Parasite Eve Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A researcher is unwittingly manipulated into bringing his wife back from the dead in order to create a super being that will eradicate humanity.

Review: This is another film that has been terribly mislabeled as a horror movie when it's more of a romantic sci-fi. I haven't read the book that this is based on, but, from what I have heard, the book is much scarier and gory; eh, this film would have benefitted more from that kind of action. Some may recall the Playstation games based on this same book, but those served more as sequels taking a loose interpretation of the events and expanding upon them. The plot is sort of convoluted, farfetched, and even dragged out, but somehow it works if you understand what to expect. In fact, the love story is very endearing even if bordering on the sappy side, but you better adore it or else this movie will simply not work for you. The story is that a researcher studying mitochondria, named Toshiaki, played quite passionately by Hiroshi Mikami, has become the unknowing key to creating a new race to succeed humanity at the behest of, what I will refer to as, Eve. Essentially, the mitochondria in our cells are believed to have once been a separate organism that reached symbiosis with the first cellular life a billion years ago or whenever. I'm not an expert by any means, but the movie does a decent enough job explaining the gist of it all the while not overwhelming the audience. Well, apparently the mitochondria have some form of a unified consciousness, I suppose, much like a hive mind which is what Eve is representing. The mitochondria, or Eve, have designed a plan to create what is often referred to as the "ultimate being" by combining the perfect candidates, timing, and conditions to move mitochondria forward evolutionarily. Believe me, it sounds more complicated than it really is. Toshiaki's wife, Kiyomi, played beautifully by Riona Hazuki, embodies Eve's consciousness and manipulates certain events so that Kiyomi will be killed, Toshiaki will use his research to resurrect her, and her organs, through a donation, will be implanted in a girl that is meant to be the host of the ultimate being. You see what I mean by farfetched, right? Let me explain that it's not like this plan came into being overnight, as it's stressed Eve has been working toward these ideal conditions that entire billion or so years. Oh, and the way she is able to manipulate so much is through a form of mind control as mitochondria are in every human; let me also mention that I refer to Eve as singular but keep in mind "she" is representing all mitochondria. So Kiyomi gets her head crushed in a car accident, some obsessed doctor, Yoshizumi, makes a deal with Toshiaki that he will give Toshiaki Kiyomi's liver in exchange for transplanting her kidneys to a girl named Mariko, and Toshiaki's uses the liver cells (which is convenient because he had been studying liver tissue regeneration) to attempt to recreate Kiyomi's body somehow. Through the magic of sci-fi, the liver cultures manifest a gelatinous-looking creature that is able to morph into a hotter version of Kiyomi. So wait, now I'm looking for a hot, green-eyed, slicked-back hair, evil Japanese girl as my new girlfriend? Oh great, where the hell am I going to find someone like that?! Even though Eve is structuring the egg of the ultimate being within Mariko, Eve needs the sperm of Toshiaki to fertilize it. She then proceeds to seduce the depressed Toshiaki into "giving her a billion years worth of love!" She really says this. I could be wrong, but I think that's a little too much to ask of one man. Eh, she would have won me over. Once the billion years of banging ends, Eve reveals that Kiyomi never really loved Toshiaki, but it was Eve that wanted him as a piece in her scheme. Eve forced Kiyomi to come to him and attract him in the right way while adjusting her personality as she felt it was necessary to further deepen Toshiaki's love. Eve continually explains that she has been waiting forever for these circumstances to arise. Much of this was suspected by the real Kiyomi through notes she would write herself which Toshiaki stumbles upon. At this point, talk about a total bitch slap to the face with a betrayal of epic proportions. Considering how much of this movie is dedicated to establishing how deep and profound their love is, this comes as a real shock to know none of it was even real, well, at least for Kiyomi. Eve then controls Toshiaki's student, Sachiko, at a press conference to announce that her plans are about to come to fruition. She then demonstrates her ability to activate the mitochondria within a human's cells to force them to combust. Toshiaki and Yoshizumi realize that this ultimate being will soon be born in Mariko now that Eve has Toshiaki's sperm. They attempt to intercept Mariko but they arrive only to discover Eve has already set the final stage of her plan into motion. Eve ignites more people on fire as she moves to flee the hospital Mariko had been recovering at. Yoshizumi tries to slow her down through some bullshit security system, but Eve makes her way to the roof as Toshiaki makes a final plea to Kiyomi's sensibility that he believes still resides within Eve. Eve continues to gloat more about how hard it was to accomplish everything and how humanity is finished...you know, the usual villain stuff. But when Eve has had enough chitchat Toshiaki reveals he had fallen in love at first sight with Kiyomi long before they met by Eve's hand. Either through Kiyomi or due to Eve's disbelief, she refuses to accept this and inquires more. Toshiaki believes he has touched a chord with Kiyomi and slowly moves to embrace Eve, but she begins lighting parts of his body on fire that, for some reason, don't seem to burn him. As he finally touches Eve, it either reawakens Kiyomi and she did really love Toshiaki or Eve did love Toshiaki. Your guess is as good as mine, but I'll play it safe and believe Kiyomi really did love Toshiaki and Eve was talking out her ass. As the two kiss they both light on fire and burn away as Mariko revives and we can assume the ultimate being is dead as well. The final shot shows when Toshiaki first saw Kiyomi and how entranced he was by her as well as showing that Kiyomi did take notice of Toshiaki further implying Kiyomi did have a will of her own since Eve did not recall it. Obviously the book's ending is much different with the ultimate being born but transforming into male due to the male mitochondria not agreeing with Eve's plan. For what it's worth, this is an excellent romance flick, a moderate sci-fi, but laughable horror film. The acting is really moving as the love story builds, and I wanted the characters to have a happy ending. It's a timeless belief that love conquers all especially when you are giving a billion years worth of it! The music and effects were both surprisingly good with all things considered. However, the movie is too long, a lot of contrivances, pacing could be tightened, and probably should have stuck closer to the book's horror roots. If you like overly sentimental romance films, definitely give this a go, but I still feel this is a great movie regardless. Might be a bit difficult to track down, but should be worth it. Fans of the PE franchise will probably hate this though due to the deviations and emphasis on romance.

Notable Moment: When Kiyomi first returns as Eve looking so damn attractive. That's one hell of a makeover: from cute to sexy in the blink of a green eye.

Final Rating: 7/10

Ms. Hazuki in my own little Eve montage. Gotta love those green eyes!