Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

dbborroughs In a world where the second world war never happened, class structure is rigidly enforced, Nikola Telsa wins the Nobel Prize and there are dirigibles, gyro-copters and the like, a villain called K-20 (because he has at least 20 different faces) is going around stealing art treasures from the rich. Well known detective Akechi is called into investigate when K-20 steals the model of a Telsa free energy machine. Things get complicated when circus performer Heikichi Endo is mistaken for K20 by the police when the job of photographing the engagement ceremony of Akechi to his fiancé the Duchess Yoko Hashiba, goes horribly wrong. It soon becomes clear that K-20 has set up Heikichi, and its left to the young circus performer to find away to break free and clear his name.I have described this as the superhero (Batman like) movie that I have been waiting for but never knew I was waiting for it. For the two hours and twenty minutes of the running time I was the two year old kid with the Batman t-shirt on with his nose literally pressed against the glass of the screen. I was there and going along for the ride where ever the ride took me.And what a ride. Set in a steam punkish world like our own but different, this is a film that was free to go and do what it wanted. Its a film that takes all the cool things from the pulp fiction of the 1930's and 40's mixes them with the iconic superhero material from today and serves it up into a mixture thats familiar but wonderfully new. Yes you've seen it before, there are shots that are cribbed from a variety of sources (the Batman movies) but they are the right shots to use. They are visual cues that deepen what we are watching.The plot moves along as a grand mystery, but at the same time odds are you're going to know who's who and whats what. The plot will play out in ways best described as the sort of thing you can guess, but at the same time thats not right. Things play out as they must. This is a retelling of a story that we all know and we laugh and cry out and cheer when the film gets to our favorite parts even though we've never seen them before. Thank god no one was around me in the theater as I repeatedly said "YES!" to myself as the film hit every point exactly as it should.I loved the characters.Takeshi Kaneshiro as Heikichi Endo is right on target.He is the hero we'd all like to be. Even better is Takako Matsu as Yoko. The prim and proper young lady who proves to be much more than her title suggests. Her refrain that she is a "modest girl from a good family" covers a great deal of kick ass ability. She is now my new ideal woman (sorry Mrs Charles). The rest of the cast is for the most part note perfect.Is it a perfect film? No, some of the plotting is a bit awkward as if they didn't quite clip it from the source correctly. There are a couple of burps with the CGI of K20 bouncing across the roofs and in one bit the dialog between Heilichi and his young friend is awkward. Other wise its just a great rip roaring adventure that Hollywood should have made but didn't. (Okay twist my arm there aren't enough dirigibles and I would have loved a gyro-copter chase- but I'm being picky.) You want to see this, and you want to see it on as big a screen as possible. This film rocked my world and reduced me to a gibbering idiot as the phone messages I left after seeing it will attest.This is one of the best films of the year and one of my favorite films, period.See this film. If they give this film a big screen release in the US go see it you will love it.Thats it, go see this. (and I haven't even talked about the action which includes one of the best final confrontations between antagonists I've seen. I loved it, really)

helmutty K-20: Legend of the mask is considered a Japanese superhero movie although K-20 is not a superhero, he is more of Japanese robin hood but only more evil. The 2 billion yen movie has the realistic special effects that you rarely see in Japanese movies and its action scenes are breath-taking especially the acrobatic stunts and famous Takeshi Kaneshiro with good musicStory: It is set in 1949 where there is no world war, which is lucky. There is K-20, stealing priceless items from the rich. He frames an acrobat, Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Heikichi is caught and soon escapes. He then vows to unmask/catch K-20 and proves his innocence. The fight scenes with K-20 and Heikichi are stunning with amazing acrobatic stunts. I wish there will more of the breath-taking stunts in movies. As Heikichi races to find what K-20 is going after, it leads to the final battle between them where there happens to be a twist.Overall: This is not to be missed for Takeshi fans or those who are fans of Japanese movies. K-20 may be a little long- the runtime is 2 hours 17 minutes but the plot is engrossing that you won't care about the time and watch how K-20 battles with Heikichi with wits and power. It is nice to see a big-budget Japanese action movie as the past few years, there are mostly Japanese thrillers like 20th century boys and death note.

comage I went to this show with a neutral opinion, having not been influenced by any prior knowledge nor reviews from the press or the Internet.And boy, was I sorely disappointed.***SPOILERS AHEAD*** While this movie was made with a narrative style used commonly in Japanese anime/manga, such narrative coupled with real actors in a real life setting on film had the awkward consequence of making it ridiculous and absurd at times.Several instances of comic relief were inserted into this film in attempts to lighten up the mood. To the average Joe, this will result in laughter and happiness oozing out from your ears. To the movie critic, it is ludicrous and lame, as such instances of comic relief severely affected the continuity of the film at times (Note to self: This film will never win any prestigious awards).The plot contained nothing to shout about; you could anticipate the action and every single twist which has already been done to death in many other films in the same genre. E.g., good guy turns out to be bad guy, bad guy kills good guy, good guy plays possum and turns the table around onto the bad guy in the end.This film could have easily obtained a mediocre 6 out of 10 points (or 3 out of 5 stars), which however was unfortunately ruined by the screwed up ending. Two things which I've learned from this film:1) In this world where science governs reality, a helicopter can fly downwards at 90 degrees straight towards the ground, and still be able to pull up and fly away parallel to the earth.2) A hero always carries doves/pigeons on him BEFORE a fight, TO the fight, so that he can impress ladies after the fight's finished.In short, watch this ONLY IF you have spare cash lying around your table.

Paolo A. Gardinali K-20 was the most fun I had in a movie theater in a long time. Yes, there are deeper movies, and definitely more expensive ones, especially on this side of the ocean. But K-20 kicks Spiderman's butt (or any other recent costumed hero movie) any day of the week. Special effects are there, but this is first of all a movie about people.Set in an alternate 1949, where Word War II never happened, K-20 takes place in a poorer Japan, that bears many signs of the alliance with the Reich. The sets are very well done, imagine a steampunk Blade Runner mixed with post-Dickens, post-Industrial revolution London. This is Teito, the capital of Japan, where orphans roams the streets and the Imperial aristocracy rules with fear and armed men. One ruthless vigilante roams the streets (well, perhaps the roofs): K-20, who in spite of his professed Robin Hoodism is less than loved by the population, who'd rather root for his arch-enemy, the aristocrat Inspector Akechi. Yet K-20 is not the main character here: the hero is Heikichi Endo, who is framed for the crimes of K-20, beaten and imprisoned. How he will be able to escape, clear his name (and save the world, in passing) keeps you glued to your seat for the over two hours and fifteen minutes of the movie.The retro atmosphere reminded me a little of Chabon's Kavalier & Clay, if a movie could ever do it justice. Parkour lovers will definitely enjoy the antics of the hero in training. Everyone else, manga fan or not, will have fun.