To be perfectly frank, I entered this with very low expectations. Miike Takashi has made some fantastic films, and he's also made some utter rubbish. The question is commonly one of how self-indulgent he will deign to be, versus commitment to actual substance over empty style. With this being a sci-fi action piece, and a manga adaptation at that, I could only assume that the worst of the filmmaker's predilections would take hold here. And well, it becomes apparent very quickly that 'Terra Formars' is not one of the man's better movies. It's not one of his absolute worst, either, but the most we can really say here is that it's very passively enjoyable. Which is fine, I suppose, but if "very passably enjoyable" is our benchmark for cinematic quality, where does that leave us?
Seeing as Miike's whole oeuvre is rather hit or miss, it's reasonable enough to suppose that he's the problem. But in fairness, it's not necessarily all him; maybe Nakashima Kazuki's adapted screenplay is the trouble. Maybe this is an instance of a story told through manga that doesn't work in another medium; maybe the "live-action" interpretation is the issue. Maybe it's the proliferate computer-generated imagery, or the half-measure special makeup. For all I know, the manga itself is just as floundering. Wherever the responsibility lies, I think there are some fun ideas scattered throughout, and some imagery that on paper - literally, on paper - might have looked great. The conception of this adaptation faced a difficult road in the first place, however, and the execution is not just demonstrative of fashion over function, but of flash over fashion. There is value in this flick, but the result is mixed at best.
Except in exceedingly rare circumstances, CGI ages rapidly and poorly, and looks worse the more we see of it. In the case of this eight-year old picture I believe the digital rendering mostly holds up quite well so far, and it might be fine if it were employed more sparingly - but since 'Terra Formars' is filled head to toe with it, it swiftly becomes very tiresome. I can't fault the effects artists, makeup artists, or most anyone else working behind the scenes for the work they turned in, but the use is excessive, and the fundamental designs of many visual elements - the cockroaches, and the augmented humans - generally do NOT look good. With passing exception, they simply don't; we're talking "earnest but not professional" Halloween costumes, or appearances that more closely resemble those from B-grade fare of the 60s and 70s rather than contemporary fare. Again, I trust that on paper all this comes off better, but that doesn't help us with this live-action title.
From violence and action scenes, to sequences of intended spectacle, to effects that tend more toward embellishment, this is shaped with inclination toward bombast and flair more than anything else, and certainly more than judicious, compelling storytelling. I repeat that there are some fun ideas on hand, and for that matter some genuinely good ones; this includes information that gets revealed about some characters, and the powers they have been granted. Unfortunately, the information about powers gets inserted in a way that feeds into the overt stylization; characters' backgrounds are revealed in a gawky manner that fails to achieve the desired dramatic effect, and which routinely halts what momentum the saga had theoretically been building. The dialogue is pretty bad, and those facets of the plot that aren't predictable are just flimsy and less than convincing. Not all characters get fleshed out, either, and those that do not end up feeling hollow. This opens the door for Miike to fill in the gaps with his self-indulgence, as seen with the character of Professor Honda and Oguri Shun's performance, and such bits don't come off well.
Also coming off poorly, for the record: the music. Where an orchestral score is employed it's rather nice; where chords of rock and electronica are employed, it's much too over the top, almost as if Miike reached out to American nu-metal bands who were a flash in the pan fifteen years prior. Whoops.
The good news is that 'Terra Formars' fairly squarely met my expectations. The bad news is that 'Terra Formars' fairly squarely met my expectations. It's not awful, and with what the visuals and the story have to offer at their best, this is entertaining to some degree. It's no ta high degree, however, and this is a feature that neither requires nor inspires active engagement. Sometimes that's all we want to help pass the time, but even so there was distinct room for improvement here. If you like 'Terra Formars' more than I do, I'm glad for you; I won't be giving this a second thought, and I can't bring myself to give it as a recommendation, either.
