It's a really silly,funy movie. Special effects are great and story line is typical manga style.
This is one of those movies where you disengage your brain and grab a case of beer.
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macleodsinclair15 December 2021
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lost-in-limbo22 August 2018Sitting on the couch "Terra Formars" just happened to be playing on my TV screen. I knew nothing of the manga series, but Takashi Miike's involvement - I thought I'll give it a shot and see what he would bring to the fold. The varied career of Miike, churning out films like no other. Each tonally different to the point you don't know what to expect. Sometimes you are picking up your jaw from off the ground, while other times you're left scratching your head and then possibly awe-struck because you're seeing something rather normal. Reading the outline for this film, it seemed like Miike could have fun. So in a way I wasn't too sure what was lifted from the source material compared to what was Miike doing his signature madcap craziness.
"Terra Formars" is downright nonsensical sci-fi pulp. A run-of-the-mill beginning (the dirty dozen in a futuristic set-up on a mission to the planet Mars) succumbs to a smorgasbord of heavy CG, bug morphing accompanied by a informative lesson on the insects the character become, hammy dialogues, ridiculously crazy fight sequences and volatile bug squishing. And I mean a lot of squishing! So it can get messy watching beefed-up humanoid cockroaches, humans and hybrid human-insects with their limbs tenaciously torn off, heads being snapped back and insides seeping out, but this messiness also included the minor storytelling. Characters and their story arches have no real clarity. They're thrown together in such a careless, rushed manner that when the deaths pile up there's little emotional impact. And most of the cast are killed before reaching the hour mark! From then onwards it only gets weirder and absurd in its denouncements, while giving a little exposition to remaining characters. Really the plot plays secondary to the on-screen action; set-piece after set-piece of cartoon-like CG activity.
Watch how the exterminators become the exterminated, as these hand-picked criminals dressed to impress in their space suits are facing something much more than your standard cockroach like first thought; as now they've evolved into humanoid killing machines intent of slaughtering humans. -
gavin694217 July 2016With the space program attempting to travel to Mars, scientists were tasked with warming up the planet so that humans could survive. They came up with a plan of sending cockroaches and moss to the surface so that the moss would absorb sunlight and the insects would serve as food for the moss. Now, a manned ship to Mars has landed and the crew members are ready for their mission: to exterminate the roaches. But what they find instead are giant, mutated, humanoid cockroaches!
Director Takashi Miike is known for having worked in a wide range of genres, from crime to horror to musical and superhero films. Among his best known work is "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer", though he has also become notorious for his banned contribution to "Masters of Horror" and the outrageously over-the-top "Visitor Q". Although far from retired, it seems appropriate that Fantasia is honoring Miike with a lifetime achievement award, and as part of that he is presenting his latest film, "Terraformars".
The story is based on a manga, as well as a short-lived TV show, with a script by Kazuki Nakashima. Not being familiar with either of the earlier incarnations, I cannot comment on how faithfully Nakashima and Miike follow the source material or what new twists they may have added. So let's just look at the film as if it were a stand-alone feature.
The concept is interesting, and the idea of space exploration is taken seriously. Whether this is "hard " science fiction is open to debate, but the writer clearly thought about the reality of what it would take to make Mars habitable for oxygen-breathing humans and how to increase the planet's temperature naturally. The methods proposed do, in fact, seem plausible assuming the melted ice caps could provide enough water. Now, of course, the science goes out the window after the initial premise, but that's another story.
The cityscapes and "flying cars" of Earth are very reminiscent of "Blade Runner", with the neon lights everywhere and the dark, dirty overcrowding. Unlike "Blade Runner", however, this film is wisely set in the 2500s rather than a few decades after the date of the film itself. (If "Blade Runner" was right, we would already have the Nexus 6 by now.) One could compare some of it to "Starship Troopers" because of the "bad guys" being insects, but the similarities are only superficial.
The film features beautiful color schemes, especially on the Mars landscape, which contrasts wonderfully with the glaring, garish neon of Earth. While the aliens (or what-have-you) don't look awful, they don't look great, either. Little attempt was made to hide the fact they are, graphics-wise, little better than something you might see in the latest video game. This is still worlds better than what you'll usually find on the SyFy Channel, but the CGI gets noticeably worse the more roaches are shown at one time. Someone either did not put the time or the money into making this everything it could be. (Exactly how the roaches have evolved into what they have become is less than convincing, bit that is a whole other issue.) After 20 minutes, the plot goes wildly different from anything we have come to expect. We have less of "The Martian" and the video game comparison becomes more apt. Without giving too much away, the story becomes more like a superhero action film, like a live-action version of "Tekken" or "Soul Caliber", though with an insect theme and a Mars setting. For me, the wonderful set up quickly started to deteriorate at this point. (But again, not knowing the original manga, this might be very appealing to viewers who know what's coming.)
"Terraformars" is far from Miike's best work, and far from the best that Fantasia 2016 has to offer. What transpires over approximately two hours is good fun if you turn your brain off and maybe enjoy a few potent libations first (Sapporo, perhaps?). But more discerning viewers who want substance and are sick of the downhill curve that CGI has been taking over the last decade or more this is not the film for you. -
grandmastersik20 October 2016If you're a fan of the ridiculously fructiferous director, you'll check this out no matter how badly it's reviewed. If you're not, take heed: this film is a total steaming pile of dog's shite.
In 25XX (I don't remember the exact date), the human population is so out of control that cockroaches had been sent 500 years previously to Mars, to contaminate the planet with an algae that would - in short - render it habitable for mankind. A rag-tag group of convicts are then sent to eliminate all cockroach life on Mars, by dressing up in Star Wars costumes and injecting insect DNA into their necks, granting them super powers.
Given that the cockroach population must be in the millions - as a minimum - it's a good thing then that our future boffins can create spider-man clones, because guns and bombs, apparently, just aren't ever going to cut it.
Oh, but don't worry, because needless sardonism isn't the reason for such a comment... no, it's because the government already knew that the cockroaches had long-since evolved into The Tick, and just love to make humans go splat!
As you can very well guess then: this film is a stinker. There's not much point insulting the script, acting, dialogue or effects, because the concept itself is stupid already. Well, okay, maybe there is, because had this been made as some kind of sci-fi spoof, it could have been fun, but instead, I just had to turn it off.
Don't waste your time. -
nogodnomasters15 September 2017In the crowded 21st century it was decided to green (terraform) Mars so human life can inhabit it. We gave it moss and cockroaches. A crew of selected criminals and others go to Mars in 2599 to eliminate the roach problem. When they get there, they discover the roaches are large, humanoid, and aggressive. Rather than just kill them with conventional weapons, the crew resorts to injecting themselves with the DNA of various insects to give themselves a superpower as told by the narrator in order to make their superpower seem feasible and create Comic-Con outfits. No Caspar Van Diem with a machine gun...which at some point would have been welcomed.
When they were not engaged in fighting, they were engaged in boring dialogue. The character building was awful. No explanation of gravity in the ship, no delay in transmission to Mars...which varies between 4 and 24 minutes. This was more science fantasy than science fiction. A lot of heads being whacked off.
Guide: 1 F-word or so. No sex or nudity. -
dazzylila16 April 2020When u think Japanese stories wouldnt get any weirder but u are just so wrong everytime. Any point of the movie u just sorta keep asking why youre still watching this but ... i honestly dont know and dont have an answer to that.
Why would people wanna imagine this sort of a thing? Is even more baffling question. Im confused -
FilmFlaneur16 December 2016OK, 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. -
alexythimia7 April 2023This has to be the worst project that Takeshi Miike has been part of. This is cringe on another level!
I felt like i was watching a pantomime with really bad cgi.
The acting is one dimensional, the effects are really low budget and it was simply painful to watch.
I did see the anime and loved it, it had a simple premise, not that original, but it pulled it off really well. The cockroaches were truly menacing and the humans were completely overpowered. It added a feeling of terror and abandonment that the film completely fails at.
The characters are just thrown in our faces with such poorly structured personalities, so how can anyone relate to them at all?
A very lazy effort overall and a massive flop for me. -
fluffset5 July 2018If you guys read all my reviews before regarding a japanese movie based on manga. I always make comparison & not happy with the adaptation (except one, Ore Monogatari). But this one, because I never read the original source, I guess its a good interesting sci-fi movie! About a group of human with added superpower versus humanoid super strength cockroaches! (Really?) . I think its really good, with all the cool suit. Fighting scene whatsoever. Its quite enjoyable. Its like watching an anime in live action version. Its so japanese like all japanese movie you ever watch. They have their own style, no one can copy them.
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bsw037 June 2021Please do not watch this film. If there is a manga it must be better. The special effects are not worth it, the script, and nonsensical ending are not worth it. The bad villain design and motivations are not worth it. If you must waste your time on this film then watch the trailer.
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kluseba23 September 2019Terra Formars is a heavily underrated live action version of a famous Japanese manga and anime series directed by legendary Miike Takashi (''Audition'') and starring famous actresses and actors such as Ito Hideaki (''Sukiyaki Western Django''), Kato Masaya (''Godzilla''), Takei Emi (''Ruroni Kenshin''), Kikuchi Rinko (''Babel'') and Fukushima Rila (''The Wolverine''). The movie plays in the twenty-sixth century when mankind attempts to colonize Mars with the use of moss and cockroaches. A group of criminals is sent on a seemingly routine mission to exterminate the cockroaches and verify whether the planet can now be colonized. Upon arrival, the fifteen astronauts realize that the cockroaches have evolved very quickly and become intelligent humanoids attempting to defend their turf no matter what. An intense fight for survival begins for everyone involved.
There are numerous things to be praised about this movie. First of all, the expert director does an excellent job and really cared about every single detail in this film. The potent cast delivers the goods with diversified performances. The settings, make-up and costumes are very rich, detailed and colourful. The movie is entertaining from start to finish and avoids an unnecessaily long introduction or an overlong conclusion. The film's rapid flow is spiced up with many interesting flashbacks giving essential background information about the most important characters. The action scenes are visually stunning, relentless and diverse. The plot comes around with a few twists and turns. The fact that it's impossible to predict who is going to die or survive in the movie should keep the audience on the edge of its seat. The unique details about the different insects given throughout the movie are very instructive but also add to the story.
The movie isn't without a few flaws. The special effects look a little bit old-fashioned and stiff at times and especially the titular monsters look rather cute than dangerous. The acting performances are overall great but at times stiff and emotionless as the characters rarely seem to care when people around them die. The story obviously focuses much more on fiction than on science, so you should be aware to watch a movie that attempts to entertain rather than inspire.
In the end, Terra Formars is much better than its reputation and offers colourful, diversified and fast-paced science-fiction entertainment that should appeal not only to fans of the anime and manga series but for anyone who likes spectacular kaiju movies such as ''Godzilla''. Don't hesitate to watch this movie and evaluate it fairly to give a potential sequel a chance. -
kosmasp4 May 2017So yeah it's a Miike movie, but it also feels almost normal. Kind of formulaic in a way. Something you can sort of predict and see where it's going. Which is a weird thing to say about a Miike movie. But here we are (again). It's still fun, if you let yourself into it and just enjoy it for what it is (Miike light?).
So just don't expect this to go far out (even though it is mainly in space or beyond) and just take the weird character mix. This is almost like a film like "Man with the Iron Fist". The one RZA made, which is kind of a dream some Teenagers might have had. You know, throw in some ridiculous characters, let them do their thing. It's way funnier than the one RZA made of course, but still not masterpiece and certainly not something Miike fans might have been hoping for ... -
Initially when I sat down to watch the 2016 movie "Terra Formars" from director Takashi Miike, I must admit that I was expecting a bit more than what the movie turned out to be. Why? Well, because this was directed by the legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike, of course.
Sure, "Terra Formars" was a watchable movie, but it was hardly among Takashi Miike's best work, not even by a long shot.
It was the storyline told in "Terra Formars", as written by Kazuki Nakashima, that didn't really sit well with me. Sure, the concept of colonizing Mars was interesting, but the whole bug vs. Bug concept was one that just was a bit too far out there.
Visually then "Terra Formars" was actually rather interesting. The CGI was good and the visual effects for the transformed hybrids of human/insect was actually interesting to look at, and it had a lot of nice details to it. However, again, the concept was just one that didn't really find a base of approval in my liking. And having great visuals can only do so much when you don't have a fully working storyline and script.
The acting in the movie was adequate, though I can't really point out any particular performances to be memorable or outstanding though.
All in all, then "Terra Formars" was a watchable, albeit somewhat quite far out there action sci-fi movie from Takashi Miike. The movie is also listed as horror here on IMDb. Well, there weren't actually much of anything horror about "Terra Formars".
My rating of "Terra Formars" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars. This was, however, hardly a movie that I will be watching a second time. -
continuumx17 March 2023This is adapted from the manga of the same name. The story in the manga continues well past where this movie stops. That means that there are a lot of things that are set up here but not resolved. The main storyline is not revolved. I get that it is part of a longer story but a movie needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. It needs to be able to stand on its own.
The effects for this are a real mixed bag. The sci-fi spaceship sets look really good. The CGI for the monsters looks really dated and poor. The costumes for the bug transformations mostly look terrible. There are a lot of characters but most of them are only there to get killed and get no development. The movie doesn't have much of a story. It's not one of those movies where nothing happens. Something is happening all of the time. There just isn't much of a through line. There's a not a lot of rhyme or reason to some of it. It really feels like it's condensed from a longer story and sometimes coherence suffers as a result. As for the ending, it doesn't have one as I mentioned before. It just sequel baits and then stops. This one flopped at the box office so that sequel is probably not coming. -
mesaxi20 April 2024I checked this out after reading the synopsis. I was hoping this would have some cool sci-fi ideas or something, but this is Sci-Fi like Dragonball Z is Sci-Fi. It's fun and imaginative at times, but it's absolute nonsense.
The basic premise is that we terraformed mars with moss and cockroaches, but the roaches evolved into massive humanoid beings whose only evolutionary purpose seems to be punching people's heads off. Luckily the humans have serums they inject themselves with that imbue them with the advantages of certain insects, but how a child might think of it where it's like very specific superpowers.
It's entertaining in a silly kind of way, but it's incredibly stupid. -
namstonk22 October 2021Some reviewers have taken this movie far too seriously and read far too much into the it.
So imagine an 80's kids cartoon does The Breakfast Club with the plot of Aliens, all with a modern take. That's basically it. Plus being as it's Japanese you get crazy fight scenes with insects, bonkers daft and nothing to trouble the brain. -
Billiam-410 April 2022This madcap movie is a fireworks of CGI effects and action, but the many twists in its narrative (and in logic) are devoid of any credulity and thus have no impact; it may all be tongue-in-cheek, but you'd never notice it.
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I'll admit up front that I am a fan of Takashi Miike. That's not to say he hasn't made a movie that I wasn't a huge fan of but for the most part I've been satisfied with the films I've seen that he's made. Add TERRA FORMERS to that list.
Based on the Manga of the same name the story takes place in the future where the population of Earth is so large that scientists are looking at colonizing Mars. In an effort to alter the makeup of the planet they send out a form of cockroach that will change the planet to make it hospitable to humans, altering the air and land on the planet.
500 years later in 2599 a new project is set in motion. A team is selected to rid the planet of these cockroaches in order for humans to take it for themselves. The team is formed of various criminals, individuals who if killed will not be missed by anyone. In addition to that each one has been genetically transformed to align with different species of insects to help in their conquering Mars.
When they arrive they discover that the cockroaches are not what they expect, no tiny bugs crawling along waiting to be stepped on. Instead the roaches have grown and morphed into humanoid form, stand about 8 feet tall and aren't going to go without a fight. Members change, members fight, members die and in the end...well you'll have to watch to discover the ending.
Along the way the effects reign supreme here with some amazing visuals showing that the US is not the only group of film makers that can do this sort of thing and do it right. Miike combines a solid science fiction story with the effects to make it not only an interesting film but an action packed one as well.
The depth of story is amazing and worth noting here. This isn't as simple at it seems at the start with government plots going on beneath the surface, characters who aren't who or what they seem to be and the roaches not being what is expected either. All of this combines to make a story well worth enjoying.
Arrow is releasing this film and as is always the case with them they've done an amazing job. The film is offered in 1080p hi def and looks great. The extras include a making of feature length documentary, extended cast interviews, footage from the 2016 Japanese premiere, outtakes, an image gallery, the theatrical and teaser trailers, a reversible sleeve and for the first pressing only a fully illustrated collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Tom Mes.
If you're a fan of Miike then you'll find this an absolute must for your collection. If you enjoy science fiction then this is one to add to your collection as well. In any event this is a movie to be enjoyed with repeat viewings. I know I'll be doing so. -
KikyNez2 November 2016Well, I never saw the anime, or read the manga, that I heard was number one in Japan, therefor it is very popular... But I must say that this Live Action I liked it. Finally the Japanese learned how to make nice special effects, but I think it could be better and upgraded to more modern CGI ... it is likely to be a TV movie as almost all Live Action movies are, so I can let pass the TerraFormars design.
I really kind of liked it, so I recommend it.
I'll have to see the anime or read the manga, to compare and make an opinion.
The worst: it is very long and goes on useless moments in some scenes. There were no fair presentation of the characters. The best: good story, original, good performances (a rarity in Japanese actors whom are almost always overreacting expressions) and nice special effects.
8/10 Watch at your own risk ... We are all critics, but must see to give a critic. -
mmsdekmhdey24 January 2021It's very good emoji movie Very good emotional well-being