SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

David Graf Yes, it's cliché. So what? Have you seen many Japanese live action adaptations of powered superheroes in the last twenty years? Then I rest my case. Cliché is practically a genre unto itself. But there are a few surprises here, and the moments ripped directly from the series will (perhaps shamefully, but it's dark in the cinema so no-one will see you) have you clapping your hands like a kid again.Sadly, the story was cheesy. It was too melodramatic. The plot saves were sloppy and the dialog was groan-inducing. In the hands of the Japanese equivalent of Joss Whedon (if he even exists), Gatchaman could have been something magnificent, but instead what you get is pretty much exactly what's described on the box, except with real actors and sometimes sub-par special effects. If you have complaints about this, then perhaps you should just think about the number of live action adaptations film-makers outside of Japan have been responsible for that have ruined your childhood for you. I could make a list. It would start with the Thunderbirds, and it wouldn't end there.

blackmamba99971 Well as far as anime to live action goes... this one did alright. I have to say though it had a lot over tones of the mighty power rangers on steroids. It does appeal to every age because of the innocent way each character is portrayed. Four buddies together fighting off what is known as Galactors.A virus sustained on earth eons ago emerges as a mutated virus called 'Virus X' That once when infected with it the individual loses all inhibitions to know what is right, and what is wrong. They strive to become something more by means of freedom rather than to listen to ordinary rules, and obey the laws. Yet within themselves is a constant battle of turmoil of emotions that run amok, which then turns to destructive means.Between this power struggle, emerges a team, which consists of high tech ninjas with great powers. Each one can use a mysterious stone to their own means by way of creating or architechtually build a defence, and offence using energy. As the Galactors strive to destroy everything on earth it is up to the team to stop them.But with all facets of evil, there are some dark closets, which should remain closed. For Ken (Tori Matsuzaka) his demons in his closet come to the surface when he faces off with a long dead ex-team member who is now head of the Galactors. Naomi (Eriko Hatsune). Between her, and his team Ken is backed into a corner ready to either go out in a blaze of glory... or save his team even Naomi if need be.All in all I thought this was a refreshing movie about friends, life, dread, despair, and sheer will. The film presented itself as a young only audience which strives on good action. And this film has it. Lots of action. Great music sound track, and wonderful martial arts display. However, it fell a bit short on the emotional aspect from each person. They seemed to try too hard to present a harsh reality to their plight. Whether its about a friend or foe. Much like the power rangers they delivered a kind of drab state of feeling. And with the masks they wore in the series it made it much worse to believe.In this film though no masks were worn to show their feelings. But again they tried too hard to present it. Except to be fair to those actors they are new. More experience will allow them to blossom into fine actors in the next decade. Gatchaman is a unique movie, and series. Filled with fun, humour, slapstick kinds of jokes between characters, and above all good friendships. I figure the production studios will start a second phase to the genre soon enough.When they do I hope they use the same people as before. This way we can see how much more they have all developed into their roles. Highly recommend to all ages. Fantastic movie.

grendelkhan I'm a huge fan of Gatchaman, going way back, so I was interested to see this film, based on the trailer. It's definitely not the original story. It's been tweaked quite a bit, although the basic elements are still there. The Earth has been attacked by an outside force, although here it is a virus that has altered part of the population, who are then destroying and subjugating the rest. Conventional weapons seem useless; but five young heroes lead the charge. The enemy, Galactor, is led by a mysterious being, known as Berg Katse. That's all still there; but the rest is decidedly different.The Gatchaman team aren't so much the product of technology as they are the conduit for some kind of energy gem, which gives them their heightened abilities. However, only a select few can harness the power of the gems and only these gems an defeat Galctor's soldiers. It's gets more convoluted and the movies run time doesn't really sort things out well. It suffers from the same problem that the 1994 OVA series had, in that it is trying to cover the same ground as the 1972 TV series, which spanned 105 episodes. It gets rather confusing.The look of the film is very much influenced by the redesigns from the OVA. The costumes and the Phoenix share pretty much that same look. Galactor and Berg Katse have been significantly altered. It's also rather darkly shot, during much of the action. This, coupled with quick edits, makes it hard to really follow the action.The story is a mixed bag. The film starts out with some cryptic exposition, which raises more questions than it answers, then moves right into the action, with a Galctor assault on Tokyo and the International Science Organization, the parent body of the Gatchaman team. After that, we get more exposition and backstory, and a heavy focus on the emotional element of the story, the conflict between Ken and George, as well as the looming presence of Katse and Galactor. It seemingly takes forever to get to the climax. The structure isn't much different from the average TV episode, as they hit you with action, character drama, then an epic climax. Same thing here, though the drama seems protracted and never really seems to resolve itself. In many ways, the movie reminded me more of the Super Sentai shows that drew inspiration from Gatchaman, rather than the original series. The biggest change is the nature of Berg Katse. Without giving things away, it has elements of the original, but they are pieced together in a much different manner.In the end, I thought it was a decent attempt, but felt disappointed. The story needed to be simplified so that it flowed better. The opening section is great; but the middle needed rewriting, paring the story down more. The climax has some good stuff, but it gets confused in sections. Things are left open for a sequel, so we will have to see if one arrives and if it can deliver a tighter story.Fans of the series will be able to fill in some blanks on their own, though non-fans are likely to be left scratching their heads through most of the film. There are homages to the original; but it tries to be its own thing. It could be a lot worse; but it could also be a lot better. At best, it's an interesting experiment.

Dave (dctcool) I'm pretty fond of Japanese Otaku hero shows, I've followed Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and after seeing how well the standard could be set with Gantz a few years ago I had high expectations for this.I saw this as part of Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal and suffice to say it sure did know how to draw me into the film.Its a really interesting plot buildup: An invading force known as the Galactor has laid siege to countries all over the world with the worst affected area being in Europe, Japan is one of the few safe havens left on the planet but is still under threat from constant attack, with Galactors personal energy shields rendering human weapons useless they instead turn their attention to powerful crystals which select their owners to become the superheroes the Gatchaman.The film starts out really strong with a fantastic opening action sequence rivaling that of many Hollywood action films with great fight scenes some decent effects (to a degree) and it really left you with some great on your seat action for the first 15 minutes.After that, it all falls apart.The next hour of the film almost becomes an annoying slog with so much exposition and back story being tried to get cramped into the film, with most plot point revealed to be rather uninteresting or just flat out silly, not to mention one rather obvious plot hole towards the end of the film where it almost felt like the director said "screw it"In fact what it actually feels like is that the movie blew its budget way on the opening scene that they had to go all melodramatic to fill in the rest of the film.The climax of the film isn't any better either whilst we do see a return to action the fights are in to close corridors making it hard to make out whats going on and one ridiculously stupid over dramatic death scene that is almost laughable had it not been for the fact that by this stage I was pretty much bored out of my mind.Comparable to say Pacific Rim which knew what it was, it knew it was a silly setup which compensated with awesome fight scenes. But in Gatchaman while the setup was strong what was holding it together was silly, yet they tried to make a silly plot serious and sadly it just doesn't work.Not helped are some of the Japanese actors bad attempts at speaking English, And while I can forgive some actors who have to learn what to say on a whim some of the spoken English dialog from one character doesn't even match the subtitles for whats being said on screen.In the end Gatchaman could have been a great film to introduce Western Audience to Japanese Super Hero films but unfortunately its incredible boring and silly 2nd act renders the whole film almost unwatchable. I would recommend finding the opening action scene on the Internet for some good entertainment while killing time but thats about it.