20th Century Boys

I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the original Manga of the same name, and as with many other live action adaptations, can understand if the films have to leave out or change material to make the production work...

I can't speak for this film series, but what I do know is that it is huge!

Both huge on characters and story, you can forgive any slip ups it may have in trying to pack in as much as possible in the name of entertainment. And entertain it most certainly does. The first hour introduces most of the characters via childhood flashbacks and reunions offering up some great moments and plenty of funny scenes.

Once we reach the second hour, the action kicks in and the madness begins!

I just love this film and its sequels. The cast is fantastic and to be honest, I can't really think of a thing to complain about. Its intense, its funny, its big and its well worth a watch if you are looking something a little different.

The story is interesting to begin with, with a bunch of kids creating an "end of the world" story and then watching it made come true when they are adults. They embark on a mission to save the world, as their original story prophesied.

However, the plot is really weird. There is a virus that kills people by making their blood explode, but it seems it is not contagious, it needs to be sprayed on. A giant robot smashes through Tokyo and the police stop in front of it to shoot guns. The leader of a hypnotic cult becomes the leader of the most important party in Japan, and so on and so on.

Then, as world saviors go, the heroes are the most inept I have ever seen. The movie is very long, at 142 minutes, and it is only the first part of a three film story. The acting is pretty bad, too.

Bottom line: it seems this is a failed attempt to mix the success of the Death Note franchise (I don't know what that thing was successful either) and the comic book/manga craze that is taking over the movie world in the US and the rest of the world. There is a feel reminiscent of Watchmen in the film, but only a trace. I am not saying that it is not worth watching, but I can't say I liked it.

The sheer scope or this production alone deserves an applause. Having read the 20th and 21st Century Boys first, as said by Etsushi Toyokawa in his interview "I attempted to emulate the expressions in the Manga" (some creative license with the translation). Such attention to detail again deserves yet more respect. These things aside i appreciate this trilogy more as the Japanese Matrix if it didn't become as up-itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series and found the conclusion to be pleasantly conclusive, though something of this magnitude is difficult to draw together, but i feel the memory-machine wrap-up was a brilliant way of concluding a magnificent series. The series was done as accurate to the manga, in many cases down to the very character type cast, as i wish Battle Royale was replicated to.

So heavily recommended i am steps away from handing it out on the street as well as bowling ball lessons, please watch.

20th Century Boys has more twists and turns than you can count and it pulls no punches when it comes to waving "Bye-bye-bye" to main characters. Unfortunately, in my opinion, that was one of this film's drawbacks, the characters. There was at least a dozen characters to keep track of and it becomes a bit daunting figuring out which friend is which and who is who. It wasn't physics or anything but careful attention to the film will be required.

Outside of that, 20th Century Boys was thrilling and the production design fantastic, my 11-year-old loved it and I was thoroughly entertained. Decent dialog? Check. Meaningful character arcs? Check. Heartwarming moments? Check.

After having the privilege of watching the first and second films in this series, I'd say I'm a fan of the 20th Century Boys series and I'm undoubtedly looking forward to the third installment slated for fall. This first installment can indeed be a slippery beast if you don't pay attention but if attention span isn't a problem for you and a bevy of "Who the hell was that again?" characters don't bother you, you're in for some major entertainment! I honestly couldn't find anything that I didn't like about this film, really. Sure there were quite a few "childhood flashbacks" but they're necessary so suck it up, plug it in and have a ball! Hopefully when this hits the states it's not trimmed down by an hour for the ADHD crowd.

Apparently, millions of Japanese are willing to worship a man in a mask who only talks about his childhood... and apparently, the hero of his childhood is Kenji, so one would imagine that all these idiots would leave Mr. Friend behind and go and worship Kenji instead. Right?

Nope. Instead, this cult's followers burn each other alive, blow up airports and have developed a lethal virus that completely drains the human body of all blood. Hey, I'm not opposed to daft plots when they're amusing, but 20th Century Boys pretty much lacks humour, as "mysterious" people point Kenji - the film's protagonist - in the right direction so that he can play a game in which he may or may not get to save the world.

Yeah, it's that dumb. And upon figuring out that all these terrorist attacks taking place are being scheduled by the events of a comic Kenji drew as a kid, instead of taking the said comic to the authorities on finally finding where he left it some 25-30 years ago, Kenji instead runs over to a friend's house, digs out his old guitar and jams out in the morning's early hours!

But that's perfectly logical, since Kenji once aspired to be a glam-rock star.

With a running time of well over 2 hours, I can't recall the last film I watched during which I spent almost as much time looking at the clock. Unfortunately, the sheer humdrum and stupidity of the film all got too much to bear and I eventually turned it off. I now waste even more time over this crap-fest by advising other IMDb users of its sheer awfulness.

Avoid.