Review for Gantz (Review)
Friday, 23rd September 2011, 19:12

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Introduction
When the live action movie of Gantz was announced a few years back, I got more than a little excited… for about twenty-four hours. Gantz is an ultra-violent, sci-fi manga from Hiroya Oku, which I managed to sample a volume of a while back It's an intense, fast paced sci-fi action thriller with a cast of morally questionable anti-heroes, a wicked sadistic premise that makes the Saw movies look like The Wizard of Oz, and with lashings of social comment to boot. It also has enough sex for it to remain sealed away in cellophane on bookshop shelves, to prevent it from being pre-viewed.

I first encountered Gantz in the form of the anime adaptation from Studio Gonzo, still available in the UK in boxset form from MVM. It is my favourite annoying anime. While extreme violence is pretty much a given, even in broadcast anime, sex is less so, and Gantz had to be toned down even for the late night slots. The DVD had some of that extremeness restored, but it was still far less than the manga had offered. But the reprehensible characters, the social comment, the sci-fi premise of extreme torment and exploitation was still there. What made Gantz the anime so annoying was that it took all these brilliant ideas and elements, and wasted them all with leaden pacing and horrifically overwritten dialogue. On top of that, as the manga was still incomplete, the anime creators had to fashion an ending of their own for the second half of the series. But, I still love to watch the show, despite the ten-minute long death scenes.

The question is, how do you translate all of this, the social comment, the extreme content, the offensive characters, the sex and the violence to a live action feature film, or as in this case, two live action feature films? The answer is that you don't. You instead make a general audience friendly summer blockbuster, with the sort of effects budget that wouldn't be out of place on a Hollywood production. Gantz without the anime pacing and wretched dialogue may be just what the adaptation needs, but will it still be Gantz without the social comment, the anti-heroes, or the sex?

It was just another normal day, as college student Kei Kurono stood on the underground platform, preparing for a job interview. But then his childhood friend Masaru Kato walked past, and then decided to help a drunk who had fallen onto the tracks. Feeling obligated to help, Kei went to assist Kato, but got pulled onto the tracks just as the express train arrived. They suddenly appeared in a strange apartment, empty save for a large, enigmatic black ball, and a host of similarly confused people. Suddenly the ball sparks into life, with a rousing if distorted anthem. Characters and images appear on its surface, telling the occupants of the room that their old lives are over, that their new lives are its to do with as it wills. It then shows them an image of a comical looking alien, and tells them to find it and kill it. The ball suddenly opens up, revealing cases containing close fitting, black shiny latex looking suits with odd circular attachments, and racks of futuristic looking weapons. There is also a naked comatose man crouched inside, on a ventilator and somehow hooked into the machinery. The next thing they know, they are outside and the hunt is underway. The ball is Gantz, and their lives, should they survive the next 20 minutes, will never be theirs again, unless they can somehow score 100 points in Gantz' sick, twisted game.

Picture
Gantz gets a 1080p 1.85:1 widescreen transfer on this Blu-ray disc, which has come to Manga having visited Madman Entertainment in Australia first. While the Blu-ray format does offer the film added clarity and definition, this isn't the finest Blu-ray I have ever seen. Much of that is probably down to the typical film-stock used in Japan, which tends to offer flatter colours, a higher level of grain, and washed out dark detail, all of which is apparent on this disc. You won't find that trademark 3D pop that everyone looks for on Blu-ray, but on the whole Gantz is a pleasant enough watch. What's worth mentioning is the quality of the special effects, usually what lets Japanese mainstream cinema down. Here the effects are as good as anything that Hollywood can come up with, the Gantz teleport effect is stunning, while the various aliens are brought to life with vivid clarity and realism, with only the Japanese sense of humour in the CG designs marking them out as quirky and unexpected.

The images in this review are sourced from the PR, and aren't necessarily representative of the final retail disc.

Sound
While the visuals may not be the mega sharp and super-clear Blu-ray acme that we are used to, there's no worry about the audio, a thunderous DTS-HD MA 5.1 Japanese track that kicks ass. No seriously, the action sequences in this film are so powerfully represented, so well designed and realised that you may find the audio jolting your posterior off your couch at certain moments in this film. Certainly you will be nudging your volume control downwards if you have any respect for your neighbours. The dialogue is clear throughout, while the music drives the pace of the film, without being particularly memorable. There is also a PCM 2.0 Japanese track if you're still not HD audio capable, while the sole subtitle track is timed well and free of error.

I mentioned the detour to Madman Entertainment, as the US release from Warner Home Video actually has a DTS-HD MA 5.1 English dub, but by all accounts it isn't one of the good ones, not that there are many good dubs for live action.

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