![]() ![]() Power (SAE net): 2 rpm Torque (SAE net): 200 lb-ft 4400 rpmīraking, 70-0 mph: 164 ft Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.85 gįUEL ECONOMY: EPA city/highway driving: 22/30 mpgīase price: $24,024 0-to-60-mph time: 6.1 sec Quarter-mile time: 14.5 sec 100 mph VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2+2-door coupeĮNGINE TYPE: supercharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block head, port fuel injection If you'd like your Ionizer in another flavor, check out the eighth-place Chevy Cobalt SS Supercharged, with which it shares an engine, seats, limited-slip diff, and chassis. In this group, the Ion carries the friendliest base price, but it is also a car that too often feels raw and raucous, as if it needs another few months in the NVH intensive-care unit. And brakes capable of shedding 70 mph in just 164 feet-Porsche territory.īut there are also annoyances, including wooden steering, a shifter as vague as a congressman's tax returns, a clutch that tends to build calf muscles, and a cockpit that should be less plasticky. Rear suicide doors that are cleverly hidden to make this sedan look like a coupe. In truth, there's plenty to admire here: 205 supercharged horses, delivered without the on/off quality of most turbocharged engines and with virtually no trace of torque steer. The idea was to diminish the perception that Saturn is merely the car company for persons too timid to haggle with salesmen. The words "Red Line" are to Saturn what the initials "AMG" are to Mercedes-Benz. But that Koike got to make it at all is cause for celebration, and if the future must abandon the old ways, we can hope it's more Sonoshee than Machinehead.Base price: $20,490 0-to-60-mph time: 6.0 sec Quarter-mile time: 14.6 sec 98 mph Madhouse lost money on Redline and hasn't made a work of traditional animation as ambitious since. JP's car gets utterly destroyed in the process, but in a blaze of glory. Sonoshee has been driving a hover car since childhood, embracing technology but not at the expense of spirit, and in the end, she and JP work together to win the Red Line. Yet they're not Luddites, opposed to the possibility of the new. In the robotic villain Machinehead, we can see their fears of an animation industry that's become mechanical and soulless. Koike and the folks at Madhouse care for their art form and don't want to become obsolete, even if the world seems to be moving on. ![]() But the cars, however, are meticulously hand-drawn, a throwback to the big budget productions of the '80s anime boom. As has been standard for all mainstream anime since 2000 or so, Redline was colored digitally rather than on cells, and there even appear to be some CG particle effects. As JP's car proves, Redline isn't entirely without high-tech enhancements. Most anime these days use a number of CG shortcuts, particularly when it comes to animating vehicles and other mechanical effects. Japanese animation hasn't embraced computers to the extent that American animation has, but CGI has had an increasing presence in anime. There's the story of the film's existence. Now replace "old-fashioned cars" and "hover cars" with "traditional animation" and "CGI". And then there's Sweet JP, whose Trans Am is the most decidedly old school, with only minor high-tech modifications necessary to get ahead. The racers in the Red Line and Yellow Line races drive cars of varying technological levels. The first title card is the key to deciphering the film's meaning: "In the far distant future, when cars are being replaced by hover cars, there are fools who carry on racing with a vanishing spirit." The distinction between old-fashioned cars and hover cars isn't discussed elsewhere in the film, but this becomes the film's main visual shorthand for its themes. While the movie works great as a roller coaster thrill ride, it also functions as a metaphor for the state of animation. Simple as the story is, though, there is a layer of resonance to it that's often overlooked. But it's not talked about that much, perhaps because there's a perception that it isn't worth talking about. ![]() Takeshi Koike's Redline is an undeniably enjoyable movie, with stunning animation, wacky characters, fast chases and groovy music.
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