The Divine Protector – Master Salt Begins

Cinematically, The Divine Protector – Master Salt Begins shows some interesting qualities. The images of Japan are beautiful. It’s clear there was a respectable budget for the film. As in Anime, most action scenes are backed by a song with lyrics that underscore the action on screen. Most of the performances do feel simplistic, more like a school play than anything else. The exception is Kijima Rin, who delivers the best performance as Master Salt, believably presenting the bittersweet backstory of a woman who has traded all the desires of her own life to serve the Buddhist principles.

There are a couple of aspects where the movie struggles. When Master Salt gets into the endgame in her combat with demons, the film moves to a CGI environment where she does her takedown. The graphics in these sections are cartoonishly coarse. The demons are rendered in very crude 3D. This may be on purpose, to emphasize the allegorical nature of these sundry failings of humanity, but it’s jarring in any event.

“…Kijima Rin…delivers the best performance…”

The other questionable element is the narrative’s dogmatic approach to rolling out these parables. Certainly, viewers are accustomed to the Christian-themed core of something like “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” if only through repetition over the years, but the structure of The Divine Protector – Master Salt Begins feels like something beyond simple “do better” messages. It’s not even strictly Buddhism but leans toward something more… and a bit of research turns up that, in fact, the movie is more or less a commercial for The Happy Science, as underwritten by executive producer Ryuho Okawa. Okawa is the CEO and “messiah” of The Happy Science religion, founded in 1986. So, OK, if you know that going in and can keep an arms-length separation from the religion if you so desire, the lessons in the film are innocuous enough.

The viewer can enjoy the stories of The Divine Protector – Master Salt Begins without going too far down the religion rabbit hole. If you really appreciate the movie and find yourself sad it’s over, take heart in the title, which implies Master Salt will be back for more demonic name-taking and a*s-kicking.