Product Details

• Actors: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki, Kirin Kiki, Goro Kishitani, Yukiko Okamoto
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Digital Video Transfer, Surround Sound, Digital Sound, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: February 10, 2004
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00011V8JA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,726 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Returner" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

There's not a single original idea in "Returner", but that doesn't stop this Japanese sci-fi action thriller from being a whole lotta fun. Combining elements of (what else?) "The Matrix", "E.T.", "The Terminator", and "Independence Day", plus a dash of "Back to the Future" (among others), the mayhem begins when scruffy survivor Milly (Anne Suzuki) uses a time portal to leap from 2084--when humans are being systematically wiped out by invading aliens--to 2002, where she hooks up with a gunslinging maverick (Takeshi Kaneshiro) whose swirling overcoat and hair-trigger attitude make him the live-action equivalent of the quintessential anime hero. Together, they thwart a Yakuza psychopath (played with hilariously laconic nihilism by Goro Kishitani) who's attempting to steal a recovered alien spaceship to exploit its highly advanced weaponry. In its race to avoid an end-of-the-world scenario, "Returner" throws in just about everything from the sci-fi anime repertoire, and director Takashi Yamazaki blithely and blatantly shifts from juvenile sentiment to violent brutality, resulting in a clash of tones that makes "Returner" wildly entertaining but decidedly "not" for children. Utterly derivative but worthwhile for sci-fi and anime fans, it's a noteworthy case of clever recycling, with energy and ammunition to spare. "--Jeff Shannon"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stop The Aliens Before They Start, December 22, 2004

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Returner (DVD)

The Earth has been overrun by aliens. Only a small group remains hidden and free. They hope to go back in time to the cause of the war and prevent it. But the hideout is discovered and all is almost lost when a young, and untrained, woman jumps through the time gate to our present.

Although untrained as a soldier, she does know the basics of the mission. An alien ship will crash and the occupant needs to be killed before it can start the invasion. It seems simple enough except that future knowledge is not completely accurate. The ship has already crashed and the occupant has been taken away. Now with the help of a local criminal trying to go straight, she must fight harder than she knows to give humanity a future.

Good action, some nice plot twists, and a time paradox or two all combine to make an old plot seem fresh. I bought this one based on a trailer on another DVD and I was not disappointed. The film is fairly intelligent and the hero is wonderfully resourceful, desperate, and caring. Her character does not fall apart as she unravels what is going on and what she must do to stop it. Worth watching.

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, February 18, 2004

By 

Derek Hofmann "traal" (Mesa, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Returner (DVD)

I purchased this movie expecting a cheesy film with bad acting like most recent Japanese live-action movies. I also expected a movie that borrowed heavily from other movies. But this really wasn't either one of those movies, at least not more than any other movie out of Hollywood.

Others have already reviewed this movie (girl goes back in time to save the human race), so I won't spend any more time on it.

The acting wasn't bad at all, especially Ann Suzuki's sometimes-serious, sometimes-rebellious character, Milly. The dubbing was also done well -- it was actually worth listening to. The CG and special effects were very good and imaginative, contributing to the plot. The soundtrack was a little inconsistent, and some of the camerawork was kind of strange, but nothing too distracting.

All in all, this movie stands on its own as a good sci-fi movie. It won't compare to older movies by Kurosawa, and it isn't as refined as many recent science fiction movies from the U.S. (although much better than Roland Emmerich's Godzilla), but it's still not bad by any stretch.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars highly entertaining and worth checking out., January 13, 2006

By 

kc "K. Reyes" (boston, ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returner (DVD)

Yes, this movie has stolen ideas from other sci-fi films and yes, the characters are a bit formulaic but that doesn't take away from it's entertainment value. I really enjoyed watching this movie and was surprised to find that it was not as overly cheesy as I thought it would be. The characters are likeable, the plot is still interesting albeit copied from elsewhere, and action sequences are not too over-the-top. If you enjoy pure entertainment, then you'll enjoy this film. It helps that Takeshi Kaneshiro is in it too!