Before providing my thoughts on this film, let me first summarize my thoughts of its predecessors.20th Century Boys Part 1: The oft-used "slow-as-molasses pacing with no score" method of Japanese dramas is applied early on, but is somehow devoid of interesting story lines or content while rife with clichés. Even worse, this movie tries so very hard at being epic and dramatic but lacks both energy and interesting content. Basically, it feels like a cheap B-movie with nothing in terms of memorable moments.20th Century Boys Part 2: This film is an improvement over the first one, with a more engaging lead character and a pronounced level of bizarreness. The tone is all over the place, shifting abruptly between silliness and seriousness, but it works because the film is nutty from start to finish. The 139-minute runtime is too long, leaving some dull patches, but it is watchable and has an interesting ending.20th Century Boys Part 3: Yukihiko Tsutsumi finishes off this disappointing trilogy with a second-rate film. It's basically a glorified B-movie from start to finish, with nothing thrilling whatsoever. The story is so fragmented and involves so many characters that it's impossible to care about anything that happens. I'm frankly insulted that these films were marketed like they were gonna be exciting. The viewer will wait and wait for a thrilling high point but all you will get are frustrating anti-climaxes. Sure, there's a big robot near the end, but it's a mediocre payoff at best (just like the first film in the series). The script is stupid too, especially the "don't kill" moral dilemma of one character despite being faced with a bad guy that plans on killing 6 billion people! (Oh yeah, I can't kill him to save 6 billion people because then I would be a bad person too.) Then there's the ridiculous hidden identity of the main villain that has been played up for 7 hours of runtime yet ends on a cheesy, B-grade twist. With an absurdly bloated 155-minute runtime and loads of dull filler material, this represents everything that's wrong with "blockbuster" filmmaking in Japan.I'm the first person to admit that I prefer contemporary Japanese film to contemporary American film. In fact, I have moved away from American films almost entirely. However, the Japanese need to stop toying with the blockbuster formula if they don't know how to implement it properly. These movies should be a lot more interesting and exciting than they actually are. Tsutsumi suffers from the same boring "epicness" of Peter Jackson's movies. Two Towers and Return of the King, for example, begin with 2+ hours of nothing, then attempt to wake the viewer up near the end with some uninspired action. I'm frankly getting sick and tired of everyone associating the word "epic" with bloated runtimes. Movies don't magically become "epic" when you drag them out to 150 minutes. It takes a lot more than that, and if you're gonna make your film 150 minutes long you had better pack in as much interesting content, story, and interaction as possible. 20th Century Boys fails miserably in that regard.

The story is based on comic of the same title ( 20 Seiki Shonen ) by Naoki Urasawa. The comic spanned 8 years between 1999 to 2007 and held out its last secret until the very end. This is typical of Urasawa's style, and I'm not a big fan of the way the story just seems to tease its viewers forever.The movie and the story is solidly planted in '60s Japanese culture, especially kids who grew up in Tokyo around that time. If you're not familiar with what kids culture in Japan around that time was like, you are disadvantaged in understanding the core premise of this story. I believe that the whole concept has lot to do with Urasawa's personal experience growing up in that era.The premise of the story is that the imagination and dreams of the kids that grew up in the '60s becomes the basis for the actual world in the 21st century. Part1 is around 1999, part 2 is around 2015, and this part 3 is around 2017 in the time line of the story. One of the eight kids that grew up together becomes the world leader, and the other seven tries to stop his dictatorship.This is a very dark story that was popular during the first 5 years of 21st century. It's intriguing as most of Urasawa's comics are, but it may have too much of his personal taste in Japanese culture to have appeal to the global audience. My favorite comic of his was Yawara, but for afore mentioned reason, his comics became too burdensome to read. This is kind of a cult movie, and your take on it may vary according to your taste.

A great deal to process now that I've seen the final film of the 20th Century Boys TrilogyIts a LONG movie taking everyone of its 160 or so minutes to tell the tale.The end credit roll and thee story still goes. They end and the story still continues.You can pick up the film with a break between parts 2 and 3 as I did. Its not as bad as the break between one and two. Yes you will have to have seen the first two films.Some of it goes on too long some of it not long enough. I liked it on its own terms (with the allowance of needing the first two parts)How is it? Very Good. Frankly I long ago accepted that the film is a wild abbreviation of the manga and that as a result the film will jump around. I liked the film though I don't know if I like the final bit post credits. Though I can't explain why without not telling you what it is.How is it as one story of three parts?Its an unwieldy giant monster of a movie. Running over seven hours it's both too long and too short. Its a deeply involving tale with a huge cast, both now and then, and enough plot to choke a horse. I think the film will quietly become a corner stone of sorts in some circles with a huge cult following. Its not always successful but it is trying to do so much more than almost ten other science fiction films.I think for me the film completely clicked when one of the characters very late in the game turns and asks if if could be a hero now.(perhaps it was whether what transpired had made him a hero). It was at that moment I suddenly understood what it was all about.I like the film a great deal- though it suddenly occurs to me that one of the revelations makes no sense in retrospect- but by that time it won't matter.A must see with the understanding its a wonderful mess.

The best way to really enjoy this installment of 20th Century Boys, is to quickly break out the DVDs of the previous two films, watch them to jog your memory, before turning up for this one. Given the myriad of characters and the lag between the local releases, a revisit is somewhat necessary since there's very little recap, and the juxtaposition of timelines through flashbacks also provide that additional narrative challenge, not to mention that memories, being memories, tend to be faulty as well, for both you, as well as the characters in the storyline.For fans of the franchise, the wait is finally over. Loose ends get tied up and the greatest mystery of all, the identity of Friend, gets revealed, albeit in a more definitive ending, different from the manga series, that gets played out after the end credits roll, so do not head for the doors anytime soon, otherwise you'll miss what's probably the best part of the entire film.I Was entertained by the first film given the interesting premise, and T-Rex's 20th Century Boys track, but it left us all with an unsatisfying cliffhanger. The second film was somewhat weaker since most middle films in a trilogy are, as the timeline gets fast-forwarded way into the future, with the focus on Kanna, the girl who possesses some ESP abilities which got totally forgotten in this installment. A lot more characters get introduced, and a lot more subplots revealed, some of which didn't actually gel with the main narrative thread, which unfortunately bloated the film into a hydra of ideas that were still left hanging by the time the film ended.So for the patient amongst us, don't write off the franchise just yet, as whatever can of worms Part II opened, Part III sought to address them all. Although it meant shuffling quickly from character to character, and even having Kanna being relegated back to a supporting role, the film picked up speed with the re-introduction of Kenji (surely you can't be expecting him to disappear after Part I, can you?), and plenty of the good ol' familiar faces, though aged now, from Part I.Production wise, the filmmakers do not scrimp on sets and props, with the largest being an invading robot shaped like a ball with two limbs on either side to crushingly stomp all over Japan, never looking out of place should it decide to jump straight into an Ultraman film. The seamless mix of CG and life-action in this film would triumph over that of many movies, as One of the more successful manga adaptations to have come out from Japan, 20th Century Boys is a very different science fiction show put together which tells of consequences from what would seemingly be insignificant seeds sowed, and the action-reaction that we sometimes would experience that would come later in life. Clearly the franchise exhibited that the strength lies in the summation of all the films over each individual installments, which you would find more enjoyable if you approach the last film after quickly recapping the significant events from the first two. Definitely recommended for the fans of the franchise since you're likely to be seeking a satisfying closure.