K-20 was the most fun I had in a movie theater in a long time. Yes, there are deeper movies, and definitely more expensive ones, especially on this side of the ocean. But K-20 kicks Spiderman's butt (or any other recent costumed hero movie) any day of the week. Special effects are there, but this is first of all a movie about people.
Set in an alternate 1949, where Word War II never happened, K-20 takes place in a poorer Japan, that bears many signs of the alliance with the Reich. The sets are very well done, imagine a steampunk Blade Runner mixed with post-Dickens, post-Industrial revolution London. This is Teito, the capital of Japan, where orphans roams the streets and the Imperial aristocracy rules with fear and armed men. One ruthless vigilante roams the streets (well, perhaps the roofs): K-20, who in spite of his professed Robin Hoodism is less than loved by the population, who'd rather root for his arch-enemy, the aristocrat Inspector Akechi. Yet K-20 is not the main character here: the hero is Heikichi Endo, who is framed for the crimes of K-20, beaten and imprisoned. How he will be able to escape, clear his name (and save the world, in passing) keeps you glued to your seat for the over two hours and fifteen minutes of the movie.
The retro atmosphere reminded me a little of Chabon's Kavalier & Clay, if a movie could ever do it justice. Parkour lovers will definitely enjoy the antics of the hero in training. Everyone else, manga fan or not, will have fun.
