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Returner Actors: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki, Goro Kishitani Director: Takashi Yamazaki Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Digital Video Transfer, Surround Sound, Subtitled, Digital Sound Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 116 minutes Studio: Columbia Tristar Hom Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 55 Average rating: 4.0 "Eh...." I'm glad I chose to rent this first instead of buying it. The plot was extremely weak. For the most part this movie was fairly uninteresting. However, there were a handful of very short action scenes that were cool and fun to watch, which is why I gave this a 3 instead of a 1. Do yourself a favor and RENT it first. "RETURNER WAS ENTERTAINING" Returner had great special effects and some pretty cool action sequences, albeit some were so obviously stolen from other movies. I mean, c'mon, if you can't notice that so blatantly, you are blind. But it also had a great look to it, with very different and interesting special effects. That's what made this movie!! The plot has been done, and this one still has some great ideas and unexpected twists and turns - all the way to the very end! And that's a plus. It showed me that this director stretched to at least make an above-average B-movie. And he did. The acting was not as bad as a lot of other Asian movies I've seen, but still was not as greatly acted as movies such as - Hero with Jet Li, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, ALIVE, directed by Ryhuei Kitamura, who also did the Azumi 3-hour epic and the somewhat lame VERSUS. Alive was a much better film by far. Good luck finding it. But RETURNER, though worth watching for it's special effects, comes up short in some facets. (the slow-time action sequences are done the best!) The acting is Ok, but some of the dialogue and storyline lack far behind other Asian films. But it is a step above the many I've seen thus far. But MUSA, THE WARRIOR, is by far the best acted and action Hong Kong movie ever! Hands down. See it, you'll see what I mean. It's like the Asian story of their own The ALAMO. Awesome setting, acting, and action of such film giants as BRAVEHEART. But Returner had some very uniqueness about it, thus saving it from mediocor film making. "Surprisingly Good Flick!!!" Despite all of the references to other movies. This is a really good film. It lacked alot of action, but the cinematagrophy and the villian made up for that. The bad guy in this movie has a sort of Joker from Batman appeal. "Sucks you in" This movie is so interesting and varied, playing kind of like live action anime almost. I have no idea why, but I was sucked into it about 10 minutes after it started. Unlike some other recent live action movies from Japan, this one has a decent storyline and great special effects, with the telltale humor at the right spots. Watching it in English is actually not that bad, as the dub job is really good. Watching it in original Japanese with English subs is, of course, much better. "Acceptable amusement" Lots of action, lots of guns, sneering bad guys, and fumbling-but-finally-successful good guys. I enjoyed watching it, but was glad that I paid only the price of a rental. I will remember this movie for one striking feature. I saw it with both subtitles and dubbing in English. Sometimes the two actually said the same thing, very often they were very different. The mismatch I really remember was the subtitle that said "Damn!" while the sound track said "S**t!" It's a good one to watch when you're already committed to wasting time. There are lots worse out there - but lots better, too.