In Japanese with English & Chinese Subtitles
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Cast: Etsushi Toyokawa, Takako Tokiwa, Airi Taira
RunTime: 2 hrs 20 mins
Released By: Encore Films & GV
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Official Website: www.encorefilms.com/20thboys2

Opening Day: 9 July 2009

Synopsis:

The chapter 2 of the 20th Century Boys trilogy starts in 2015, 15 years after the world is nearly destroyed.  People now believe that Kenji and his friends were satanic terrorists and Friend, the mysterious cult leader, is worshipped as the savior of the world.  

Kanna, Kenji's niece, is now in high school and she resents that the history textbooks tell a fabricated account of the fateful day.  She is forced to participate in the Friend Land program to be re-educated when she is deemed to be anti-social.  While in the program, Kanna uncovers clues to Friend's real identity, and the shocking discovery of The New Book of Prophecies! 

Kanna tries to find out who wrote The New Book of Prophecies and unravels the true identity of Friend!

Movie Review:

If you are not a fan of the first 20th Century Boys, it’s doubtful that 20th Century Boys 2: the Last Hope will make a fan out of you.  On the contrary if you are craving for some intellectual stimulant in the midst of this summer blockbusters, you will be getting your money worth with this one. In fact, it might be a little too taxing that it gives a mental overload workout.

Continuing in the same mould as the first movie, 20th Century Boys 2 is presented in an equally cryptic and challenging manner (especially if you haven’t read the Manga). More characters were introduced on top of the huge amount of characters that were introduced in the first movie. More questionable events that happened in the past and present (2015) were introduced to push the limits of the audience’s memory skills. All these additional elements gave the audience a mindboggling time and even to a degree, tiresome and dryness.

The problem in the second movie (of the planned trilogy) was that it does not actually progress the story to a whole new level. The whole doomsday scenario and a couple normal folks going against the powerful had become rather tedious and repetitive. It makes one wonder how many climatic doomsday finales can it happen to mankind and the grandeur of such doomsday are actually being diminished when it seems that humanity would often restore back to it’s status quo (or even better than it was before doomsday occurred). The inconsequence of the prophesized apocalypse makes it a tab less rewarding in following the puzzling storyline.

Besides that, it doesn’t help that Kanna (while pretty to look at)‘s exploits are far less engaging than the predecessor protagonist Kenji and his childhood story. While Kenji had a clear cut path from initial confusion to the eventual sacrificial heroics, Kanna’s path in this movie was a meandering one. It seems that while being the chosen one or the last hope (depending which side you are on), she had very little to bring to the plate. All she did in this movie was to relive her uncle past favorite’s pastimes and sulk when people identify her uncle as terrorist. There were some investigation to Friend’s identity and scheme on her part but along the way, it became rather irrelevant and unimportant.

But perhaps it’s too early to judge the seemly irrelevant bits of the second movie as it’s a tale that could only be told in all three parts. Although it does feel that the story is biting off more than it could chew. One could only hope that the third movie would be able to wrap up all those various story arcs introduced in the first movie and this installment.

If it’s anything like the revelation of what happened on the night that Donkey went back to the classroom to turn the fish tank air pump or the short introduction of the retiring cop and mere mention of his grandson that was played out in bigger parts in the second one, the third installment should be able to give this complex tale a satisfying closure.

That being said, it’s still a trying time in trying to figure out what’s happening. It felt that this movie is not taking the easy way out in pleasing the general crowd and instead, 20th Century Boys 2 chose to present a faithful adaption of the comic origin which takes the effort in capturing the essence of what worked in the pulp form.

Warning: Those who are unable to hold much thought in their brain and relied on visual fest should avoid this at all cost. Those who loved a mental challenge such as a extremely difficult Sudoku game without the help of a pencil and those who loved what had transpired in the first movie would probably enjoy this film more.

Movie Rating:



(Worth watching for the “friendship” with the characters from the first movie and the little revelation presented but otherwise it’s a lackluster bridge for the finale movie)

Review by Richard Lim Jr