Rating: 
Summary: This is a refreshingly original action movie!
Review: Honestly, I never expected this movie to turn out so good. It enraptures you from the start and has a well written and even better acted out story. Even though it has been said that this movie is Matrix-esque, the feeling will pass as soon as you notice that these characters and story stand on their own feet well enough, and with a solid ending, no extremely obvious loose ends or loop-holes, and best of all, no sprinkle-in-a-sex-scene rubbish this is THE movie to see next friday night. Three Thumbs Up!
Rating: 
Summary: A Live Action Anime/ Sci-Fi Tribute
Review: I admit that the majority of Japanese action movies I've seen have been a confusing mix of fight scenes without a lot of plot. Thankfully this movie defies the trend and though it has a fluffy plot, still remains enjoyable and is well made.
Anne Suzuki is Milly, sent from the future to prevent an apocalypse from aliens. She is paired up with Miyimoto, a handsome young gunman who has a sweet side in addition to being dangerous with a weapon. Together they attempt to keep a crime lord from killing an alien and return it to its family.
This movie is really a send up of just about every famous sci-fi movie in the past few decades, yet it still remains fresh and enjoyable. Miyimoto, played by the stunning Takeshi Kaneshiro, is really a live action anime character, tough attitude hiding a sweet heart, brightly colored hair streaks, and volatile temper included. He even has the perfect good looks of an anime male. Anne Suzuki is adorable and sweet as Milly. The CGI actually is pretty advanced and the aliens echo back to E.T.
While it's not artistic work of art, it's a fun movie and enjoyable to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk Heaven
Review: I am in awe of "Returner". This has got to be one of the best guilty pleasures of b-movie dom I've seen in a while and I see plenty of b-movies. This is a movie that blends aliens, the Yakuza, martial arts and time travel into one hodge-podge of action & adventure. What's not to like?
The film opens up with central character Miyamoto (or the Asian Neo as I like to call him) busting up a Yakuza operation of child kidnapping. Gunplay ensues and at some point through thin air appears a teenaged girl who helps Miyamoto finish the job. Later on we find out that the girl, named Milly, is actually a time traveler from the year 2082, a time where nuclear war has wiped out most of civilization. Her mission is to kill an alien whose spaceship crash lands in a nearby mountain. Reluctant at first, Miyamoto eventually joins her on her quest, which will also involve warding off the sadistic Yakuza gang who are also after the alien for their own selfish reasons.
As noted by previous reviewers, this film borrows heavily from other science-fiction films, namely Terminator and The Matrix. Some people will call it a rip-off but I wholeheartedly disagree. What "Returner" does is borrow in a very obvious way some of the best elements of those movies and gives it its own unique spin. It does not try to conceal that it borrows elements of those films but instead pays tribute to its sources of inspiration. The main reason I loved this film was because of how bloody fun it is. The action is non-stop, the effects are cheesy yet imaginative, the chemistry between the two leads is great and in good ol' cyberpunk fashion the whole movie is played out to a killer techno soundtrack.
One need not necessarily like Asian films to enjoy this. As its influences are from American films it often feels more American. It even manages to entertain in between action sequences, with witty dialogue and a sharp sense of humour. I never found myself bored during this movie, not even once. The ending was so over-the-top and visually stunning I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was really seeing what I was seeing. If you love cyberpunk, sci-fi or action films in general I don't recommend you watch this movie, I order you to do so. So bugger off and rent the darn thing already!
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad SciFi movie, even if it is dubbed
Review: I first saw parts of this movie on TV several months ago and thought it looked pretty good. The plot is an old one, one lone time-traveler in a desparate last ditch effort to save the future by altering the past, but is done better than many American movies I've seen.
The most confusing thing I saw was the fact that for what is apparently a Japanese film there's so much China/ Tibet(where much of the future part is set) to it.
The characterizations were mostly good, that Yakuza guy was too comic book for me- watch your back around Miyamoto's boss -she'll get you, and I actually understood most of the story- would have even in the original Japanese (which I don't speak at all).
The fight/ action scenes were very interesting visually, not as badly overacted as some Asian stuff I've seen. The FX were good too, although I had never seen bullets zinging by a person before. The corniest thing I saw was the way the Deegra fighting gear looked- about all I could think of were the Transformers toys/ cartoons, which are also Japanese. Interesting how when a car blows up in this movie it doesn't just go BOOM!,it also jumps straight up many feet.
It's an Asian movie so you see very few non-Asians, all in the future Tibet sequence. I think there were 12 or 18(?) cast names listed, in English, in the closing credits, with a very few other names in other capacities.
At one point Milly promises to come back and help/save Miyamoto, interesting the way that is shown.
I found the dubbing to look unusually good for a dubbed movie, it worked better that the subtitling- who ever did that evidently did not do the dubbing. The music seemed very western to me, even in the closing credits, but I noticed that a Lenny Kravitz piece was listed, in English, so maybe it's all original.
I was happier with this one than most of the Asian movies I've seen, a lot better than some of the dubbed Jackie Chan stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A very fun and entertaining film.
Review: I first saw previews for this film while watching the Sci-Fi channel, and needless to say, I was interested. The user reviews on this website are much more true to the film than the critic's reviews.
I found this film to be very exciting to watch. It combined a well-thought plot, superb acting (minus most of the english speaking characters from the future), creative cinematography, smooth special effects, and fun all into a nice package.
I also agree with the reviews here: Who cares if it takes elements from other movies? Lot's of movies do that. The first Charlie's Angels (a horrid film) completely ripped from The Matrix and M:I 2. So much that it was worthless to even watch, mainly because it was ripped so poorly. Furthermore, while most people consider The Matrix the proprietor of showing the bullets, one should recall Face/Off. John Woo showed bullets coming out of the guns during a showdown scene near the end of the feature. And yet, Matrix gets the credit for it.
This movie does combine elements of other films, but it does so without losing it's own identity. This is an excellent Japanese film and should be viewed by any fan of action, import, anime, or just plain fun.
Also check out "Versus" directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Do yourself a favor and watch the Director's Cut version rather than the completely dumbed down R version. It's a whole different beast!
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I greatly enjoyed this movie. Although the amazon.com description said that the ideas were not original, I found it original. Nothing in it seemed like any other movie I have ever seen, at least not noticably. The story behind it is great, and the actors have great talent. It does remind me of an anime, but if it were an anime, I doubt that it would be as good. With anime, you can make anything happen, but with live action your limited to what you can make the actors, and computers do. This movie had awesome special effects, and if you watch the extras about the sfx in the special features, you will be amazed by how they transformed, nothing into aliens, and spaceships.
All in all, this was a wonderful movie.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best sci-fi movies I have seen in a long time!
Review: I just finished watching this movie and let me tell you I am quite impressed. Especially after reading all the so called "movie critic" reviews of this movie. You know, I have had enough with the stupidity and hypocrisy of your average critic and I am not going to even bother anymore with reading what they have to say about a given movie. It has become obvious to me that a good majority of them are so concerned about what it is fashionable to say or what they think other critics think they should say that any chance of them giving a sincere and open minded look at a movie seems completely impossible. And you know what is the fashionable thing to say about this movie? That it is derivative, that it is only an amalgam of ripped-off ideas from other movies.
Take for example the Amazon.com editorial review above which says that "there's not a single original idea in Returner...combining elements of The Matrix, E.T., The Terminator and Independence Day, plus a dash of Back to the Future". This is basically a carbon copy of what nearly every wanna-feel-important movie critic on the net is writing about this movie (so who is being derivative here?). But I ask them, how is it any more derivative than the movies that they list as being ripped-off? Or any other movie for that matter. By the impossibly high standards with which they have obviously judged this movie ALL MOVIES would have to be considered derivative. 'Independence Day' becomes no more than a rehash of 'War of the Worlds' and 'Back to the Future' a rehash of 'The Time Machine' and so on and so forth. This is ridiculous. They are obviously being unfair to this movie. Yes it does contain elements from the movies mentioned, as well as elements from a thousand other movies, but so what? The same is true of every movie that has ever been made. But this movie is far from being a blatant rip-off, it presents many new ideas as well as some fresh perspectives on some old ones. Overall I found Returner to be a nicely balanced and enjoyable film. It has loads of style, amazing action sequences, an interesting plot, characters you care about and some very amazing special effects. I recommend that you don't listen to what the "critics" have to say (ever) and watch this movie with a fresh and unbiased mind. I am sure most of you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Here's a GOOD TIME film.
Review: I keep reading reviews that say Returner copied from this film or that. Well, all I know is that, for me, this was a pretty impressive film. I don't see many "MEGA-MOVIES", never saw the Matrix movies, not even E.T. way back when. Big blockbusters usually don't entice me. When I stumbled on this one (also recommended by store clerk who knew my likes) I thought it had just the right amount of warmth, with convincing characters and a good S.F. story. I'd recommend viewing in the original Japanese language (with subtitles), the English dubbing was not first rate.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: I purchased this movie expecting a cheesy film with bad acting like most recent Japanese live-action movies. I also expected a movie that borrowed heavily from other movies. But this really wasn't either one of those movies, at least not more than any other movie out of Hollywood.Others have already reviewed this movie (girl goes back in time to save the human race), so I won't spend any more time on it. The acting wasn't bad at all, especially Ann Suzuki's sometimes-serious, sometimes-rebellious character, Milly. The dubbing was also done well -- it was actually worth listening to. The CG and special effects were very good and imaginative, contributing to the plot. The soundtrack was a little inconsistent, and some of the camerawork was kind of strange, but nothing too distracting. All in all, this movie stands on its own as a good sci-fi movie. It won't compare to older movies by Kurosawa, and it isn't as refined as many recent science fiction movies from the U.S. (although much better than Roland Emmerich's Godzilla), but it's still not bad by any stretch.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I really, really love this film! The plot was complex, as were the characters. there wre twists and grey areas not normally seen in kung fu films. Both the lead actors did a superb job, as did the supporting characters. It was interesting, absorbing, and entertaining. A must buy.
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