20th Century Boys (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2008): Japan

Reviewed by Charles Hedrick. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival

20th Century Boys (also known as 20-seiki shonen) is the most expensive movie ever made in Japan, which only becomes apparent around the film’s conclusion. So if anyone is expecting an insane amount of special effects throughout the whole movie, do not get your hopes up. But while there may not have been many special effects throughout the entire film, there was a good plot, likeable characters, and in the end, very good special effects. Still, there are a few elements of the film that were not perfect: for example, the viewer has to have a decent amount of patience to understand this movie, and the narrative is a little bit slow at the beginning. Also, if you do not know that there will be two more sequels (and many people at the screening I attended did not) then you will most likely walk out of the theater incredibly frustrated. However, once everyone in the theater is able to wrap their minds around this movie, it does emerge as something that everyone can enjoy.

20th Century Boys tells the story of a group of childhood friends who wrote a book in their youth about a villain who would take over the world in the year 2000. In the year 1999, the friends have grown up into adults, and what they soon realize is that the book they wrote as children is actually coming true.  They must band together to stop this evil threat before New Years Eve.

The first good aspect of this movie is the special effects used near the conclusion. An example of this would be the way that a building suddenly started to move and destroy things in such a realistic looking manner. Another good aspect of this movie is the interesting characters. All of the characters in this movie are memorable and interesting, especially the main villain, whose name is Friend. The reason for “Friend’s” memorability is a mixture of two things: the first is his costume, and the second is the maniacal manner in which he behaves. Another good quality of this film is the excellent plot. The reason that this plot is so good is that after one realizes that this film is part of a trilogy, it becomes apparent that this film has set up the plot to be really interesting and engrossing.  Also, I found this to be  a fresh new story that hasn’t been heard before.

If you’re able to get past the fact that this movie does indeed have an incomplete plot, leaving room for its sequels, then I can almost guarantee that you will enjoy it. However, if you have seen other movies from Japan, such as K-20: Legend of the Mask, and you did not them, then I would not suggest that you see this film.