Mortal Kombat meets Power Rangers in the undercooked and over-the-top Knights of the Zodiac, a live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime series, Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya, and the manga Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada. Kurumada has always wanted to adapt his manga while he worked on it, and you can see why in the opening narration. But like many manga and anime with great stories of epic battles, intricate mythologies, and colorful characters, their potential only sometimes translates to live-action. More often than not, Hollywood cannot faithfully adapt anime stories without sacrificing some crucial elements, and the same goes for Knights of the Zodiac.
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Directed by Tomasz Bagiński, Knights of the Zodiac tells the story of Seiya (Mackenyu), a teen boy who lives on the streets and survives by fighting in underground martial art rings. One night, his fight gets out of hand and power within manifests. He is then swiftly taken in by affluent stranger Alman Kiddo (Sean Bean) and Mylock (Mark Dacascos). Kiddo tells Seiya that he has a purpose: Seiya is the Pegasus Knight, a powerful entity meant to protect the Goddess Athena, who currently is a reincarnated teen girl named Sienna (Madison Iseman). A battle for power is unfolding between Kiddo and his ex-wife Vander Guraad (Famke Janssen) as Athena's powers grow and the danger she poses to humanity becomes more persistent.
The way the film unfolds is not too dissimilar to 2017's Power Rangers and 2021's Mortal Kombat — a disparate group of people are pulled into a larger battle between good and evil. Tonally and stylistically, the film plays out a lot like the aforementioned films as well. Thankfully, it narrowly misses Dragon Ball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender territories of bad adaptations. We meet a lowly young man as he gets inducted into a secret society destined to battle evil for the sake of the planet. After a training montage and numerous fight scenes more elaborate than the last, our hero develops the courage to do what is needed: Beat down the villain in the name of all that is good. It's predictable and anti-climactic, but as Knights of the Zodiac proves, the idea is not for the movie to be good — it must be entertaining, and the film is just that.
Knights of the Zodiac benefits from the work of martial arts choreographer Andy Cheng and director Bagiński's commitment to the action. The fight scenes are visible, with a sound design befitting the over-the-top, gravity-defying moves. The camera work is deliberate and puts us right into the fights. In some instances, the action is pretty seamless and engaging. To that end, the film leans more into Mortal Kombat territory, gleefully showing off the fun and absurd nature of the fight sequences. The seriousness with which the characters engage in these battles makes it much more entertaining. The commitment to the craft pulls us in, and also makes up for how flimsy the screenplay is.
By Hollywood standards, the actioner is disadvantaged with only a $60 million budget, but this movie actually uses the money effectively. The production is sleek and vibrant. The locations are stunning, and the CGI is nearly flawless (almost putting to shame numerous Marvel movies that live and breathe CGI). The cost definitely did not go towards the cast, who is recognizable but nowhere near box office draws. This movie might flop, which is a shame because, much like the 2017 Power Rangers, this adaptation reasonably integrates a highly stylized and fantastical story into the modern age and looks great while doing it. I'd even go so far as to say that Knights of the Zodiac looks infinitely better than most blockbusters released this year.
Knights of the Zodiac is also very faithful to the anime, to a fault. Still, anime lovers will enjoy the melodramatic dialogue and characters, the clear stylistic division between the good and bad, and the obvious narrative choices. There is a great sense of reverence to the source material as the film is wholly dependent on it and the fandom that comes with it. The cast, however, is less committed to the shtick than the creative team behind the camera. Mackenyu is admirable and a welcome change from the usual casting practices of anime to live-action adaptations. The Japanese actor is solid as the lead, but his director fails him by not pushing for a more charismatic performance, which has little charm or levity as he plays the very serious yet earnest Seiya. His performance is an accurate reflection of the movie as a whole. On My Block's Diego Tinoco brings his performance to the other end of the spectrum with his commitment to the "bad boy" act. The deepened voice, the hard look in his eyes, the foreboding stance, and the simmering anger behind every line of dialogue are all present. More than any actor in the film, Tinoco seems to have read up on his character.
In the middle is Madison Iseman, who plays the woefully miscast and underwritten Sienna/Athena, who, even more disappointingly, is not sporting a full head of purple hair the whole time. It can also be argued that Sienna was a good opportunity for some more racial diversity in the ensemble as the narrative is not tied to Japanese culture. Mackenyu and Iseman also have zero chemistry, making their climactic bonding in the third act weaker than the script intended. Famke Janssen and Sean Bean do their best with the material they are given and are somewhat successful. Mark Dacascos is underutilized, but his cool costume design, and even cooler persona, make up for what little screen time he has.
Overall, Knights of the Zodiac is predictably bland on paper, but it's quite the feat visually. With so much anime live-action adaptations flopping, this is a rare case of an adaptation faithfully and earnestly adapting the source material and still flopping at the box office. The film flounders when it can't make the intermediate scenes enjoyable with witty dialogue or interesting character development. It is much too self-serious at times, but the visuals and action sequences are boldly portrayed with little fear of ridicule or shame of its manga/anime origins.
Knights of the Zodiac, despite its reasonably minor flaws, is fun. Unlike many mega-blockbusters that grace the big screen, this is a polished and competent movie with numerous fight scenes that we can actually see. Unfortunately, it will be judged on the merits of its box office performance rather than the heart that shines through. Just like Power Rangers, I predict it will have a solid vocal fanbase that will lament over how a movie with excellent franchise appeal has been left on the wayside. Knights of the Zodiac deserved a chance.
Knights of the Zodiac opened in U.S. theaters on May 12. It is 112 minutes long and rated PG-13 for action/violence.