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Review: 'Terraformars' tries very hard to be a good insect super sentai show

Mina (Eiko Koike) Sorae (Mariko Shinoda) in “Terraformars.” (Warner Bros Singapore)

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 108 minutes (~1.75 hours)

“Terraformars” is a Japanese science fiction action adventure film that’s a live action adaptation of the “Terraformars” manga and anime. A group of astronauts with insect powers are sent to Mars to battle giant humanoid cockroaches for the sake of all humanity. It stars Hideaki Ito (Shokichi Komachi), Emi Takei (Nanao Akita), Tomohisa Yamashita (Jin Muto), Takayuki Yamada (Ichiro Hiruma), Shun Oguri (Ko Honda), Eiko Koike (Mina Obari), and Mariko Shinoda (Sorae Osako). It is rated PG-13.

“Terraformars” is one of the more wacky concepts to be turned into a live-action film, and makes a heroic attempt at practical effects and generating tension. As a result, it veers towards a super sentai (think Power Rangers) treatment, with hilarious results. For a film made in the 2010s, it looks dated and derivative. But it tries very, very hard to be a good film.

Jin (Tomohisa Yamashita) and Shokichi (Hideaki Ito) in “Terraformars.” (Warner Bros Singapore)

Highlights

Interesting insect powers

If you didn’t know about how powerful insects would be if they were scaled up to the same size as humans, well, “Terraformars” is a good lesson in this sort of science fiction. Of course, along with gaining insect powers, our heroes gain insectoid appearances as well. But it’s interesting to learn about the nigh indestructible sleeping chironomid or the fire blasting powers of a bombardier beetle (which is probably not as flashy in real life).

The villanous Ko Honda (Shun Oguri) in “Terraformars.” (Warner Bros Singapore)

Letdowns

No real central antagonist

The protagonists have to battle hordes of the eponymous Terraformars, which are the giant mutated humanoid cockroaches of Mars. But that’s about the extent of their obstacles, numerous though they may be. There’s no real villain for them to confront and battle, and the whole conflict becomes more about wiping out as many of the Terraformars as possible. As a result, you’re not sure how the heroes are progressing towards their objective, since the goal is so ill-defined.

Feels like it was made in the 90’s

There’s a lot of effort put into the practical and the digital effects, with sequences that wouldn’t have been possible in the 90’s. But when all’s said and done, that’s exactly where the movie looks like it came from - the 90’s. The super sentai style of calling your powers and abilities, as well as awful trope of only sending one person to fight at a time, makes it seem like an expensive episode of Power Rangers.

Incredibly over the top

Admittedly, with its super sentai influences, it’s inevitable that there’ll be some sort of cheese involved. But it’s layered on so thick that it seems like there was no writer present to write proper dialogue for the heroes. The perpetual declarations of vengeance, or the constant melodramatic anguish at their fallen comrades makes “Terraformars” seem like a soap opera.

Random segues and plotlines

And then there are the random plotlines that are injected to break up what would otherwise be a group of heroes with insect powers trudging across Mars. It feels put together in a very piecemeal fashion, rather than being a unified whole as a movie. This could be due to the nature of the source material, but when converted to a movie medium, it’s sorely lacking in structure.

The crew of Bugs-2 in “Terraformars.” (Warner Bros Singapore)

“Terraformars” tries incredibly hard to be a good film, but falls terribly short of being one.

Should you watch this if it’s free? OK.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? No.

Score: 2.0/5

“Terraformars” opens in cinemas 14 July, 2016 (Thursday).

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.