Underground street fighter Seiya (Mackenyu) is overcome by a strange power one night in the ring; a force of blue light that empowers him with super strength and speed.  It is his Cosmo, an ancient power descended from the time of the Greek Gods, and with its reemergence in Seiya, it alerts many rich and powerful people, some benevolent and others who want to harness the power for evil.  He is brought to a remote estate by Alman Kido (Sean Bean) where he learns of his destiny to protect Kido’s daughter, Sienna (Madison Iseman), the reincarnation of the Goddess Athena.  He must first train under the Eagle Night Marin (Caitlin Hutson, voiced by Katie Anne Moy), but there is not much time as Vander Guraad (Famke Janssen) and her loyal Pheonix Knight, Nero (Diego Tinoco) are closing in on Sienna and want to drain her of her powers for their own nefarious plans. 

Tomasz Baginski mounts a live-action adaptation of Masami Kurumada’s manga series Saint Seiya with Knights of the Zodiac.  Stage 6 Films brings the 112-minute action/fantasy film to screens in the United States, and while fans of the series may find a certain enjoyment in seeing these heroes battle on screen, newcomers may be put off by the convoluted nature of the lore that is always at odds with vague motivations of the characters.  The series is synthesized down from the massive source material to a single arc by the screenwriting team of Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, and Kiel Murray, and while they find the ebbs and flows of the larger narrative and are able to pull out and adapt a contained narrative, it reads on the page more like a draft still in need of smoothing out of dialogue and expanding on characterization. 

Looking first at what works in the film, Mackenyu does well in the lead role and does his best at bringing charisma to the screen that makes us want to follow him on his journey.  He is saddled with a script that asks him to always have a witty and snarky comeback to every interaction, and while over time this abrasiveness could have been worked into his character – an orphaned boy who lost his sister at a young age – it instead is working in the vein of one-liner action comedy that, while a staple of the genre, that the script is so inundated with jokes where almost none of them land with any real accuracy makes for a grating endeavor.  As a physical performance, thankfully Mackenyu is electric as he dodges his opponents’ blows in the ring with skill and later is broken down by Marin so that he can build a whole new skill set harnessing his powers as a Zodiac Knight.  Tomasz Naumiuk’s camera captures the actor quite well, framing him as the clear hero in his action sequences, but Baginski seems content to let the VFX team provide the film with identity and does not employ any real style or purpose to his direction leaving his effects house with bland footage to build off of.  The result is a film that feels totally empty despite its high aspirations. 

Knights of the Zodiac is a film that is constantly reaching to be something it is not, and this identity crisis permeates through every scene and holds the film back.  Bean adds some credibility to the film, but the entire cast seems to have been selected and directed to do their best impersonation of A-list actors in other genre pictures.  The biggest example of this is Mylock (Mark Dacascos), Kido’s first in command, whose direction was simply “copy Stanley Tucci,” and for the most part Dacascos makes for a suitable stand-in, however, it denies the actor the chance to make the character his own.  Iseman seems to have been stylized as Florence Pugh and Janssen asked to embody Angelia Jolie.  Admittedly, this is more direction than was provided to Tinoco, Hutson, and Moy who were delivered characters that simply exist in this world.  They get to play into the tropes of the genre – Tinoco as the evil counterpart to Seiya and Hutson and Moy playing the wise old master – but without anything to latch on to and call their own, it all blurs into a mess of mindless action. 

When it comes to the extensive action of the film, the fighting is actually rather engaging.  Coordinated by Andy Cheng, the fighting really highlights the physical ability of Mackenyu and later Tinoco as the two share blows back and forth.  The physicality of it all cuts through the oppressive visual effects, and the actors do feel like they are part of the frame and not just pixels in a generated melee.  That being said, the visual style sought by Baginski really plays against the cast’s best efforts and unintentionally makes the film look dated.  Everything involving the powers is indicated by this neon-luminous color palate of blue, gold, red, and purple that drowns out the screen whenever it is used.  It makes sense as each character has their own color theme associated with them and while this works well in animation, the translation to live action makes things feel exceptionally artificial.   

Where the visuals work best is actually in the Zodiac Armour that is activated when the warriors are in tune with their Cosmo and, while initially a little silly, there is some true excitement as they suit up and it is clear that a lot of time and dedication was shown to this aspect of the story. As an origin story, it takes a good bit before this armor and the true powers at play come to the screen and because the exposition takes up so much screen time while not really setting up anything too complicated, the middle act feels way longer than it actually is because so little happens in it. The bright side is that the battleground where Seiya and Marin are training is very well conceived with loose laws of gravity helping to keep up the rubble of what appears to have once been a great temple and it also allows Mackenyu plenty of time to show off his choreography. 

Clearly set up to be a big-screen franchise starter, those hopes were unfortunately dashed given the film’s dismal performance at the box office.  Without much of a marketing campaign behind it, fans of the series either rejected it outright, preferring the manga or the animated series, or were otherwise left unaware that it was even released.  It is a shame because its star, Mackenyu, shows potential even with the odds stacked against him, but he just has not had that spark to really catapult his career forward.  Without enough charm in the script, it is unlikely Knights of the Zodiac will even find enough traction to become a modest cult classic or a title that will be revisited and reevaluated later on down the line.  Passingly enjoyable in the moment, the overall experience is unfortunately rather forgettable and lacking anything that really stands out in favor of the film, though the commitment to the idea and the unified vision across the board should be praised.  It is just regrettable that it did not take off as intended, and while being based on existing IP, there still feels to be some heart buried deep down under the glossy, early aughts style and that it is not just a soulless cash grab from the holders.