Movie Review – K-20 Legend of the Mask
What a wonderfully refreshing film. Made in Japan, K-20 is an anti-hero similar to Robin Hood that is a mixture of Batman, and the Phantom thrown in. It is believed that K-20 has 20 disguises that he can change into within a blink of the eye. In K-20’s universe, it is 1949, and World War 2’s Pacific theater never happened, because Japan signed a peace treaty with the United States and United Kingdom effectively stepping back from the war. The royal family of Japan is still intact. In the film, Nikola Tesla was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his invention of wireless electricity. A portable mock up of the device is given to a scientist in Japan for demonstration purposes and is promptly stolen by K-20 at the beginning of the film. Meanwhile, a man named Heikichi Endo (Played by Kaneshiro Takeshi) works as a circus performer at a poor circus on the outskirts of town. He is a bit withdrawn and only seems to relate to the numerous doves that he takes care of. In his act, he dodges a barrage of metal tipped arrows while performing flips and jumps that is dazzling. One evening, a man approaches him from a gossip magazine and offers him a job to take pictures of a wedding between the Duke Akechi, a high-ranking police detective, and his bride for a large sum of money. Heikichi was planning on passing on the offer but he realized that he could use the money to help his ailing friend, the circus ringmaster. Heikichi takes the risky job and climbs to the top of the building where the wedding takes place. Just when he takes the picture, a bomb is ignited disrupting the wedding! Heikichi is spotted and is promptly arrested by the police who believe that he is K-20. Fine detail was put into the film making the city that they live in actual look like the late 1940s world. Small gadgets and cars populate the background of the city adding a visual realism. Keikichi’s acrobatic skills are purely Parkour with Keikichi leaping, flipping from ledges to rooftops across the city. The addition of parkour was a believable fit with the circus performer skills of Keikichi and a nice addition. Overall, the movie does give the feeling of a larger than life portrayal of an alternate world and the people within it. It is like watching an anime come to life. If this movie were to be made into a television series, I would definitely watch it. My only complaint is that we really do not get to know K-20 in this film. We only learn about his legend second hand. It would have been nice to see more of K-20’s exploits. Pros: Steam punk / Diesel punk gadgetry from blimps to heliocars, interesting story in an alternate universe. Using Tesla’s machine was a stroke of genius! Cons: The movie could have used a little more action. It is a fairly long film (over 2 hours) but the time does go by fairly quickly. Japanese with English subtitles Rated PG13 3.5 stars out of 5 -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
