Watch 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope For Free

Captivating movie !

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It is a sequel to the first one and this is not a sequel that stands alone, you need to watch part one in order to understand the characters. It is quite a good sequel following up. The pace is fast and intense. With the third movie as a conclusion, the characters race against time to stop Friend's plot to destroy mankind and unravel his identity. I can't say which one I like best as both of the movies have their own plot. I enjoyed both of them and cannot wait for part 3.The story: It starts off where part one ends. Kanna is a grown-up teenager in 2015. Friend is still planning on destroying mankind and has made almost everyone respect him as god. Kanna races to fight off Friend' evil plot and finds dark secrets. I can't spoil much as there are quite a lot of twists. With an expensive budget, you can see some huge realistic sets never feature in Japanese movies. Part one has the expensive sets. Part two, the sets are not as big as part one, is more about the drama and dark secrets. So those expecting bigger sets may be disappointed Overall: It is still good. Those who watch part one and enjoy it, you are suggested to watch this too. Those who want to know about friend's identity, you will have to wait for part three. It has thrill, suspense and maybe drama. But there is no action, and there is no action. This is only for thrills and suspense.

It's been a relatively long wait for the sequel to 20th Century Boys, and a word of warning to those who intend to catch The Last Hope. Either you have to be a thorough fan boy of the first film to have a photographic memory of what developed, or you'd have just recently watched it on DVD, in order to be able to dive right into this film's proceedings. Being a fan of the manga series probably wouldn't help as much since the story would depart from the established mythos, and it's sad to say there isn't so much of a recap of key events and characters from the first film. You have been warned, and newbies better stay away.Otherwise, save for the film starting off with a flashback scene into the 70s, the film is set some 15 years after the climax of its predecessor, where the group of friends are now termed terrorists, and "Friend" is the recognized saviour of the world, having become leader of Japan, and well-respected leader to the world. After all, history is written by the victor, and "Friend" has ensured that the students in school are inculcated into his version of the truth.Kanna Endo (Airi Taira), the niece of Kenji Endo (who doesn't feature in this installment), takes over the mantle as The Chosen One. Just what she's chosen for is quite vague, other than her lineage and what could be deemed as super-powers in her fighting ability, which doesn't get exploited much, leaving a lot of room for interpretation just what her value is to the plot. She suffers from weak characterization, and got bogged down with protecting two transsexuals, searching for her mom, infiltrating "Friend"'s cult camp, and learning some back-story of her uncle and his friends.The other characters of course were the older versions of some of Kenji's gang, from Occho (Etsushi Toyokawa) to Yukiji (Takako Tokiwa), lending again some bewildered moments as they get caught up trying to learn of "Friend"'s identity, and his next scheme. Unfortunately, the narrative's played out in rather straightforward fashion, and before the mid-way mark is reached, you'll expect what that would just be, thanks to a careless slip where you see the initial seeds of the plan being worked on, since the childhood days. There's also a New Book of Prophecy, and rather than come up with some earth-shattering self-fulfilling prophecies like the first installment, it has, wait for it... one prophecy to develop in the whole 2.5 hours.New characters were also introduced, and here's yet another negative point that the film chalked up effortlessly. Many of the new faces just turn up with little background, and you've to swallow it as is. Some are added for (poor) comedic effect, like Kanna's klutzy schoolmate Kyoko Koizumi (Haruka Kinami) and honest, bullied cop Detective Chono (Naohito Fujiki), but a lot of characters were just there for the numbers, such as the Thai and Chinese Mafioso, and well-connected priest Father Nitani (Naomasa Rokudaira). I guess we would only know their extent of relevance come the third film, if they do get an opportunity to show something worth their salt.The only plus point which does get tired after a while, is how fanatical any cult follower can be, in complete obedience to their appointed leader. In this film "Friend"'s aims to cement his reputation, and has his own inner circle of members inducted through specially designed camps. One can just laugh at the proceedings, and especially at the camp leaders in their extremely artificial show of sincerity toward all new recruits whom they want to win over. It's quite scary how uniform they all behave, and their conformity to one another just seem all the more fake especially when someone breaks ranks, and doesn't exhibit approved behaviour.20th Century Boys 2 suffered from your classic middle-movie syndrome, being sandwiched as part of a planned trilogy. Not every middle film can stand alone and make sense without too much reference to its predecessor, and I guess the acid test is whether a new viewer would be able to watch this film as the starting point. The fact is it can't, and with the expectation that this film will definitely come without a real ending, it probably will just frustrate you until the third and final chapter come rolling along. So all you can do for this one, is to sit back after the end credits roll for the trailer of the final film, and trust me, that short clip is equally baffling as this film.I only hope that this series would be worthwhile investing time in when seen as a whole trilogy.

To be fair I accidentally watched half of this film before realizing I was in the second part of a series. At which point I went back to the first film and wondered whether I need have bothered. This sounds like a criticism but is not. Unlike a lot of series the two films blend together seamlessly and you get many flashbacks from the first part.It is a loosely faithful version of the famous manga series. Japanese manga have an ability to take you into a mysterious world and keep you intrigued and with an appetite for more. Death Note was similarly interesting in the way it converted to film and kept this charm. You have to accept that it comes from the world of manga as quite simply most of the plot and characters are larger than life and flawed in a gorgeous manga kind of way.The manga films that don't work for me are the likes of transformers which is taking itself far too seriously but I digress.What makes this series compelling is the connection to religious cults that fascinate the Japanese people in real life. The acting is above average and the special effects work without being over bearing or loud action for the sake of it.You need to concentrate as it weaves like a good mystery novel. The last 30 minutes are excellent and build you up to a bit of a let down at the end but there is enough to make you want to see the last part.

Whereas the first movie was very faithful to the Manga series, the plot in this part is quite different. This is not a bad thing per se, but I was a bit disappointed that Manjome and dream navigator Tagasuki were represented as 1-dimensional characters who are aware of all of friend's plans. Also, there a scene where Maniome basically says what is going to happen next that totally spoils the movie's climax. I believe a lot of people who are not familiar with the Manga series will either not fully understand what is going on or find the movie boring.My friends and I agree that three movies are simply not enough to retell the complex story of the Manga series. A TV show would probably have been a better approach.Overall, I still give this movie 5 stars, because it is entertaining and the few more exciting scenes are well executed.