Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was an early 70's anime series about a group of five heroes fighting against an evil terrorist organization bent on controlling the earth's resources. It was one of the first instances of the five man band that sentai would popularize for tokusatsu near the end of that decade. It was also one of the first anime to find popularity in the west by the late 70's. It has spawned numerous sequels spin-offs and other productions which includes a 2013 live action film that... I really could not find much information on in regards to its production. I mean I have the people who made it, but in terms of why was it made or the development of it, It is a complete blank, I mean it was the 41st anniversary of the franchise and it is an important piece of media history. But I could find almost nothing about this. So does this lack of production history lead to something decent or is it like most big budget reboots, lacking in substance and really anything else.
In the year 2050, a mysterious alien organization known as Galactor has conquered over half the planet and threatens the rest with extermination. Around the same time, the international science organization discovers stones that can empower a specific group of people. Because why not just develop their own things when they can get a macguffin to help them. Anyway one of the scientist Dr. Kozaburo Nambu gathers 5 of these people together as the last stand against the evil organization to save the world.
I do like that this film is not just an origin story, it starts with the team already assembled and fighting against the bad guys. Which is fine in my opinion. It means the film is not slogged down by a whole lot of backstory to get to the main stuff. And I do feel that the film does well to make it clear that this is a world on the losing end of a war with how Japan has become this overstuffed refugee country. And that opening fight scene is probably the best part of the entire film, the use of their powers, the scale of what they are doing. Its a lot of fun to watch in all honesty.
And sadly after that opening brawl, the movie kind of falls apart into being just a generic superhero movie that feels less like a movie about Gatchaman, and more like a film that got the Gatchaman paint job. That big opening fight is something out of a climax to a movie and nothing else can match. Their is reeling your audience in with something big but its sort of the same problem with the ninninger summer movie, it does the climax too early and nothing else can surpass it later. Yeah some of the later fight scenes are okay, the end fights are impressive for the use of wire works during them, but in all likely hood your mind is still on that first fight scene and nothing else really comes close.
And looks wise the movie is kind of mixed in all honesty. They did that 2000's edgy remake thing where they change some of the teams colors, so Jun has gone from white like a swan to dark purples and black and Jinpei doesn't even match his old colors (though I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to match the colors.) But the suits are the best looking thing about the film, since they probably put almost al of the budget into it, the rest of the film just looks washed out and just bleak overall and the attempt of mixing the likes of standard and CG, you can really tell what is real and what was made in a computer. Keep in mind all 5 of the suits together cost over 200,000 U.S Dollars in yen that is over a quarter of a billion yen and it probably could've gone to things besides just five aspects.
And honestly, if the word mediocrity needed a new photo... their would be a lot of images, but this film would be a good fit. The cast does a decent job presenting their characters but do nothing to elevate them. The big waste would be Tori Matsuzaka of shinkenger fame who feels like he has been given nothing beyond the stoic strong leader that the original character was synonimous with, and the rest play their archetypes fine too. Go Ayano plays the cool, sharpshooter with attitude fine, Ayame Goriki plays the strong girl, but modernized fine, Tatsuomi Hamada plays the smart kid of the group fine Ryohei Suzuki is big guy with the heart of gold. It doesn't feel like anyone is doing a bad job, but nothing spectacular either. Except for the main villain Berg Katse, who is likely to put energy into her role, hamming it up in a way that feels so different from what appears to be a more serious tone, but it does help to make the final battle a lot more interesting.
Outside of that though, if you've watched action or spy movies before hand, be prepared to break movie night bingo. Their is a standard spy movie infiltrate an event to get a defector who plans to reveal a major truth, villain getting captured on purpose. Their is some tension between Ken and Joe about some girl they knew before hand who is also now the main villain. Quite frankly you probably would be better doing a drinking game for all the cliches you don't see. I haven't seen Gatchaman beforehand but I don't feel like I am watching something inspired by it, more something with a coat of paint.
CONCLUSION
Gatchaman 2013 has some moments of brilliance, its opening does show a possible good movie but its just a generic sci-fi movie that feels inferior to just about anything else you could watch. The suits look fine against a mixed bag of other effects. It may be worth a watch once for some of the action scenes. But you could probably watch literally any other Kamen rider film for a similar feeling.
FINAL GRADE: D
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