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" The Gravel Pit "
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Movies / TV
DVD Review: RETURNER
Posted by Jay Spree on Jan 30, 2004, 13:12
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DVD REVIEW: RETURNER
Studio: ROBOT
Distributor: Amuse
NOTE: This is a review of the single-disc Region 0 Japanese version, which will play on all players. The film is also available as a two-disc Region 0 Deluxe Limited Edition (see DVDeal), a barebones single-disc Region 2, and will be available next month as a barebones single-disc Region 1 release.
THE DOPE
Everybody knows that, when it comes to spectacular action, Asian Cinema leaves Hollywood in the dust. Movies from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea are all clinics in putting on a firefight, masterclasses in hand-to-hand combat, and encyclopaedias of blowing shit up. From Kurosawa to John Woo to Wo Ping, Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan to Jet Li, Tinseltown has been raping Chinatown for years in an effort to bring Western action up to par (it still makes me fall on my ass laughing when people insist that The Matrix is an American film).
It’s strange the way things work sometimes.
Everybody was gun-fu fighting...
With Returner, the tables are completely turned. This time, Asian filmmakers have turned to Western cinema as inspiration for action set-pieces and plot devices, and the checklist of famous references/homages/stolen moments is as brazen and ballsy as it is impressive (in a fanboyish way). However, rather than just an action movie “best of”, Returner is just as much a showcase of chemistry between perfectly cast actors who play their parts with equal measures of charm and swagger. The end result is a stunningly stylish action movie, dripping with cool and packing two clips full of charm.
THE KNOWLEDGE
Dubbed “Borrower” by some, this movie is infamous for the number of references to, or ideas borrowed from (depending on how fondly you regard what is essentially plagiarism of other people's best ideas) other movies. As such, it might actually be simpler to list the movies that Returner HASN’T taken ideas from, but I managed to tally up 17 references off the top of my head, so I’ll namedrop some of them as we go along.
Goro Kishitani - cooler than ice cubes in Elvis' mouth.
In 2084, the human race has been all but obliterated by an invading force of aliens (equal parts Terminator 2, Transformers, Alien and Independence Day) called the Daggra. On the verge of losing the war, a lone warrior is sent back in time (Terminator) to 2002 when the first alien arrived on Earth. Milly (Anne Suzuki)’s mission is to terminate... sorry, kill the first alien and stop the war before it starts. In 2002 we meet Miyamoto (Takeshi Kineshiro), a super, SUPER stylish (The Crow, The Matrix) one-man hit squad who carries out missions for his booker who works in an inconspicuous high street businessplace (Leon/The Professional). On one such mission, he thwarts a deal by Mizoguchi, (Goro Kishitani), a psychotic Japanese uber-gangster working for the Chinese Triad who has been kidnapping children in order to harvest their organs. 15 years ago Mizoguchi killed Miyamoto’s best friend, and of course he has sworn revenge (although obviously there’s no point listing all of the Chinese gangster and revenge movies). Milly crosses paths with Miyamoto and manages to convince him to help her on her mission to save the future – at the same time, Mizoguchi learns about the alien and seeks to harness its incredible power for his gangster ambitions. What results is a showcase of bullet time, Gun-Fu, brilliant character acting and chemistry between three of Japan’s most talented young actors.
Daggra: we shoot women AND children. In the BACK.
Some people really have a problem with all the “homages” in this movie, and as a result find it difficult to engage with and enjoy either the flick or the action. Indeed, from the Starship Troopers-esque demise of soldiers at the hands of the Daggra to the patented Michael Bay and Guillermo Del Toro camera moves (including Blade 2’s ‘Doom Cam’) to the frame-by-frame lifting of entire set-pieces from Terminator 2 and Mission Impossible 2, not to mention the endless story elements taken from Back To The Future, E.T. and many more, it’s certainly not a baseless criticism. I believe that reaction to Returner falls into one of two categories: 1) You hear that “Returner is an amazing movie – you have to see it.” You watch the film, see that it rips off every successful sci-fi idea under the sun and subsequently write it off as the most shameless, overhyped piece of crap since Phantom Menace. The other reaction would be: 2) you hear that “Returner is an amazing movie, but it rips off every successful sci-fi idea under the sun. It’s still brilliant though, and you’ve got to see it.” Tempered and forewarned, you go into the movie expecting the “homages” and thus are happy to enjoy it for what it is. At the end of the day, everyone rips off everyone else’s ideas anyway – the difference is that Returner only rips off the best ones, and it does so successfully and while maintaining its own unique sense of style.
Earth is in deep shit.
The lack of originality doesn’t mean that the film is devoid of merit – far from it. Sure, the plot isn’t going to win any awards for originality and many of the set-pieces are guilty of the modern action movie cliché, bullet time. The fact is, though, that this is a character-driven movie where the greatest charm is in watching the super-slick and likeable protagonists engage in stylish gunplay and comic book posturing. Video games seldom score points for original storylines or unique action sequences, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t fun to play in spite of the deja-vous. And, since leading man Takeshi Kaneshiro is the voice and likeness of Onimusha’s lead character Samanosuke, and director Takashi Yamazaki is helming the upcoming Onimusha 3, the videogame analogy is more relevant than you might think.
Each of the three leads is cast perfectly, and they are an absolute joy to watch. Kaneshiro is an astounding young Japanese actor who gives life and depth to what is essentially a prosaic and one-dimensional trenchcoat-wearing, gun-toting action lead. His character is equal parts Neo, Eric Draven and Leon (in fact, just the look of the character is what would you would get if Brandon Lee had played Neo), but with an enchanting vulnerability around Milly that makes him mesmerising to watch.
Just. So. Cool.
This is Anne Suzuki’s second film for Yamazaki, following the director’s debut film Juvenile (that also featured transforming aliens and a penchant for borrowing sci-fi ideas). Unfathomably cute, and sheepishly innocent in spite of her harsh John Connor-era upbringing, her portrayal of Milly again conveys more than the script might dictate, largely thanks to her obvious chemistry with Kaneshiro. There is a very sweet, endearing, and blissfully non-sexual joviality between them, which transforms potentially cringeworthy scenes into moments that simply bring a smile to your face. When Milly – a soldier of the future who lives on rations and has been brought up wearing nothing but rags and military fatigues – gets to eat a home-cooked meal and go clothes shopping for the first time, the film is just… magical.
Anne Suzuki: impossibly cute.
At the other end of the scale is the thoroughly reprehensible, sadistic, evil, yet wonderfully charismatic Mizoguchi, deliciously played by Goro Kishitani. One review I read summed up the performance as “Channeling Gary Oldman via Beat Takeshi”, and I really can’t put it any better. A walking, talking, real-life end-of-level boss, Goro gleefully embodies every super-stylised Yakuza stereotype, brandishing his hand cannon, smoking ten-to-the-dozen and walking with patented gangster swagger, only stopping to casually and off-handedly take out his frustrations on the nearest underling when his plans are thwarted. Just as happy shooting a baby alien at point blank range as he is shooting an unarmed woman in the tit, Goro is absolutely spectacular and plays the character magnificently.
Goro is justice, Goro is rule.
As for the action itself, it’s all first class. Whether it’s Miyamoto wiping out commandos with a mixture of gunplay and bullet time or hordes of terminator-esque Daggra plowing their way through rebel soldiers, the action – ranging from graceful to frenetic – is always exciting, well choreographed, and visually stunning. Particular praise should be paid to the visual effects and the impressive CG - traditionally an area where Asian cinema lags behind Hollywood. The CG elements are always smooth and unobtrusive, never jumping out to the point that they distract or break the scene. From subtle augmentation effects like bullet trails to full-blown Daggra combat and transforming spacecraft, Returner shows just how far Asian special effects houses have come in an incredibly short time.
The only fault with the action might be that there isn’t enough of it. I wouldn’t say that the film is short on action by any means, because it certainly has as many set-pieces as Predator, The Matrix, or any other number of “non-stop action” Hollywood films. However, in the context of Asian cinema where the action genuinely is non-stop, Returner isn’t nearly as chaotic as some others. However, I would argue that this actually works in the film’s favour, and I compare it to the action in The Matrix contrasted with that in The Matrix: Reloaded – while the action in the first film was incredible, it certainly didn’t dominate the flick and served as much to augment the story as to create dynamic "holy shit" set-pieces. However, in the second Matrix, while the action was again breathtaking, in the context of the film it seemed gratuitous, overlong, and felt shoehorned in, resulting in action for the sake of action that only served to undermine the overall effect. (I got totally burned out on the Neo vs. 100 Smiths fight, and I remember actually checking my watch in the middle of the weapons-based Neo vs. Merovingian’s henchmen battle.) So again, you’re going to enjoy the film a lot more if you go in with realistic expectations of Hollywood quantities of action, as opposed to looking forward to wall-to-wall action like Versus and getting disappointed.
I think we've been spotted.
But, to cut an exceptionally long story short, Returner is an absolute jewel of a movie, as rich in character and performance as it is in style and action. Sure, it might not have an original idea to its name and some might virulently object to the pillaging of sci-fi’s greatest hits, but Returner is a slick, effects-filled orgy of gunplay and leather.
Rating: ****
THE DISC
While the film has the full anamorphic treatment, the picture is unfortunately let down by a poor transfer.
The print itself is fairly grainy, which admittedly becomes a lot more apparent when you’re trying to take screenshots, and isn’t really that obtrusive when you’re just watching the film. However, the worst problem is something that you will notice while watching the film, and that is the dull, washed-out transfer that seems to leech both colour and contrast from the print. This adds to the look of the earthworn, almost sepia-toned “flashbacks” of the future, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in the motorcycle scene that features a golden sky turning into a near-scarlet sunset, where the colours are muted and you feel the need to crank up the levels on your TV. It has been argued that the subdued levels are simply the way the filmmakers shot the film, but the footage on the trailers (included on the DVD) looks bright, vivid, and not at all washed out. That said, there is no noticeable artifacting on the feature and, although some people have complained about edge enhancement, the picture is otherwise fine and perfectly watchable.
God bless digital stuntmen.
The primarily-Japanese audio track (which includes sporadic snippets of really terrible English) is available in Dolby 2.0, 5.1 and DTS flavours. Obviously the DTS mix has the most punch, although (as always) the 5.1 track is almost as good. There’s no English dub (which is damn straight, because y’all shouldn’t be watching dubbed films unless they’re Bruce Lee flicks), but the subtitles are just about perfect and are easy to read throughout. There’s two sets of Japanese subs to boot, but I can’t see a lot of people here needing to use those.
Language-wise, the main menus are all in English – including the language/subtitle setup – but the scene selections are in Japanese, as are the biographies (see DVDeal). Essentially, though, the disc is utterly accessible and usable to non-Japanese speakers.
DVDeal
Okay, this is where things get a little complicated.
The Japanese Standard Edition reviewed here is the first disc of the Deluxe Limited Edition two-disc set, only available on limited release in Japan. The disc features an audio commentary featuring the director, leading man and… someone else who I can’t remember right now. Not that it really matters because, unless you can speak Japanese, you won’t be getting much out of it anyway. Also included are cast & crew biographies for most of the film’s cast, as well as the film crew and effects houses – though, as aforementioned, these are sadly in Japanese. Thankfully both the film’s teaser and trailer are included, and since they were the first exposure most people had to the film they’re pretty fun to rewatch. Still, while the disc itself features a commentary track and (what look like) fairly comprehensive biographies, it is for all intents and purposes sadly barebones.
Cool but barebones.
The two-disc Deluxe Limited Edition is something that I’ve been meaning to pick up for a while now, but never seem to get around to it. The DVD Times have a great review of the Deluxe set, which is well worth checking out as it also has a picture gallery of the amazing double-digipack packaging, artwork cards and 55-page storyboard book. The set features over 215 minutes of material and is very accessible to non-Japanese speakers. It’s easily the most complete and collectible way to enjoy the film if you’re a fan, with deleted and alternate scenes (and reportedly an alternate ending), the film’s demo reel, and more BTS footage than you can shake a stick at. The usual foreign e-tailers don’t seem to be offering the set any more, though I did find a site that was selling both versions of the DVD as well as the soundtrack – I’ll post an update when I find it again. It very occasionally pops up on eBay too, so it’s worth keeping an eye out there.
Amazingly cool, amazingly collectible... amazingly hard to find.
Now, if you like the look of the film but you aren’t interested in shelling out for the Deluxe Edition, you’ll be happy to know that Returner is available in Region 2 now and is due for a Region 1 release in February. While the R2 release is disappointingly barebones, the R1 is scheduled to include four featurettes… but nobody knows anything about them. The production diary on the Deluxe Edition is broken down into five sections (again, check out the DVD Times review for info), so it could conceivably be four of those dubbed or subbed into English. Either way, the set is available domestically in both the UK or US, so if you want to check out the flick you don’t have to worry about importing – just dodgy coverart.
The Western artwork is about as cool as an English dub.
THE WORD
Startlingly unoriginal movie that nonetheless startles with its stylish action and great character moments. While The Storm Riders may have been the first Asian action movie to offer the same quality production values as a Hollywood blockbuster, Returner is much more suited to Western sensibilities and is arguably the first Asian film that – were it not for the language – you would find it difficult to distinguish from a Tinseltown film. A superbly entertaining action film and a great introduction to Asian cinema.
Miyamoto's skills don't translate well to House Of The Dead. "Game over my ass!"
Film: ****
Extras: (Depends on version, but let’s say ***** for the Deluxe set and ½* for the others)
Jay $pree
Read my archives, biatch.
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