MikesIDhasbeentaken Good, strange film this.it's tongue in cheek, live action straight out of the manga comics. You don't need to have seen any of the Manga series to tell where to origins of this film come from.the flashbacks are done well, the story is strange but flows nicely, and there is a great soundtrack.Looking forward to the next two films, as anyone who has seen this will confirm, it would have been a very annoying ending had this not already been planned to be a trilogy.This film seems to have had a relatively big budget, according to IMDb and wiki, for the type of film it is, which is good to see.

Brian Harris (wildsidecinema) 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.

dbborroughs This story drifts backwards and forwards through time. Its the story of Kenji and his childhood friends who in 1969 and 1970 formed a club, created a flag and something called the Book of Prophecy, the tale of a foul villain who seeks to destroy mankind. Jump ahead to the dawn of the 21st century where at a grammar school reunion they discuss an new cult with a symbol that mimics almost exactly their old club symbol. Additionally strange deaths are being reported around the globe and it looks like the Apocalypse is upon us. Things turn darker as members of their childhood group begin to die and it looks like the cult is very interested in Kenji's niece as the chosen one...as events begin to slide toward the end, events based exactly on the "Book of Prophecy" Kenji and his friends realize that some one they know is "Friend" the head of the cult, and its up to them to stop the mad plans which look to wipe out mankind.Covering a large chunk of the first two volumes of the tale (I know I recently read them) this movie moves like the wind and still feels rushed. So much characterization has been left along the way in the name of telling this truly epic story which covers over 40 years of time. To be honest there were times that I felt lost, more so once the film moves away from the material I'm familiar with and on to the events surround 12/31/2000 date that is suppose to be the end. Plot holes develop and one is left to wonder why somethings happen (why and how did the near infant Kanna come back to the city alone?) To be honest while the film has great performances and great special effects, the script is very messy as is jumps all around and tries to compress the events into a bite size morsel, they've cut out a great deal of exposition from the books and you can feel it.(I was hoping that somethings might have been explained in Chapter 2, the second film, but they're not and thats another kettle of fish entirely). The one thing that bothered me the most is that this is the film of a thousand endings. Knowing that the film is going to end and be picked up by two later parts one is aware that the story is going to stop, and it does repeatedly only to pick up again and again and again. Its like watching half the cliff hangers for a TV series entire season, including fade out, in rapid succession, you keep getting up to leave but the story keeps going. This needed to be a miniseries.Over all its a good movie, but under no circumstances should you watch it figuring you'll get an ending, you don't and as the post credits teaser shows there is a great deal more to come.

DICK STEEL I had earlier written about comic books being rich material for filmmakers to raid and adopt them into a cinematic version, and with the success of the Death Note franchise, it's more than apparent that such movies will have its built in audience, and in this case, to skyrocket the movie to box office success.Depending on how the story is adapted, some will take liberties to gear the material for non- fans, to introduce it to a new audience. Death Note for instance, does this quite perfectly, drawing those unfamiliar with its mythos, and at the same time entertaining the fanboys. Mushishi on the other hand, assumed that one goes in with a bit of background knowledge, as it doesn't dwell too long, if at all, on the character backstory. 20th Century Boys however managed to take the middle ground, though I felt its presentation was somewhat left wanting.We're introduced to Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa), a supermarket manager who's about to be thrown into the adventure of his life. In a school reunion, he gets acquainted with his old pals, most of whom he already cannot recognize, before they launch into a discussion of a strange series of happenings which involve the emergence of their secret logo created during their childhood. As they catch up with one another, we also learn that collectively amongst the group, they vaguely recollect their 9 members, and hence sowed some suspicion as to the identity of who the new cult leader is, one who always hide behind a mask and calls himself Kira, oops, wrong movie - "Friend".Throw into the plot yet another device in the form of a book called the Book of Prophecies, which Kenji is chief author, in somewhat of a create your own adventure with his pals, as they dream of the world coming to an end at the turn of the millennium, what with strange plagues, terrorist attacks, and a giant robot taking the place of the stay puff marshmallow man. They realize that world disasters are unfolded as per the sequence in their childhood book, and thus, with their sense of responsibility, work to try and put an end to the madness.For the first half of the movie, the story really plods on, as it took great pains to try and introduce to us the array of characters important to the series, including an infant heralded as the Chosen One. While most of the characters remain rather one-dimensional with nothing much revealed about their background despite the frequent flashbacks (some which do get repetitive), Kenji is the focus of this installment, as we see an emergence of a resistance fighter from within a mild and meek, and often clueless supermarket manager. He doesn't really strike you as charismatic or well skilled to lead a group of do-gooders, but the second half would address all those concerns.In wanting to remain unconventional, the story moves forward and back so frequently, that it'll give you a headache. It seemed to be wanting to shovel down character backgrounds incessantly, as every opportunity found to go into flashback mode, will be utilized, so much so that it becomes mentally tiring after a while to keep track of current time. Time plays an important part in the story as it hinges everything on D-Day of 31 December 2000, where a foretold apocalypse is expected to happen.And here's where it really shines, even when the arrival of D-Day involved plenty of droning pep-talking. Looking at the locations, sets, and big action sequences throughout the film, it's indeed a relatively big budget production with no qualms about throwing money to achieve some form of visual perfection. The finale is nothing short of breathtaking, and with well filled tension, though if you're not expecting this to be the first episode of an franchise, you'll find yourself swearing at its cliffhanger ending. It's not a complete story per se even though it managed to remain self-contained, as it retains just about as much mystery as it did from the onset, with nothing much revealed or addressed.For those looking into something more, I thought it had drawn some interesting parallels about the dangers of cults, and how enticing the promises made by preacher could be, with the followers blinding adhering to every word like it's the gospel. There are enough false prophets in the world, but those who can command a huge following, could grow and if their aspirations do find their way to the political arena, then just as how a manga-turned-movie would have its ready audience, then these political parties would already come with their congregation as ready supporters and voters.For the eager beavers, it's not until January that you can watch the next part, so do remember to stay until right after the end credits roll for the trailer to Part 2.