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While attending the Big Apple Anime Festival screening of Initial D: The Movie I saw an awesome trailer for a Japanese film entitled The Returner. 
Thoroughly impressed, this film seemed nothing like the plethora of cheesy live action Japanese films I have had the misfortune of seeing. At first I thought I would have to wait until The Returner came out on DVD, because Japanese films are often ignored by American companies, but I forgot about the multinational Sony, which just so happens to be the distributor of this film. Then one day, I was planning my weekend and saw an advertisement in a local newspaper for The Returner it was playing in New York City's Greenwhich Village! And like the trailer promised I was totally entertained by this film.
Set in Tibet in the year 2084, humans are fighting an alien militia to save the last remnants of our civilization. A young heroine named Milly, played by Anne Suzuki, escapes the war and jumps back in time landing in present-day Japan in an attempt to change history and prevent the demise of humanity. Milly's return lands her in the middle of a local crime war between Miyamoto, played by Japanese star Takeshi Kaneshiro, a street-smart gunman, and a Yakuza leader Mizoguchi, played by Goro Kishitani. Milly must coerce Miyamoto to help chase down the extraterrestrial and save the planet, but Miyamoto is a loner with nothing to care about but revenge against Mizogushi for killing his best friend in the underground organ business. First, Milly must convince Miyamoto she's for real. In the visceral, dark, cold world of the streets, these two fight against the evil and ignorance that will destroy everything and nothing is exactly as Milly thought it was.
This is just a immense movie from beginning to end that, despite being subtitled, held my interest from beginning to end thanks to awesome action, visuals, special effects and most importantly, great story and acting, presenting truly likable characters that viewers will want to see again and again. 
Kaneshiro plays the role of the lone gunman who is filled with rage, eventually discovering that his life can go on and that there can be other people to live for. His emerging friendship with Milly is well done and the emotional ties that are discovered between them are wonderfully portrayed in a truly dramatic style that eventually leaves the viewers with smile on their face. Anne Suzuki plays the tough Milly very well, perfectly depicting a naïve girl from the future that discovers a delicate side to herself and a true connection to a brother-type figure that she had lost in the war. Goro Kishitani plays the evil villain very well, looking to expand on his underground empire through the power of alien technology. In his quest, he steals the show as a cool, calm and collected bad guy, whose laid back demeanor and his better than everyone attitude had me laughing. Kishitani is easily one of the coolest and easy to hate, yet love bag guys ever! And what would any Japanese feature be without an elder to guide and support the young, sometimes, ignorant youth of the story? The old lady, Sha, played by Kirin Kiki, supplies Kaneshiro with his missions and weapons also steals the show, because she is such a bad ass granny type!
Together, through Takashi Yamazaki's direction, The Returner is a wonderful hybrid of ideas from such American hits as The Matrix, Terminator, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and even Transformers. Several plot twists and a surprise ending are in the vain of The Sixth Sense and Signs. Viewers will be drawn in by the action, with some great martial arts, guns and Matrix-style effects, and hooked by a unique story and dramatic ending. With all the hype surrounding so many movies this year, The Returner is one of the few that is guaranteed to deliver one hundred percent!
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