| Language: Japanese Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi Running time: 139 min Release year: 2009 |
| Cast: Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Takako Tokiwa, Teruyuki Kagawa, Hidehiko Ishizuka, Takashi Ukaji |
Movie Review:
“20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope,” the second part in the “20th Century Boys” trilogy, leaves a whole lot to be desired, but also manages to right its ship just in the nick of time. A mind numbing amount of minor characters are introduced and various sub-plots are introduced, but just as quickly thrown out the window. I would imagine this is all due to the filmmaker’s desire to stay true to the original manga, but this also nearly kills the film. Fortunately, once all the superfluous stuff are finally laid to rest (this occurs some 90 minutes into the film!) an exciting action film does come about. |
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“20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope,” takes place in 2015, some fifteen years after the conclusion of the first “20th Century Boys.” This time around, Kenji is completely AWOL – but his niece, Kanna, is set to spearhead efforts to take out the dastardly towel head known as Tomodachi. Before her efforts to take out Tomodachi comes about, Kanna must give due diligence to her own Uncle Kenji – who is portrayed as a terrorist in her history book. During her investigation she meets various transvestites, stops a gang war between the Thais and Triads, enchants a naive cop with her charms & sideways baseball cap, and oh … manages to travel back to 1971 to see her uncle as a little boy. Once Kanna ascertains that Tomodachi is a real threat to the human race, she’s joined by the fearless Otcho who has just busted out of prison. They then learn that the New Book of Prophesies portends that a savior will arise after the assassination of Tomodachi in Shinjuku. It just so happens that today is the day that Tomodachi will appear in Shinjuku and Kana, Otochi, and associates all await for his arrival …
The best thing about “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope,” is clearly Etsushi Toyokawa and his b-b-b-b-bad to the bone portrayal of the outlaw Otcho. Without his appearance the movie would have been a complete bomb. This is particularly important because the film casts Airi Taira in the central role of Kana. Sure Airi Taira is cute as a button, having the looks of a young Kou Shibasaki mixed in with a young Aya Ueto. Unfortunately, her acting is another story and she comes across as a middle school kid playing make believe. There’s also Haruka Kinami (who plays Kana’s classmate Kyoko) as she seems intent on overacting her way to stardom.
With the dreary performance by the main actress and a story line that rambles on like a gadfly with dementia you can guess the movie had me squirming in my chair – at least for the first 90 minutes. With that said and no real hope in sight, it did come as a huge surprise that the final 35 minutes of the movie (finally) delivers genuine excitement & fun. By this time, all the subplots are laid to rest and its just Otcho, Kana, and her friends going up against Tomodachi. Yes, even in the year 2015 a simple steel cage death match trumps overly complicated manga-goo.
For anybody interested in watching “”20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” I would have no qualms in recommending the film if they skip the first 90 minutes of the film. In retrospect, the movie’s tagline “The Last Hope” makes a lot more sense after you watch the film (just when you’re about to give up all hope for the film they deliver). Now I’m cautiously awaiting for the final installment of “20th Century Boys.” |
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{ Recommended Japanese Movies } |
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Battle Royale (Batoru rowaiaru) |
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Director: Kinji Fukasaku; Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Shin Kusaka, Ren Matsuzawa, Gouki Nishimura, Shigehiro Yamaguchi, Taro Yamamoto |
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Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime): Animated feature film |
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Director: Hayao Miyazaki; Cast: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura |
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Cafe Isobe (Jun kissa Isobe) |
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Director: Keisuke Yoshida; Cast: Hiroyuki Miyasako, Riisa Naka, Kumiko Aso, Mari Hamada, Toshihiro Wada |
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Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi) |
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Director: Sion Sono; Cast: Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Atsuro Watabe, Makiko Watanabe, Sakura Ando |
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Memories of Matsuko (Kiraware Matsuko no issho) |
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Director: Tetsuya Nakashima; Cast: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, Mikako Ichikawa, Asuka Kurosawa |
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Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo) |
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Director: Keisuke Yoshida; Cast: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi, Shohei Tanaka, Kirin Kiki |
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Tokyo Sonata |
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Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Cast: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Yu Koyanagi, Inowaki Kai, Haruka Igawa |
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