerrie, and escapes as the complex explodes. As a result, Tyler vows to make Julie immortal so he can "screw her and kill her every hour of every day for all eternity." With only three vials of serum, he orders his troops to storm the citadel where the immortality fountain is located.
At the citadel, Julie undergoes a ritual where she is outfitted in armor. She, Kerrie, and Germain help the fountain's guardians defend against Tyler's army. In the fighting, Lambert suffers a near-fatal injury and while reaching for Tyler's last vial of immortality serum, he knocks it loose from Tyler's belt and it breaks on the ground. Tyler, enraged, kills Lambert for the blunder. Tyler then walks to the pit of immortality and is about to put the crystal into the fountain's final lock but is stopped by Julie. She stabs Tyler in the left eye before he is able to place the crystal in the lock. A fight ensues, but Tyler appears to have the advantage, until Odin intervenes, which allows Julie to finally kill Tyler. After Tyler is left dead, Odin, throwing off his cloak, reveals himself to be the last of the Arakacians. He has been in hiding all these centuries, waiting for someone to find the chamber key and be drawn to the fountain. He intends to claim it as his own, and reestablish the Arakacian empire. However, Zeek pulls the crystal key from the pedestal, locking Odin inside the fountain chamber forever, and flies into outer space. As Germain and Kerrie help Julie to her feet, Zeek envelops the crystal into himself and becomes a new asteroid to hide the key for all time.
Cast
* Julie Strain as Julie; the on-screen character was also based on Strain's likeness
* Michael Ironside as Tyler
* Billy Idol as Odin
* Pierre Kohn as Germain St. Germain
* Sonja Ball as Kerrie
* Brady Moffatt as Lambert
* Rick Jones as Zeek
* Arthur Holden as Dr. Schechter
Reception
'Heavy Metal 2000' was panned by critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 17% rating based on reviews from 12 critics.
Home media release
The movie is released on DVD and video in July 10, 2000.
Video game
The film had a video game about the events after 'Heavy Metal 2000', titled 'Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2', in which the player assumes the role of Julie as she fights to save Eden from an evil entity called "GITH". The game is set some time after the film and features cameo appearances of several characters, for example, Julie's sister Kerrie, the pilot Germaine (now married to Kerrie), and a resurrected Tyler.
Possible sequel
After the release of '2000', a third film has been in various stages of development since then. During 2008 and into 2009, reports circulated that David Fincher and James Cameron would executive produce, and each direct one of the eight to nine segments for a new film based on 'Heavy Metal'. Eastman would also direct a segment, as well as animator Tim Miller, with Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski, and Guillermo del Toro attached to direct segments. However, Paramount Pictures decided to stop funding the film by August 2009[http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/17/2191186.htm?section=entertainment "Heavy Metal comic to become a film"] from ABC.net and no distributor or production company has shown interest in the second sequel since. Fincher and Miller subsequently developed their plans into Love, Death & Robots, an original animated series for Netflix initially released in 2019.
In 2011, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez announced at Comic-Con that he had purchased the film rights to 'Heavy Metal' and planned to develop a new animated film at the new Quick Draw Studios. However, on March 11, 2014, with the formation of his very own television network, El Rey, Rodriguez considered switching gears and bringing it to TV.
Soundtrack
The 'Heavy Metal 2000 Original Soundtrack' is the 2000 soundtrack album to the film of the same name. In his AllMusic review, Greg Prato said that the album was a "truer heavy metal soundtrack" than that of the first film, featuring a combination of established bands such as Pantera, Monster Magnet and Machine Head, newer bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down, Hate Dept., Puya and Coal Chamber, and a few non-metal artists such as Billy Idol and Bauhaus.
# "F.A.K.K. U" 1:44
# "Silver Future" by Monster Magnet 4:29
# "Missing Time" by MDFMK 4:35
# "Immortally Insane" by Pantera 5:11
# "Inside the Pervert Mound" by Zilch 4:07
# "The Dirt Ball" by Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid 5:33
# "Stragd" by System of a Down 1:17
# "Rough Day" by Days of the New 3:18
# "Psychosexy" by Sinisstar 4:02
# "Infinity" by Queens of the Stone Age 4:40
# "Alcoholocaust" by Machine Head 3:38
# "Green Iron Fist" by Full Devil Jacket 3:51
# "Hit Back" by Hate Dept. 3:52
# "Tirale" by Puya 5:34
# "Dystopia" by Apartment 26 2:56
# "Buried Alive" by Billy Idol 5:10
# "Wishes" by Coal Chamber 3:06
# "The Dog's a Vapour" by Bauhaus 6:44
'Additional tracks:'
(These were used in the film, but were not included in the official soundtrack for unknown reasons.)
# "Apparition" by Coal Chamber 2:28
# "Hate me" by Sons of Domination 2:24
# "Ion" by Voivod 4:32
# "You Don't Know What It's Like" by Econoline Crush 4:02
References
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