|
|
 This is one of those movies that looks great in the trailer but after viewing in its entirety leaves your expectations unfulfilled. The story involves a young girl from an alien invaded Earth of the future who travels back in time to destroy the first of those aliens in an attempt to save humanity. Once in the past she meets an expert fighter whose out to avenge the murder of a childhood friend who was kidnapped in front of him by a vile gangster who apart from kidnapping, killing, and selling human organs wants to rule mankind using the powers of the same alien that the girl is after. Can she convince the expert fighter she's really from the future and that if she fails her mission Earth is doomed? Will destroying the alien save humanity or will it cause more death and destruction? Can the two heroes team up to stop the murderous kidnapper from using extra-terrestial powers he doesn't understand? You'll find out the answers to all this (and not much more) if you watch RETURNER. Unfortunately after seeing a promising trailer, RETURNER turns out to be just another average post mid-90s Hong Kong style action flick (even though it's a Japanese production). The computer-generated special effects are adequate enough (though they LOOK computer-generated, but that seems the norm for most special effects movies these days), but the science fiction elements never develop into anything more than creating a nonstandard background for a standard action story to take place upon. The actors never display a real sense of awe or surprise at all the incredible alien events that are taking place around them. They simply take things as they come, as if such events are just normal everyday occurances. The head villain even makes ludicrous demands to an alien baby while holding it at gun point as if it's convenience store cashier. The film is best described as a below average crime caper made a little more interesting by mixing in some basic sci-fi, some average action sequences, and some on par special effects. Now for the film's most significant rip-offs. The alien looks exactly like a baby E.T. and like E.T. he is left behind on Earth and starts to get sick. There's THE TERMINATOR storyline where someone goes back in time to change history and stop an invasion. They even steal a scene from BACK TO THE FUTURE 3 where the hero survives a bullet due to a little help and foresight gained from a future newspaper clipping. THE MATRIX is in evidence throughout with the flowing jackets and the supernormal speed tricks of the camera. And in true GI JOE cartoon style, the bad guys can't hit the broadside of a barn (though they CAN hit something as small as a little metal protective plate when worn by the hero, and their boss does have great aim shooting his own people when they get on his nerves!) What works best in this picture is the chemistry of the male and female protagonists. The actors really give off a sense that they care about eachother. The alien special effects, again while obviously computer generated, are sufficiently competent and do at least provide something out of the ordinary to look at in an otherwise by the numbers action flick. Overall, this is just an average action picture made to look like more than it is, and as such is not recommended for those
|
I think this movie is not getting the credit it deserves. Not only is the action great but the story is also excellent. The acting is great too. I suggest that you watch it with subtitles to fully see the acting. Anyway, overall this movie was great and I recomend it to anyone.
well, it could have done with finishing a lot earlier. some nice cinematography, decent bird, but it's bloody awful. poxy dialogue, bits of various old movies shamelessly ripped out (terminator, matrix, back to the future, flight of the navigator- i think they even used some of the props from ET). don't bother.
