Japanese Reviews Projects Reviews The Takashi Miike Project (102/111 complete)

Fantasia Film Review: Terraformars (2016) by Takashi Miike

Humanoid bugs against bugefied humans

has recently turned towards manga/anime adaptations, with, mostly, impressive results, as his aesthetics seem to fit perfectly to these mediums. This time, he adapts Yu Sasuga's homonymous, shounen manga, which has sold more than 14 million copies since 2011.

Terraformars screened in Fantasia

During the 21st century, scientists decided to make Mars a planet that could be inhabited in the future. The solution they came up with was to terraform its ground by spreading special algae with the help of cockroaches that would spread the substance all over the planet. Now, in 2577, they realize that the cockroaches have mutated into anthropomorphous, extremely strong and fast monsters. The government decides to send an exterminating team, which fails miserably (the script does not refer much to them). Due to this, they assign a half-crazy scientist named Ko Honda, to assemble a team that can carry the task, and to give them a chance of success, they provide them with a serum that transforms them into some of the most dangerous insects on earth, giving them their abilities. The fifteen members of the team, however, happen to be a peculiar mixture of misfits and criminals, and Honda seems to have a plan of his own.

Takashi Miike retained the nonsensical, action-based aesthetics of the original, focusing on the action scenes and the depiction of the sci-fi environment on Mars. He could not do otherwise even if he wanted, since the characters are too many to focus and analyze anyone, and the script does not entail almost any depth. It is just men with insect abilities against swarms of humanoid cockroaches, at least for the most part.

Despite the lack of actual acting, the cast is one of the film's biggest assets, featuring the crème de la crème of the Japanese contemporary cinema. , , , who, in the role of Honda is the only one who actually acts, although in slapstick fashion, , , Hideaki Ito, and many more comprise a truly impressive cast.

The action scenes are quite stunning, benefiting the most from the special effects, despite some repetition. Furthermore, there are some moments of agony, as the ones with the tsunami of cockroaches, and those where the cockroaches attack en masse, which are quite impressive. The fact that some characters die very unexpectedly is a nice addition to the genre and actually adds to the nonsensical nature of the film, which also benefits the most from Miike's preposterous sense of humor. The explanations of the abilities of each bug are also a nice feature.

” is a very impressive adaptation, evidently directed to fans of sci-fi action, with all the good and the bad the notion entails.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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