K-20: THE LEGEND OF THE MASK

Guy’s unmasked view,,,

First off, I don’t know about the title for this movie. I guess it works if they release more than one. A lot of Asian movies have been plauged by bad titles throughout history but they have still found their place on the white screen.

So what is this movie about. Heikichi Endo (Kaneshiro) is a master acrobat working in a small circus. The city he lives in is terrorised by a theif called K-20 aka the fiend with 20 faces. In the beginning of the movie K-20 steals one of Nikola Tesla’s machines. A machine that can create lightning. We find out that the machine he stole is just a small version of another machine that is hidden within the city. Now security is high and it gets harder for K-20 to steal the remaining pieces to find the larger device. Therefor he frames Endo as the the real K-20. A race starts for Endo where he needs to learn the art of theivery, clear his name, find K-20 and stop him from using Tesla’s machine to dominate the world.

This all sound super exciting and a great plot for a Asian movie. There’s a lot of action where we see Kaneshiro scaling building like Batman and fighting of baddies. This is sadly a very small part of the movie. There are more scenes o Kaneshiro walking in the raining, talking to the poor and falling for a princess. It just seems like they tried to fit to much in to a story that should be more action based.

I’m a fan of Asian cinema and I’m waiting for another golden era of that type of movies. It has been a cold period but this is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s fun, inventive and something that’s different from other action movies.

Guy’s Rating: A step in the right direction for us that love the genre.

Girl's small review...

This movie and Goemon blurred into one movie for me, even though they are fairly different. For one, this movie did not hurt my eyes nearly so much. Still, it seemed like a simplistic story, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, made gaudy by too many special effects and twists.

The one thing about this movie that pulled it up from it's near doom was the acting. It wasn't too over the top, although the comedy bordered on slap-stick at times. The characters weren't overly deep, nor were they one-stop-shops. Other than the ending, which was so cliche and dramatic I wanted to scream, I generally enjoyed their story and interaction.

Girl's Rating: If they make a second one, I will watch it. I guess that says something for this one.