Tetsuo (The Iron Man)

[…] Just a note on my Japanese Cyberpunk reviews. I’ve decided that in order to review these properly, I need to show some of the truly graphic shots. So far I’ve dont this with I.K.U. and Tetsuo, but will certainly do this with Rubber’s Lover (review not up yet) and others as I review them. Why? Many reasons: […]

Absolutely fantastic. One of the greatest movies, if not The Greatest Movie, I’ve ever seen.

Good review but I disagree in that I don’t think they are competing in
the end but the fetisist is contoling the other one

Hi Lalao, welcome to cyberpunkreview

I didn’t get that by watching it. To me it seems clear that the entire movie is about technology enabled competition and how its destroying humanity, society and the world. The next time I watch this though, I’ll pay attention at the end to see if your thought works.

Tetsuo is really, REALLY weird movie.
I’ve seen 10/10 points on SFAM list and checked this one.
Random thouths after the movie:
Poor copy, Some gore porn (tahat SO japanese - for bad and for good), strange chronology, kind of remorse-movie, (note to director: this naked-man-in-the machine - that idea had potential).
Why main character was attacked by a woman on metro station?
My lack of English and concept (opinion) is the only comment I can add.

I’ve liked 12 monkeys - it was good brain-exercise - where is beginning and where is the end in this? When I found the answer, I was really proud of myself.

But this movie?
I’m lost. I’m defeated.
Tetsuo is really, REALLY weird movie.

Hi Mattness, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. I hope my review - both the write-up and the screencaps on this page and on page 2 at least gave you a sense of what you were going to get prior to watching it. Tetsuo is definitely a VERY weird movie - read my write-up on

Again, with Tetsuo, narrative is conveyed symbolically. My “Tetsuo’s Message” part of the review covers this. But yeah, its a completely and utterly different kind of movie from 12 Monkeys, and can’t really be judged in the same way. The barrage this movie leaves on your senses is at least half the purpose. Tetsuo is extremely influential both to cyberpunk as a genre, and in that it really got the extreme Japanese movies going in the full force we see today.

That comment on how reserved Asian culture is is right on the money. When they go over the line, they REALLY go over the line. Takashi Miike is a fine example of this.

Hey, I’ve only wanted to comment here because of 3 reasons,

1. this website is great! absolutly fantastic, i just found it and most of the movies i like and books i read (games too) are cyberpunk, so um, congratulations, keep it up!

2. tetsuo the iron man was a great great movie, ive watched it twice already but the only tiny thing is how dizzy it makes me… i agree on the content of your review, but i think, that maybe it has to be about control too, our eagerness to control , and how we have taken technology to do so, and it hasnt worked, technology will end controlling us …

3. i dont remember, but… excellent website (my english is not to good, its not my main language)

Hi Uther, great point! Yes, along with competition, control is definitely the goal fo the competition. I may want to update my review.

I downloaded it
I started to view it
I failed :p

I could’nt stand the degree of darkness more than 10 minutes, which is definetely a sign of HIGH cinematographical talent; i think i never was that impressed/moved/terrorized by a movie.

Such a film could harm children’s spirits.

BTW this is my first post, this website is truely a blessing !!! Thank you !!!!

Any intention of doing cyberpunk music reviews? The style isn’t really official, but i know some that pass (along dark ambiant, glitch/noise, minimal dub, indus…). Go check “General Dub” which is truely a madness (yay they really are comin from the future).

Well, I saw this wonderful movie but had a some different view on the message it delivers: first, you got this two guys apparently not related one another.
One of them is a frustrated athlet, beaten up by his father when child, tries to become better by cheating (represented here by the steel bar he inserts into his leg… could this mean some drug?)..note that rust might mean shame.
We also have this second guy, some sex-distorted who uses the same ..drug?.. to have better sex, this only lead him to kill his girlfriend on one of his distorted sex sessions.
The sex guy, run over the sports guy with his car and didnt help him, yet, he gets rid of him throwing him on a hill, even finds it so cool that have good sex with his girlfriend once again in front of him!. (Note that this second guy turns into shiny metal).
At the end, the sports guy finds a way to take revenge with a fight, but then they find that joining forces they complement each other…-or-… Some other homosexual related stuff understandable only for oriental people (just take a look at the penis shaped vehicle they made at last, this is not the first place where you will find it on japanese culture), this migth mean strength, power, etc. At last they will take over the world!
So:
Rusty metal: shame, fear
Shiny metal: will, desire
Surely there is more simbolism around this movie, but at first sight, dont find relation with over technolgy-zation of humans, but it indeed does send the message that the way to de-humanize humans is through a mechanic entity of a human, that is the reason why the director or writer decided to show it that way.
Comments? Letme know what do you think of this. Thanks

Hi Leorivas, I certainly hadn’t though of the rusty metal/shiny metal symbolism. I will certainly pay attention to this next time I watch it. While I certainly agree with you about the dehumanizing through turning humans into mechanical entities, my take on this movie definitely differs from yours. To me, the movie screams the message of technology enhanced competition destroying humanity, but this could easily just be my own biases coming back. In any event, this is not surprising though that people can come away from very different meanings from a movie such as this.

i cannot wait to see this movie, it looks so creepy! i will be ordering it very soon. this site is great, it has turned me on to many movies i have never heard of before, is this movie in english?

Hi Billy, um, No. No English dubbing. But not to worry, dialogue really plays a secondary role here.

Bit of a head-fcuk, and a bit a comical at certain times (intentionally?). But if you’re looking for a sci-fi movie that’s a bit alternative to watch, watch this!

When I saw TETSUO part 1&2 clips it scared the living daylight out of me, but when I saw Akira it was like the link between the other two movies that I saw. So the next time you wanted to Akira 2, forget it I don’t think Katsuhiro Otomo is not thinking of making of the second one because what Shinya Tsukamoto did to make his movie, but if Katsuhiro Otomo wanted to he had to talk to Shinya Tsukamoto first.
“AKIRA, TETSUO: The Iron Man, TETSUO 2: Body Hammer” is the Trilogy of those three I don’t care what they say.

bro, I can’t see this, it sucks,
I watched 25 minutes and deleted it from my PC.
And I can see much more gore without problem, but I don’t see the point in this movie.
The acting is horrible,no dialog, no history.
Please people, don’t start a flame war, I respect that you found this movie really interesting, but doesn’t works for me.

This is great! Some really nice screen shots and I like that you explore the ideas about its ‘message’ around technology. Nice job! I have just blogged on my own thoughts on the film…would be great if you could come across and check it out…let me know what you think :o)

I found this movie in my nearby video rental store. The DVD package looked very interesting, but this movie was the most frightening, disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. I had nightmares about it and I really wish I’ve never rented it. It was so horrible and disgusting, more like a really evil horrormovie. I hate horrormovies…

Lucky it was a double-dvd-feature with Electric Dragon 80,000V, so that my money wasn’t wasted in the end.

I watched this movie for the first time last night based on the 10 star rating here. I’m steadily going through and watching the movies listed near the top that I haven’t seen. Thanks for the great site!

It’s an amazing film. What I find so interesting is the different interpretations people have posted. It really is a successful work of art if so many people are getting so many different ideas out of it. Here are mine:

To me it was obviously a story of revenge. The character who gets hit by the car and left for dead, but is able to live because a piece of metal is stuck in his brain holding his mind together… barely, seeks out the couple who left him in the ditch. Evidently because of the rebar he stuck in his leg and the shard of metal implanted in his brain, he is able to “control” metal to some degree and use it like a virus in order to destroy the two people from the car… That’s about as linear as I can get with this plot.

The symbolism for me seemed to be the corrosiveness of revenge. The hit and run driver was heartless and the runner deserved his vengeance, however that vengeance ate away at him just as much as the one he hated and in the end they become the same thing. I didn’t see much symbolism about modern technology because there didn’t seem to be any real “technology”… just bits of metal growing like fungus. The imagery of the biological and technological combining so you can’t tell one from the other was outstanding and definitely the best I’ve seen in any live action production, I’m just not sure if it even mattered that it was “metal”. Would not the story have been the same if the director had used plant life melding with human life? Tetsuo: The Carrot Man. It may not have been visually as appealing, and the initial scene of the runner trying to artificially strengthen himself is the catalyst for all that follows, but the actual use of “technology” is very low even there as it’s just a bit of rebar jabbed into his thigh… the rocket ankles were cool though.

In the end, for me the story was about how justice can indeed be served through hate and revenge, but the cost will be your humanity. Very Jedi.

Wow, this movie sucked.. I can’t believe it got a 10 star rating

Why IMDB says it’s 1989?

[…] I really have to catch some Asian cyberpunk pieces and do some comparison, maybe from Tetsuo? […]

Hey people, I love the website.

I wanted to know if someone could tell me what specifically is on page 2 of this review?? I’m to scared to view it for fear of being eternally scarred but I’m too curious to not. Is it like a vagina being chain sawed?? or is it some horrifying faces of dead people.??

Hi Replicant…um, yeah, actually you’re fairly close! Not chain sawed but um, drilled…

AKIRA!!!!!!

At first watch Tetsuo wasn’t completly my kind of movie but the more I wached this movie the more I liked it. The beginning for me is one big adrenaline shot, the combination of the visuals and the music is an orgasm for the eyes, ears and mind. nice review. Big Up the this site.

I didn’t watch the movie yet, but today, I saw it’s trailer. Although the trailer wasn’t very brutal, it was the most scary movie trailer I’ve ever seen. If the trailer is so good, the film must be truly brilliant.