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.
