Gantz

Japanese movies were often innovative, groundbreaking, trend-setting, also for the western movie industry. This declined during the last 10 - 15 years, that may (towards I tend to believe) or may not caused by the growing occurrence of Anime movies, often Manga-based. Therefore, Asian quality movies are now coming more from other countries.

'Gantz' has its origins in a popular 'Seinen' Manga (for adults), which were in Japan also successful as Anime series. It starts up with a mystery. A few people are rematerialized in a room after their obvious death. The machinery responsible for their resurrection uses unimaginable technology, but orders them to fight against so-called 'Aliens', and to gain points like in an ordinary video-game. Confronted with their first mission the people react different, some of them are killed, but most of them are completely disturbed.

Until the first mission the movie is (from a western point of view) intriguing; effects and design ideas are announcing a decent mystery/sf experience, if the audience isn't aware of the Manga/Anime.

That lasts about 10, maybe 15 minutes, until one realizes, that any further impressing film experience will not happen. If you know the Manga or the Anime series, you know that the movie won't bring any deeper insights than disturbed people, hesitating to pull the trigger even when it goes for their (second) life, and Aliens mostly waiting for being destroyed between cheesy dialogs. Most of the Anime's sexual content and language is absent in the movie; but not the inexplicable behavior of the participants, both human or alien (or director/writer/producer).

Furthermore, there is no real mystery, as one, who is not familiar with the 'Gantz' Manga, may hope. It's simple simple simple. The machine is for playing the game, it's not something between the realms of death and life, it's no matter of Karma or God or the Devil. It's a machine built for a game, built by someone, and this someone isn't even a computer nerd version of an AVP predator. So, there is no revelation, no development. There isn't even a noticeable story anymore.

Between the fights the survivors are released to the real world, so they may continue their lost life, until they are transferred to the next mission, where new dead people arrive mostly to be killed because of their freezing despair (women) or dumbness (men). The real-life part of the characters between the missions is mostly lengthened and could have been cut with very little effect.

If someone would argue, that there are insights shown to the abysms of human behavior or the illness of the society, or something that goes one millimeter deeper than Video Game Shooting, I could not disagree more than to that. I would accept it for 'Gamer', but not 'Gantz'.

Overall, the movie could have been cut to some 75 min. length, and as a result it would be slightly entertaining for an audience with an IQ greater 70.

People who expect a decent Japanese movie, will be deeply disappointed. There is a CGI quality to mention, but asides from the flawed plot, there is too much overacting and screaming, to keep the level at least in the B class.

I did not read the manga, but I did watch the entire anime a few years back. The anime had 2 full seasons to tell the story, the movie had just two hours. So clearly while it is not as rich as the anime, the movie does a very good job given the time restriction.

I had no expectations when I started to watch it, however after 15 minutes I was a believer, and even if I didn't know the story, still a pretty decent movie. Very nice FX and a high quality production to it.

As fiction flicks goes, it is not for everybody, but If you like the theme and/or anime/manga culture, go for it for sure. And the sequel is already in the works, so we will get our Gantz fix soon enough.

I'm a fan of the original anime, though I never got around to actually reading the manga. I loved the brutality and tragedy of the original anime, so this movie had quite a different feel to it overall.

I liked the changes they made to adapt the story to a movie. There was a lot of back story with the characters that had to be ignored or compressed, but when you're focusing on 2-3 characters in 2 hours, that is to be expected.

Overall I liked the special effects, the casting was pretty good, and although I'm not sure about the changes in the ending they made, i'm OK with what they've done to make this into an interesting sci-fi movie that is worth watching.

I only know the summary part of the manga, so I will stick to the movie itself. The movie starts with two old friends( ? ) that coincidentally meet on a train platform. In this brief moment, they attempt to rescue a man off of the train tracks and in trying this, they are killed by the oncoming train. Or were they? The two awaken in a room with a few other strangers, all of which claim to have been killed. Accompanying them is a mysterious black orb which gives some very vague instructions on what the "group" needs to do. Basically the task is to kill aliens that are on the earth hiding out. Sounds corny, but it is far from that. The movie is so well filmed including cinematography, editing, locale that pretty much whatever the group was sent to do was going to be a treat. Lucky for us viewers, it was an exciting mission at that. As the movie progresses, we learn that each person is awarded "points" for surviving (since if not, well, they are dead) and what can be done with those points is part of the mystery. The effects are very good, and basic, not overdone at all. This makes it much easier to get into the film and the characters in it. The acting was very good, even if I personally had to be distracted from their performances by reading the subtitles. Either way, I could tell by visual features and expressions that it was well done. Each encounter gets more and more difficult, as one would assume, and leads to a very open ended climax that makes you want to see more. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish and recommend it to anyone that likes sci-fi and originality. Please Hollywood, can you keep your hands off and not remake this, let the Japanese do their thing, they have brought us a gem in this as it is. Enjoy. 6.9/10

I am not a fan of the Gantz manga and I have not even read it. I don't really read manga and comics. So when it comes to a live-action adaptation, I am clueless about the characters but I can make out with the adaptation's explanation or the adaptation may even prompt me to pick up the manga. Gantz as far as I know is famous for its over-the-top violence and nudity. I saw many criticisms on the adaptation saying that it lacks of blood and nudity. For a general movie-goer who does not know what to expect in the adaptation will find this a little bloody and will wish for some more nudity.

The story: There is a sick game which revives dead people and commands them to play along. Their tasks are to kill aliens. Aliens!!! Once an alien dies, the players are given points according to their contribution to the death of the alien. A number of points will reward that person. Gantz is touted as a big-budget action sci-fi movie. And yes, it is. The big action scenes especially the final one show that much money is spent. The aliens look okay but are unique in some ways. Characters wise is okay, some are a bit interesting but some are just there for sake of being there. The pace is decent for a Japanese movie, not to say that all Japanese movies are slow-paced. Watching this feels like watching the Japanese doing a Hollywood movie which is decently paced and features big action scenes. With the final movie completing this series, it will be expected to end with a cliffhanger.

Overall: It is good for a Japanese action movie, it could be one of the best I have seen. But for a character movie, it could have done better. It is worth a watch whether you are a Gantz fan or not. Since fans are saying that the manga has more violence and nudity, I am compelled to pick up the manga and to see if it is true. For a non-Gantz fan, I can't wait for part 2 which will conclude the movie series. Sadly, Singaporeans will have to wait.