Retuner : Japanese Movie : English Subtitle

 

Retuner  Japanese Movie, English Subtitle

Starring:

Takeshi Kaneshiro	Anne Suzuki	Goro Kishitani	Kirin Kiki

Synopsis:

There's not a single original idea in "Returner", but that doesn't stop this Japanese sci-fi action thriller from being a whole lotta fun. Combining elements of (what else?) "The Matrix", "E.T.", "The Terminator", and "Independence Day", plus a dash of "Back to the Future" (among others), the mayhem begins when scruffy survivor Milly (Anne Suzuki) uses a time portal to leap from 2084--when humans are being systematically wiped out by invading aliens--to 2002, where she hooks up with a gunslinging maverick (Takeshi Kaneshiro) whose swirling overcoat and hair-trigger attitude make him the live-action equivalent of the quintessential anime hero. Together, they thwart a Yakuza psychopath (played with hilariously laconic nihilism by Goro Kishitani) who's attempting to steal a recovered alien spaceship to exploit its highly advanced weaponry. In its race to avoid an end-of-the-world scenario, "Returner" throws in just about everything from the sci-fi anime repertoire, and director Takashi Yamazaki blithely and blatantly shifts from juvenile sentiment to violent brutality, resulting in a clash of tones that makes "Returner" wildly entertaining but decidedly "not" for children. Utterly derivative but worthwhile for sci-fi and anime fans, it's a noteworthy case of clever recycling, with energy and ammunition to spare.