Gantz (Live Action Movie) - Thoughts

Director: Shinsuke Sato 
Writer: Yusuke Watanabe
Production: NTV 
Original Story: manga series by Hiyora Oku
Release Dates: Part 1: January 29, 2011,
Part 2 (Gantz: Perfect Answer): April 23, 2011
Genre: Action, Thriller

I was curious about the movie's story. The premise almost reminded me of The Hunger Games because it had a survival game theme to it. Plus, there were a few actors in this movie I recognize like Nino and Matsuyama. So, I watched it.   

Story: Kuro (Kazunari Ninomiya) and Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama) are old school friends. They both end up dead, after rescuing a drunken guy who fell onto the train tracks. They wake up in a room of a building with a bunch of strangers who died. There's a huge black ball called Gantz, floating in the middle of the room and it projects messages of the next target, usually aliens or other supernatural creatures, that they have to hunt them down. They are given weapons and a tight black suit to wear for protection. They are transported to a location near their targets. They are given a time limit for them to kill their target before they return to the room. Each person get rewarded with points for each kill they get.

Kuro eventually becomes really serious and wants to conquer the game, after learning that if he's able to collect 100 points, then he can go free and choose one person who died in the game to be revived. But until then, as long as they survive the game, they continue play it for the rest of their lives.

Thoughts: I thought it was an interesting movie. Mostly because I'm not familiar with the original series and this is all new to me. I'm sure that they made some changes to fit the movie adaptation. And, I'm glad that they made changes because when I looked up the manga, it's much more disturbing than the film. I don't think that I have the courage to read the manga.

Anyway, I liked the story. It's very intriguing and unique. But the problem that I had with this movie was the characters were so under developed. They did talked a little bit about their background, but I still didn't felt any attachment towards any of them.

But it was a watchable movie. Despite the flaws, it was an exciting Sci-fi action-thriller movie that keeps you on the edge. And, that's what I got out of this film.