This Special Edition Blu-ray release from Arrow Video is currently available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com – www.facebook.com/ArrowVideo/).
Japanese director Takashi Miike is famous for making an incredible variety of features in numerous genres. Of course, he’s perhaps best known for creating some of the scariest and most disturbing movies of recent times, including Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001) and One Missed Call (2003), but was also praised for the stirring, gorgeous (and violent) samurai flick, 13 Assassins (2010). Terra Formars, based on a hugely popular manga comic and anime series of the same name, is another curious and unexpected step in the career of this intriguing filmmaker.
One can understand why Terra Formars didn’t get much of a release in North America. It certainly won’t appeal to the average moviegoer and for many (like myself) who are completely unfamiliar with the property, the finished product is completely and utterly bonkers. Sure, the story and plotting may unfold in an traditional manner, but there’s an unhinged craziness to the proceedings that is quite unlike anything that would be present in a production from this part of world. The film definitely has its share of problems, but I couldn’t help but be entertained by all the bizarreness unfolding before me.
In the future, the environmental plight of Earth will become extremely dire, leading the government to begin a terraforming project on Mars. In an effort to make the red planet habitable, vegetation and insect life is introduced. Some 500 years later, outlaws Shokichi Komachi (Hideaki Ito) and Nanao Akita (Emi Takei) are on the run for murder and find themselves taken into custody. Sinister scientist Ko Honda (Shun Oguri) forces the pair to choose between death or performing a government mission. Grouped together with criminals including a terrorist, a serial killer, two Yakuza members, the leader of a child prostitution ring, a computer hacker as well as others in trouble with the law, the group are sent to Mars and told that their job is to wipe out all of the planet’s surviving cockroaches.
Not long after arriving, they discover that the bugs have evolved into a massive, muscular humanoid force ready for battle. The heroes also discover a government conspiracy back home and learn that Honda has adapted their own DNA prior to the trip in a peculiar fashion. Team members are given vials for injections that can briefly turn them into various insect/human hybrids. As mentioned by one of the more dejected characters, “We’re the Earth’s rubbish, being sent in a metal coffin to clean up Mars’ rubbish.”
What follows is chaos as the group come under attack and their ship is damaged, forcing survivors to venture towards an older ship to salvage repair parts and potentially escape. These sequences are absolutely crazy, as characters realize their only recourse is to inject themselves, and transform into a wasp-man, preying mantis-lady and other combos as they fight to the death. It gets violent and bloody very quickly, as Miike has no issues with mercilessly wiping out characters almost out of the blue.
Some of the cast do make an impression with their very over-the-top personas. Still, with the exception of the leads (whom flashbacks provide more info on as events play out), there are so many people involved viewers don’t get enough time to know them all. Truthfully, this issue will likely be more of a problem with North American viewers. To Japanese audiences, all of the actors are familiar and have a long history of playing certain types of roles, bringing those known qualities with them to this film. But for the rest of us, they aren’t as many opportunities to stand out.
However, this reviewer focused on the impressive visuals and the general nuttiness on display as the team take on bug characteristics and get involved in violent skirmishes with enormous cockroaches. Ever thought you’d see a serial killer turn into an insect, have a rear spiracle grow from his mouth and expel gas, and then use the, well, kinda gross power to propel a military vehicle across the desert at a remarkably rapid rate of speed? Or wonder what happens when you inject yourself with too much serum? You’ll see it all in this film.
By no means is this a classic, but it is a fascinating B-movie with its tongue planted firmly in cheek. In some respects, it feels like the director is trying to create a more commercial property for the big screen, yet can’t help but insert his own doses of eccentricity into the proceedings. And personally, I don’t believe that taking a somber and more serious approach would have worked; the movie benefits more from taking a simple, and frankly, goofier approach to the material.
If nothing else, the movie looks incredible. Despite having budget limitation, the scale is still grand and appears much more costly than it ultimately was. This reviewer was particularly impressed with the production design and lighting, especially in the cramped futuristic environments city and spacecrafts. The team also make use of floating monitors and computer screens, which often hang mid-air around the players. Overall, the film has a distinctive look. Of course, the practical make-up effects are also impressive. The big-eyed killer cockroaches and the transformed bug versions of the leads are also equal parts goofy and unsettling.
It’s a very recent title, and as such the image quality on the disc is crystal clear and striking. Images are superbly sharp, and the neon and video monitor-tinged background sets are incredibly detailed. There’s no way that the movie itself could look any crisper than it does on this release. This is a phenomenal-looking Blu-ray that will impress Miike fans.
And there are bonuses present as well. This Special Edition includes a 90 minute documentary on the making of the movie, which does provide extra insight. The first half of the running time collects the director and actors together for various interviews in which they talk about what drew them to the project, the challenges involved, and their histories together. It also displays the technical details involved in making a film with so much CGI imagery and special effects. Essentially, much of the feature was shot in front of a green screen, with only a spaceship set and a city location being constructed. Considering how much was created in post-production, the work looks all the more remarkable.
Some other curious bits of trivia include the revelation that director Miike himself ended up donning on a form-fitting suit for the digital effects team, and essayed one of the threatening and brutally violent cockroaches himself – it’s a fun little cameo for those in the know. Another interesting bit brought to light is that the Martian landscapes inserted into the background were shot in Iceland immediately after principal photography.
There’s more on this Blu-ray, including lengthier interviews with some of the cast members which include extra comments and tidbits not included in the documentary. Additionally, there is also short blooper reel, and multiple trailers for the movie that played on cinema screens in Japan.
Alas, in its homeland Terra Formars didn’t end up being a box office success. Perhaps fans were already too familiar with the existing property and didn’t care for an eccentric adding his own personal touch and condensing the narrative so much. It is an odd production, but I can see it becoming something of a cult item if its audience eventually finds it. Viewers may love it, hate it or be completely and utterly baffled by it (as I was at certain points), but it moves like a rocket and you most certainly won’t be bored by what you see.
In the end, it’s fun to see something so completely left-of-center escape from obscurity and Arrow Video should be thanked for their efforts. The movie looks great on Blu-ray and the release offers plenty of great bonus content. If you go in with the right expectations and just want to see a pulpy, completely surreal science-fiction/action flick, then Terra Formars might provide you with a few yuks.