the audience applauded

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If you guys read all my reviews before regarding a japanese movie based on manga. I always make comparison & not happy with the adaptation (except one, Ore Monogatari). But this one, because I never read the original source, I guess its a good interesting sci-fi movie! About a group of human with added superpower versus humanoid super strength cockroaches! (Really?) . I think its really good, with all the cool suit. Fighting scene whatsoever. Its quite enjoyable. Its like watching an anime in live action version. Its so japanese like all japanese movie you ever watch. They have their own style, no one can copy them.

In the crowded 21st century it was decided to green (terraform) Mars so human life can inhabit it. We gave it moss and cockroaches. A crew of selected criminals and others go to Mars in 2599 to eliminate the roach problem. When they get there, they discover the roaches are large, humanoid, and aggressive. Rather than just kill them with conventional weapons, the crew resorts to injecting themselves with the DNA of various insects to give themselves a superpower as told by the narrator in order to make their superpower seem feasible and create Comic-Con outfits. No Caspar Van Diem with a machine gun...which at some point would have been welcomed.When they were not engaged in fighting, they were engaged in boring dialogue. The character building was awful. No explanation of gravity in the ship, no delay in transmission to Mars...which varies between 4 and 24 minutes. This was more science fantasy than science fiction. A lot of heads being whacked off.Guide: 1 F-word or so. No sex or nudity.

OK, here's the shocking truth: this film, which ought to have the English language title of 'Cockroach Planet', is pretty bad. In it, Miike abandons any of the art-house pretensions about which people find to argue and discuss in some of his other work, in place of lurid and batty SF fantasy. At the start it rips off 'Blade Runner' - almost shot-for- shot in a couple of places. The characters are shallow. The central idea is ludicrous. The plot is underdeveloped. The flashbacks do nothing to advance things, can be confusing and, at least once, amusingly bathetic. The CGI can be substandard. The director slips in a gratuitous Yakuza moment, and thinks it cool. There is also a token terrorist announced as a job description, and a villain who is, patently, a fashion victim. The cockroaches, who move super-fast at one moment and can fly their legions, usually stand round and stare at their victims quizzically, waiting for them to gear up before attacking slowly. The evil insects are cute, rather than menacing, and when they grin, look like they wear dentures. There are what appear to be the pyramids of Giza on Mars; I don't know why, even when explained on screen - but that's OK I guess, as we never get close. And of course the science is ridiculous. So I watched this colourful, surreal, and jaw-dropping extravaganza marrying insects and cinematic insanity ... and was thoroughly entertained. In short, don't expect more for your money than you get from all of the above which, as you now know, is plenty: just rush to see it like I did, and be pleased. At least there is no boring John Carter and they are not talking about botany again.

Well, I never saw the anime, or read the manga, that I heard was number one in Japan, therefor it is very popular... But I must say that this Live Action I liked it. Finally the Japanese learned how to make nice special effects, but I think it could be better and upgraded to more modern CGI ... it is likely to be a TV movie as almost all Live Action movies are, so I can let pass the TerraFormars design.I really kind of liked it, so I recommend it.I'll have to see the anime or read the manga, to compare and make an opinion.The worst: it is very long and goes on useless moments in some scenes. There were no fair presentation of the characters. The best: good story, original, good performances (a rarity in Japanese actors whom are almost always overreacting expressions) and nice special effects.8/10 Watch at your own risk ... We are all critics, but must see to give a critic.