K-20: Kaijin niju menso den (2008)

Director:

Shimako Sato

Writers:

So Kitamura (novel)
Shimako Sato (adaptation)

Release Date:

20 December 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Set in a fictional Japanese city in 1949, a master criminal hones in on his latest victim. |

Plot Keywords:

Trick | Deception | Wink | Wanted Poster | Electricity

Cast

Takeshi Kaneshiro	...	Heikichi Endo
Takako Matsu	...	Yoko Hashiba
Tôru Nakamura	...	Kogoro Akechi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kanata Hongô	...	Yoshio Kobayashi
Yuki Imai	...	Shinsuke
Takeshi Kaga	...	Mysterious Gentleman
Jun Kaname
Hana Kino
Fumiyo Kohinata
Jun Kunimura	...	Genji
Kazuyoshi Kushida
Toru Masuoka	...	Inspector Namikoshi
Yutaka Matsushige
Hideji Otaki
Kyûsaku Shimada
Reiko Takashima	...	Kikuko

Also Known As:

K-20: Legend of the Mask (International: English title)
The Fiend with Twenty Faces (USA) (literal English title)

Runtime:

137 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Japan:G | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

Company:

Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)

Batman and V for Vendetta mashed with Japanese Alternate Reality

Quite frankly I dislike most of the Hollywood comic to screen adaptations that have been made possible with high budget CGI and motion control. The most positive thing about a cheaply made film is that either the makers deliver shoddy goods (nearly every SciFi Channel movie) or they focus on story, drama and comedy which can result in the most satisfying movie.

K-20 inhabits a world that's very familiar to comic book readers, alternate history what-if. Here the Japanese have avoided WW2 and have evolved into a strange combination of the Taisho era with the totalitarian leanings of the Showa with technology seemingly mired in the 1920's even though the film is set in the late 1940's. German is used instead of English when a universal language is needed. The film revolves around a Japanese invention that finally brings Tesla's dream of wireless energy to fruition. Unfortunately it can also be used as an extremely powerful weapon.

The look of the film is excellent and the effects are, as others have pointed out, very good and well conceived. But that is true of many other big budget films like this. What makes this film different is the drama that fleshes out the fantasy. It's not perfect, some of the acting is old-school over-acting, the main characters are very familiar to anyone with familiarity with Japanese entertainment especially the Duke's daughter. And there are some moments that strain the viewer's credibility but The Dark Knight had moments like that as well. Overall the film ended and I had enjoyed myself.

There are way worse ways to spend your time, (The Spirit anyone?) hopefully this film will see a wide release.