By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 17, 2003
The year is 2084 and the human race has been isolated to the Tibetan mountains. Threatened by extraterrestrials who are taking over what’s left of Earth, the commanders send a young girl named Milly back in time to stop the aliens and thwart the threat.
In Takashi Yamazaki’s stylish “Returner,” we see elements of films we’ve seen before. The slo-mo bullet-dodging shots are dead-on “Matrix.” The baby alien captured and tortured looks like it could be a first cousin to “E.T.” Throw in a little “Terminator” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” and you’ve got the makings of what could have been a lame ripoff.
Instead, “Returner” is a very good action film with compelling actors, beautifully directed action sequences and a relatively plausible plot.
Working a long leather trench coat like the Prada model he is, Takeshi Kaneshiro is perfect as the black-clad hero Miyamoto. A hired gun whose life revolves around finding and killing Mizoguchi — a crime lord who exports children to be sold and killed for their organs — Miyamoto isn’t sure what to think when Milly claims she’s arrived from the future to save mankind.
The thrust of their relationship is the driving force of the film. As their trust for each other grows, so too does the audience’s acceptance of their burgeoning friendship. The screenwriter thankfully didn’t try to force a romance between the two. Anne Suzuki, who plays Milly, was just 15 when she shot the film and passes for younger.
That this film is subtitled in English shouldn’t deter potential moviegoers. The subtitles help, but you can almost guess what’s being said by the urgency conveyed in the actors’ voices.
Ironically, the film flows best when they speak Japanese and the occasional Cantonese. When the ethnically diverse cast speaks English during some of the battle scenes, it’s almost as if they’ve become caricatures of the stiff actors from the “Godzilla” films.
Kaneshiro and Suzuki have amazing chemistry together but an action film really is only as good as its villain. As the ruthless Mizoguchi, Goro Kishitani is a comic delight. Yes, he’s blood thirsy and immoral.
But with his blond-tipped spikes peppering his head and the easygoing manner in which he resolves problems (usually with a bullet), he’s a villain you don’t want to die too soon.
Each character has his or her own destiny. That they intertwine so well in “Returner” is something that makes the film work.
