Gantz : Révolution

Sometimes Science Fiction can get out of hand to the point where nothing makes sense anymore and the viewer is left with a big Question mark over his head...This is one of those movies. If you didn't see the first part don't even attempt this because you'll REALLY be lost...and if you did see the first part, you'll probably still be asking yourself "what the hell just happened?". A confusing mess!

This is a lot better than I expected, although I wish I'd known Gantz 2 was actually a sequel that was better than the original, or at least a vital part of what should have been a multi-episode mini-series. If I had watched both together I would have enjoyed much much more. I assumed it would be a light fun sci-fi popcorn movie, but it has much more depth than that in the end which makes it truly satisfying. It suffers from a dialogue issue I find with a lot of Asian import films, whereas the humor or exposition doesn't quite translate to English, but that's not really a fault so much as to be expected. It was a wise decision to use Asian actors to do the English overdubs , and the cast do an excellent job of mimicking to the tracks although clearly not speaking the vocal. The director has a clear and concise vision here, and is completely successful in finessing the photography although he really shines in Gantz 2. The action and fight scenes are a joy, with the wire-acrobatics and choreography you'd expect. Against the alien mutants in Gantz-1 they are great to watch, but against the more human aliens in Gantz-2 they're much more appreciated. Gantz-1 has more of a humorous undertone to it than Gantz-2 (although that turns out to be a mistake when dealing with the robot mutant, he's a badass), where Gantz-2 is much more sinister and dark. There are no glaring plot holes (save one in G-2 that I assume just got left on the editing room floor) in either piece. Plot is fluid and not plodding. The production budget is greatly increased in G-2 and it shows. The ending of Gantz/Gantz-2 as a set piece is perfect, with very little room for any attempt of a "Gantz-3 : Resurrection!!", and that makes it even more satisfying. Cast is capable and believable, even past the leads. Don't watch one without the other, you'll benefit.

Granted, I have only seen the "Gantz 0" movie, which was overly enjoyable. So when I was given the chance to sit down and watch "Gantz: Perfect Answer" (aka "Gantz 2"), of course I jumped at the chance.

However, "Gantz: Perfect Answer", from 2011, was just not as enjoyable as the 2016 "Gantz 0" movie. Not even by a long shot.

What was wrong with "Gantz: Perfect Answer"? Well, first of all the character gallery was a scrambled mess that gave the audience surprisingly little insight in whom all the characters were. And believe you me, there were many characters! This shallow character gallery was an anchor around the movie.

And the storyline wasn't particularly well-thought through. It seemed more like an impromptu script made up as director Shinsuke Sato went along. The storyline was all over the place with multiple sub-scripts, none of which came to a proper fruition and completion as the movie drew to an end. There were so many unanswered questions to the storyline.

The acting was good, though, and they did have a good ensemble of actors and actresses, just a real shame that they were given flaccid characters without any proper meat on their bones, so to speak. They were essentially, just portraying the same character when you think about it.

As for the action in "Gantz: Perfect Answer", well, I will say that it was nicely executed. Lots of good action sequences throughout the course of the movie. However, the drama aspects to the storyline had a tendency of overshadowing the action aspects, which I found to be a shame. I wanted to watch action and fighting in the movie, not a TV soap opera drama.

All in all, then I am rating "Gantz: Perfect Answer" a mediocre five out of ten stars. The movie really failed to impress and entertain me properly in most aspects. Sure, it was watchable, but it was a horrible scrambled mess of a movie.

Okay so i'll outline the fact that my rating of the film is bias based on my opinion of the manga. Having said that i do give credit where credit is due.

Well i was slightly skeptical of the film before i watched it, since i wondered how it could compare to the manga. The next few arcs in the manga (after what the first film detailed) is where it actually kicks off and gets really engulfing with the characters, the relationships and the aliens. To my surprise though this film doesn't actually continue along the manga's story and instead tries to make up a new story of it's own. The problem with this is that the film needs to work out what it's trying to say in the story. Unfortunately we are left with more questions than answers and a pretty shaky story to hold it all on.

Now moving onto some good points, the cinematography was good, the action scenes started well, but dragged slightly towards the end of the film. The acting was okay... as good as any other live-action Japanese film. i think that might actually be it.

My conclusion is the film might be very slightly better than my rating for anyone who has only seen the first film and not read the manga. Their is a lot of scenes and actions in the film that happen and are unexplained or have no relevance as far as i can see. Beyond the poor makeshift story the film still tries to convey the depth of human actions and emotions. But for me it was too little in a film that didn't seem to have enough attention paid to it.

P.S Just remembered - this doesn't even have the third option when getting 100 points. i guess it keeps it from opening the story up to the fact that their are more Gantz teams all over the world. intrigued? thought so.

Nothing in this film made any sense, from people who claim their highest wish is to resurrect someone, but then they call forth another, to weapons that work so bad that regular pistols are way better and people have to fight (badly) with swords, to fake (and bad) philosophical questions that mean nothing to the story or the characters. If Gantz 2010 was merely mediocre, the sequel is a piece of crap.