In Japanese with English & Chinese Subtitles
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Cast: Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Takako Tokiwa, Airi Taira, Teruyuki Kagawa, Naohito Fujiki
RunTime: 2 hrs 36 mins
Released By: Encore Films & GV
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://encorefilms.com/20thboys3.html

Opening Day: 28 January 2010

Synopsis:

In this final film, the year is A.D. 2017, or rather it is now known as “Friend Era – Year 3” according to the number of years since Friend has assumed leadership of the world. Known as “The World President,” Friend now governs the world and rules humanity as a dictator. After a deadly virus ravages Tokyo, a wall is built around the city and its’ inhabitants’ lives severely restricted by oppressive surveillance. Friend warns everyone that on August 20th 2017, aliens will destroy mankind and only those who believe in him will be saved.

However, a movement to stop Friend’s dastardly plans is in motion. The “Secret Base friends” are now fugitives who are active underground. Yoshitsune leads a resistance group called the Genji Faction. Kanna left Yoshitsune to form a more militant group in preparation for an armed revolt, despite the concerns of her surrogate mother, Yukiji.

Maruo now works incognito, as manager to national superstar singer Namio Haru. First he finds Kiriko and then Keroyon, a classmate who's been missing since the class reunion. Otcho sneaks into Tokyo and finds Kanna. Kanna's reckless plan to hunt down Friend with an army of armed Tokyo residents, would leave nobody alive. In an attempt to stop Kanna, Otcho gets a radio station to play Kenji's new song.

On the outside of the wall dividing Tokyo from the world, a man tries to break down the maximum-security border patrol station. He has a guitar with him. He calls himself Joe Yabuki. And he mumbles, "I'm going to see Kanna…"

Is Kenji really still alive? What is Friend’s plan for August 20th? Will the mystery behind the true identity of Friend finally be uncovered?

Movie Review:

The 20th Century Boys movies had been an epic spawning series that tried to stay faithful as faithful to the source material as possible. In it's ambitious attempt to faithfully translate the manga series onto the big screen, it took on the numerous characters, the non chronological story telling method and bizarre implausible elements to tell a story of a guy's childhood gone horribly wrong. It reflect on the sentiment of past childhood and how it can affect each individual's future. It shows the dangers of the power of religious cult and how they are able to turn the absurd into reality (in an exaggerated way). It also revel in the power of friendship, rock music and determination against all odds in life.

Through the three movies, we got aquainted with Kenji and his bunch of childhood friends who promised to save their world from evil in a doomsday scenario that they came up with. We slowly unravel the fiendish Friend’s dastardly plans and the last hope in Kenji's niece, Kanna (who's story was told in the second installments). As we reached the finale, we hoped there will be an over the top finale that would satisfy the difficult journey that we took in following this franchise so far.

But as 20th Century Boys 3 plays out, it lacks the big bang that most last installment would pack for their trilogy. It also revealed the problem of being overly ambitious with scope that it tried to cover. Although it serves as a closure to the characters and event we had grown fond of, there were far too many characters and event going on at the same time to make every characters and events shine like the first and more simplified original movie.

Characters like Kanna, the great hope for the rebellion had been downplayed in this finale. It's much like Han Solo in Return of the Jedi and she had been regulated to run a supporting events which had little bearings on how the climatic finale was to be play out. Given her role was drum up as Luke Skywalker (the new hope), it just felt wasted as her supernatural power and romance with the police officer had all been conveniently forgotten. It also made sitting through the second installment felt rather unrewarding as it would have been better if the movie screen time were used to focus on Kenji's childhood friends instead.

Bottom line, it came to the tough choice of cutting certain characters and event out. It's not easy and it might upset some manga purist out there but it would help the story on the whole if the focus were on some key characters (such as Kenji, Ocho, Yoshitsune and etc) instead. There are some great moments in the manga that chronicle the childhood friends struggles against Friend in depth that would have made great cinematic material for the viewers to feel more for the protagonists but sadly, they were removed due to time constraint. In fact, this great manga series would require more time to tell it's tale in it's full glory and the constrain of three movies might not be able to carry that out. In short, it might have been better if this were played out in a television series instead of a movie trilogy.

However, those looking for a closure and answer to the bizzare mayhem in 20th Century Boys would have their thirst quench after the credits (so don't rush out right when the credits start rolling). It contains the long awaited explanation of the causation of this whole mess. It might veer slightly towards to the silly childhood squabble / aggravation that bears reminiscence the infamous (Chen Kaige) The Promise's Bun tussle. But in this case, it played out in a sorrowful regrets and acknowledgment of past mistakes which are irredeemable now. Yet in it's strange setting, it provides a comforting redemption for those who have done wrong. It's a strange blend of emotions but after following these three movies in the span of three years, it gave a gratifying closure to a twisted journey with the 20th Century Boys.

Movie Rating:



(Finally a closure to a long 'friendship' but there are too many friends to say goodbye to and it diminished the impact of this farewell)

Review by Richard Lim Jr