ebossert Before providing my thoughts on this film, let me first summarize my thoughts of its predecessors.20th Century Boys Part 1: The oft-used "slow-as-molasses pacing with no score" method of Japanese dramas is applied early on, but is somehow devoid of interesting story lines or content while rife with clichés. Even worse, this movie tries so very hard at being epic and dramatic but lacks both energy and interesting content. Basically, it feels like a cheap B-movie with nothing in terms of memorable moments.20th Century Boys Part 2: This film is an improvement over the first one, with a more engaging lead character and a pronounced level of bizarreness. The tone is all over the place, shifting abruptly between silliness and seriousness, but it works because the film is nutty from start to finish. The 139-minute runtime is too long, leaving some dull patches, but it is watchable and has an interesting ending.20th Century Boys Part 3: Yukihiko Tsutsumi finishes off this disappointing trilogy with a second-rate film. It's basically a glorified B-movie from start to finish, with nothing thrilling whatsoever. The story is so fragmented and involves so many characters that it's impossible to care about anything that happens. I'm frankly insulted that these films were marketed like they were gonna be exciting. The viewer will wait and wait for a thrilling high point but all you will get are frustrating anti-climaxes. Sure, there's a big robot near the end, but it's a mediocre payoff at best (just like the first film in the series). The script is stupid too, especially the "don't kill" moral dilemma of one character despite being faced with a bad guy that plans on killing 6 billion people! (Oh yeah, I can't kill him to save 6 billion people because then I would be a bad person too.) Then there's the ridiculous hidden identity of the main villain that has been played up for 7 hours of runtime yet ends on a cheesy, B-grade twist. With an absurdly bloated 155-minute runtime and loads of dull filler material, this represents everything that's wrong with "blockbuster" filmmaking in Japan.I'm the first person to admit that I prefer contemporary Japanese film to contemporary American film. In fact, I have moved away from American films almost entirely. However, the Japanese need to stop toying with the blockbuster formula if they don't know how to implement it properly. These movies should be a lot more interesting and exciting than they actually are. Tsutsumi suffers from the same boring "epicness" of Peter Jackson's movies. Two Towers and Return of the King, for example, begin with 2+ hours of nothing, then attempt to wake the viewer up near the end with some uninspired action. I'm frankly getting sick and tired of everyone associating the word "epic" with bloated runtimes. Movies don't magically become "epic" when you drag them out to 150 minutes. It takes a lot more than that, and if you're gonna make your film 150 minutes long you had better pack in as much interesting content, story, and interaction as possible. 20th Century Boys fails miserably in that regard.

ebiros2 The story is based on comic of the same title ( 20 Seiki Shonen ) by Naoki Urasawa. The comic spanned 8 years between 1999 to 2007 and held out its last secret until the very end. This is typical of Urasawa's style, and I'm not a big fan of the way the story just seems to tease its viewers forever.The movie and the story is solidly planted in '60s Japanese culture, especially kids who grew up in Tokyo around that time. If you're not familiar with what kids culture in Japan around that time was like, you are disadvantaged in understanding the core premise of this story. I believe that the whole concept has lot to do with Urasawa's personal experience growing up in that era.The premise of the story is that the imagination and dreams of the kids that grew up in the '60s becomes the basis for the actual world in the 21st century. Part1 is around 1999, part 2 is around 2015, and this part 3 is around 2017 in the time line of the story. One of the eight kids that grew up together becomes the world leader, and the other seven tries to stop his dictatorship.This is a very dark story that was popular during the first 5 years of 21st century. It's intriguing as most of Urasawa's comics are, but it may have too much of his personal taste in Japanese culture to have appeal to the global audience. My favorite comic of his was Yawara, but for afore mentioned reason, his comics became too burdensome to read. This is kind of a cult movie, and your take on it may vary according to your taste.

dbborroughs A great deal to process now that I've seen the final film of the 20th Century Boys TrilogyIts a LONG movie taking everyone of its 160 or so minutes to tell the tale.The end credit roll and thee story still goes. They end and the story still continues.You can pick up the film with a break between parts 2 and 3 as I did. Its not as bad as the break between one and two. Yes you will have to have seen the first two films.Some of it goes on too long some of it not long enough. I liked it on its own terms (with the allowance of needing the first two parts)How is it? Very Good. Frankly I long ago accepted that the film is a wild abbreviation of the manga and that as a result the film will jump around. I liked the film though I don't know if I like the final bit post credits. Though I can't explain why without not telling you what it is.How is it as one story of three parts?Its an unwieldy giant monster of a movie. Running over seven hours it's both too long and too short. Its a deeply involving tale with a huge cast, both now and then, and enough plot to choke a horse. I think the film will quietly become a corner stone of sorts in some circles with a huge cult following. Its not always successful but it is trying to do so much more than almost ten other science fiction films.I think for me the film completely clicked when one of the characters very late in the game turns and asks if if could be a hero now.(perhaps it was whether what transpired had made him a hero). It was at that moment I suddenly understood what it was all about.I like the film a great deal- though it suddenly occurs to me that one of the revelations makes no sense in retrospect- but by that time it won't matter.A must see with the understanding its a wonderful mess.

helmutty Before the movie starts, there is a flashback of what has happened so far until the third movie. As this is the last concluding movie, it is expected to be in fast-paced with lots of twists coming. Yes, it is fast-paced for a runtime of 2 and an half hours with some twists and in the same time, the director manages to pack some dramatic scenes. That is fair since it cannot get all the thrill but no point to it.The story: It starts off at 2017, two years after the second movie. Friend is still carrying his plan of destroying the world and the heroes are to stop him. The pace moves briskly with some but not all the answer you want to know. Reasonably, I felt the pace goes fast due to the fact I can't wait to see who friend is. With some more clues of who friend is, I decided to wait for the final reveal, not to rack my brain about who he should be. The clock is ticking until the final reveal and all will be revealed. This actually has not much of a mystery not like the previous movies, this goes straight to the point-there is little teasing. Other than that, it is a good movie. The special effects are realistic for a Japanese movie. What more do you want? Overall: 20th Century Boys is one of the best trilogy and also one of the best Japanese movie I have seen. It has a big budget and it made use of it. It is actually one of the few trilogy in Japan, Japan is not a fan of trilogy. I hope more big budget Japanese trilogies will come out but they should be good. If 20th Century Boys can make a good trilogy, why the rest can't?