Apparently, millions of Japanese are willing to worship a man in a mask who only talks about his childhood... and apparently, the hero of his childhood is Kenji, so one would imagine that all these idiots would leave Mr. Friend behind and go and worship Kenji instead. Right?Nope. Instead, this cult's followers burn each other alive, blow up airports and have developed a lethal virus that completely drains the human body of all blood. Hey, I'm not opposed to daft plots when they're amusing, but 20th Century Boys pretty much lacks humour, as "mysterious" people point Kenji - the film's protagonist - in the right direction so that he can play a game in which he may or may not get to save the world.Yeah, it's that dumb. And upon figuring out that all these terrorist attacks taking place are being scheduled by the events of a comic Kenji drew as a kid, instead of taking the said comic to the authorities on finally finding where he left it some 25-30 years ago, Kenji instead runs over to a friend's house, digs out his old guitar and jams out in the morning's early hours!But that's perfectly logical, since Kenji once aspired to be a glam-rock star.With a running time of well over 2 hours, I can't recall the last film I watched during which I spent almost as much time looking at the clock. Unfortunately, the sheer humdrum and stupidity of the film all got too much to bear and I eventually turned it off. I now waste even more time over this crap-fest by advising other IMDb users of its sheer awfulness.Avoid.

Good, strange film this.it's tongue in cheek, live action straight out of the manga comics. You don't need to have seen any of the Manga series to tell where to origins of this film come from.the flashbacks are done well, the story is strange but flows nicely, and there is a great soundtrack.Looking forward to the next two films, as anyone who has seen this will confirm, it would have been a very annoying ending had this not already been planned to be a trilogy.This film seems to have had a relatively big budget, according to IMDb and wiki, for the type of film it is, which is good to see.

This story drifts backwards and forwards through time. Its the story of Kenji and his childhood friends who in 1969 and 1970 formed a club, created a flag and something called the Book of Prophecy, the tale of a foul villain who seeks to destroy mankind. Jump ahead to the dawn of the 21st century where at a grammar school reunion they discuss an new cult with a symbol that mimics almost exactly their old club symbol. Additionally strange deaths are being reported around the globe and it looks like the Apocalypse is upon us. Things turn darker as members of their childhood group begin to die and it looks like the cult is very interested in Kenji's niece as the chosen one...as events begin to slide toward the end, events based exactly on the "Book of Prophecy" Kenji and his friends realize that some one they know is "Friend" the head of the cult, and its up to them to stop the mad plans which look to wipe out mankind.Covering a large chunk of the first two volumes of the tale (I know I recently read them) this movie moves like the wind and still feels rushed. So much characterization has been left along the way in the name of telling this truly epic story which covers over 40 years of time. To be honest there were times that I felt lost, more so once the film moves away from the material I'm familiar with and on to the events surround 12/31/2000 date that is suppose to be the end. Plot holes develop and one is left to wonder why somethings happen (why and how did the near infant Kanna come back to the city alone?) To be honest while the film has great performances and great special effects, the script is very messy as is jumps all around and tries to compress the events into a bite size morsel, they've cut out a great deal of exposition from the books and you can feel it.(I was hoping that somethings might have been explained in Chapter 2, the second film, but they're not and thats another kettle of fish entirely). The one thing that bothered me the most is that this is the film of a thousand endings. Knowing that the film is going to end and be picked up by two later parts one is aware that the story is going to stop, and it does repeatedly only to pick up again and again and again. Its like watching half the cliff hangers for a TV series entire season, including fade out, in rapid succession, you keep getting up to leave but the story keeps going. This needed to be a miniseries.Over all its a good movie, but under no circumstances should you watch it figuring you'll get an ending, you don't and as the post credits teaser shows there is a great deal more to come.

First of all-I have not read the manga but I have heard the title before. I will base my review with nothing to do with my knowledge of the manga. Making live-action movies based on manga and comics seems to be a trend in japan. Blockbuster live-action movies like Death Note are good. So hopefully, there will be more good adaptation of manga. I say that 20th Century Boys shall be one of the good adaptation and Japanese movie. This live-action movie broke death note box office in japan. That made me more interested of how this movie will fare. I must say it is worth the hype. It is pretty intense and epic to my sayings.The story: It revolves around Kenji and his pals. They built a hideout and shared stories and stuffs. They made a story. When they grow up, the story they made up becomes true. A mysterious cult-leader called friend enters the world and wants to destroy the world. Kenji and his pal save the world. Not so easy. From there, dark secrets are spilled and they search their brains of what had happened when they were kids-their childhood. The plot is quite intense. I do not know whether it is a good apdataion but as a view of a Japanese movie, it is good.Overall: As the plot is interesting and intense, it makes me want to read the manga which I will sooner. If it interest you, do go and watch it. Stay for the cast and credit to finish and there will be the preview of the second part. I will wait for the second part with anticipation.