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64%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #4,910
...out of 20,698 movies
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After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.
--IMDb
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Review by Mojokc
Added: April 6, 2011
When I first heard that the Gantz manga series was getting a live action adaptation, I was both overjoyed and skeptical. Gantz is arguably one of my favorite mangas of all time. The manga has spawned an animated series and now a live action movie, both of which are good in their own regards, but fail to live up to the source material.
The plot for the movie is fairly simple and straight forward. We start with our movie's main character Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) walking around the train station when he comes across his former school pal Masaru Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama). Shortly after he recognizes his old friend, a drunken man falls onto the train tracks where the express train is currently speeding towards him. Kato then rushes to the man's aid and calls out for Kurono to give him a helping hand. They both manage to get the drunken bastard back up to safety and then realize there's no chance of them escaping the speeding train. They are both hit by said express train and the next instant find themselves in a closed off apartment with several strangers. The apartment is completely inescapable and empty, with the exception of a gigantic black sphere in the center of the room. It's at this point we are introduced to a couple more characters in the movie, including Kei Kishimoto and Yoshikazu Suzuki. From here, the movie takes off on its alien hunting glory. Kato and Kurono soon find out that they were, in fact, killed by the train -- but the giant black sphere known as "Gantz" has brought them back for a little game. To earn their freedom, they must kill aliens that have invaded earth and earn enough points. In order to achieve said kills, each contestant is given a power suit and a small arsenal. This is a summation of the plot - I don't want to risk any spoilers, so we'll leave it at that.
Now, we'll move on to the positives and negatives of the movie. Being a fan of both the manga and anime versions, I noticed several differences. Now, I realize that when adapting one media to another, a great deal of effort and sacrifice must be made. That being said, there are several blatant differences to be found here... however, that's not necessarily a bad thing. In my opinion, the acting is, for the most part, somewhat lackluster in some areas. Emotions don't feel as vibrant as they should, and one tends to lose some of the significance of the roles these people play in the overall story because of it. The CGI and special effects, while not quite "epic", are still very nice and well done. Most of the aliens look very real and the blood effects are well done. Gantz also opted to tone down many aspects a great deal: there's a noticeable lack of gore, nudity, foul language, and mature plot lines. While not a movie-killer, this does leave one feeling slightly jipped on the maturity factor. Pacing in this movie is quite nice - the overall story progresses in a timely manner, with a minimum of hang-ups to flesh out its run time and characters a bit more.
Notable differences from the manga to the movie are in the amount of blood and gore, as well as mature themes. As stated previously, the manga was made for a mature audience and features foul language, bodies ripped limb from limb, buckets of blood, and lots of nudity. One of the more noticeable differences is that some characters are introduced earlier in the movie than than in the manga. Some characters have been changed due to the back-story being too in-depth to give the other characters a chance to shine. Some characters have been omitted all together. Characters were introduced to provide more back-story to our main characters, but it never feels like anyone was just shoved into the mix. Everyone has a role and all the roles are placed well within the story we're given. There are also noticeable changes to the storyline of the movie versus the manga. I know things are going to change when going from manga to movie, and I'm not complaining - far from it. I felt that some of the changes really helped pace the better. The "love" angle of Kurono and Kishimoto was omitted, as well as a huge chunk of the fight scene from the second alien our characters are forced to fight. I could go on and on and on with the many other differences, however, most of them are trivial and really not worth bitching about unless you're a rabidly obsessed fanboy.
For fans of anime in general who are used to such movie tie-ins, this one will be right up your alley. Even if you are someone who is not into anime, I would suggest giving this one a go. I know many people seem to be turned off to anime due to its overall "generic" look. It's hard to argue that, because the majority of anime characters do look the same -- just with different hair styles and colors. When you take away the animation in anime, though, you are left with a beautiful story, wonderful characters, and storylines you can get behind or loathe depending on your personal tastes. The same can be said for Gantz -- when you strip away the manga and anime you're left with a great story and intriguing characters. As mentioned previously, even if you're not an anime or manga fan, I would suggest giving this movie a go. If it floats your boat, perhaps it may open your mind to other anime and manga based live-action movies.
Overall, I feel that this movie is a very nice adaptation of the manga, keeping with the general feel of the storyline and characters. While it's not a complete copy and paste of the source material, it does give the type of experience one hopes for when watching an adaptation of this sort. My score for this is a healthy 7/10.
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#1:
Chad
- added April 17, 2011 at 6:02pm
This was actually a fairly decent action flick. I
passed on coloring books and cartoons back when I
was four or five so I have no idea how the
original material played out, but as a stand-alone
product, this one gets a thumbs up. The only
thing that irked me about it was... look, I
usually don't bitch about stupid decisions in
movies - I know, it'd be pretty damned boring if
the babysitter ran out the front door instead of
up the steps and into the killer's arms. However,
when you've got a gun that can kill the bad guy in
one shot, and you've got said gun pointed right at
said bad guy's face, why would you not pull the
trigger and instead allow him to smack you around?
I can even see that happening once or twice to
heighten the mood, but during every freaking
action sequence? That annoyed me to no end, but
otherwise, I guess a 7/10 is appropriate.
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