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Its 1949 and World War II never happened. Nikola Tesla has just won a Nobel Prize rather than dying in obscurity and the Japanese Empire is an undying aristocracy where the rich sip tea out of bone china, while the poor die in the gutters. K-20, the Fiend with Twenty Faces, steals from the rich and gives to himself. But now, on the eve of the marriage between society princess, Yoko Hashiba, and chief of police, Kogoro Akechi, the fiend frames simple circus acrobat Hekichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) for his crimes. Under arrest and sentenced to death, Endo must escape his captors and clear his good name before The Fiend With Twenty Faces can unleash his evil plan to destroy the entire nation!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
K20-The Legend of The Black mask is a Live action Manga film. A cross between Batman, Zorro & Robin Hood,it stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (House Of Flying Daggers,Warlords & Red Cliff). Set in an alternate reality where Japan wasn't in World War 2.A masked bandit called K20(or the fiend with 20 faces)is robbing from the rich and frames a circus acrobat (Takeshi) With the help of his eldery friend who makes gadgets, he goes undercover to stop K20 and to give money to the poor.
Its quite a long movie,running at aprox 2 hours and 20 minutes and in Japanese with English Subtitles. Martial Arts fans could be disappionted as there's really no martial arts action in the movie. With a really good story,plenty of 'Free Ruinning',acrobatics and fab special effects K20 is a very enjoyable movie. The Blu-ray is stunning with crisp & colurful visuals,cystal clear HD sound and a fab in depth making of feature.Reccommended viewing,especially if you are a fan of action adventure movies and of course the gorgeous Takeshi Kaneshiro!
Its quite a long movie,running at aprox 2 hours and 20 minutes and in Japanese with English Subtitles. Martial Arts fans could be disappionted as there's really no martial arts action in the movie. With a really good story,plenty of 'Free Ruinning',acrobatics and fab special effects K20 is a very enjoyable movie. The Blu-ray is stunning with crisp & colurful visuals,cystal clear HD sound and a fab in depth making of feature.Reccommended viewing,especially if you are a fan of action adventure movies and of course the gorgeous Takeshi Kaneshiro!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's Japan 1949. Because Japan struck a peace deal with the UK and USA there was no World War 2 and Japan is now a rigidly stratified society of have and have-nots. Its peace is only threatened by the master criminal, the Man of 20 (and probably a lot more) faces, K-20. Determined to steal a machine, invented by the Nobel prizewinning Nikolai Tesla, which broadcasts cheap power but he wants to use for destruction to make him the most important man in Japan, as part of his schemes he sets up our hero Heikichi Endo, a circus acrobat and illusionist, to be framed as K-20.
Phew!
I loved this film. Based on either novels or manga (I'm not sure which) which have been popular for some time in Japan, it's directed with a feminine sensibility by Ms Shimako Sato who also wrote the screenplay. What this means in that there's a lightness of touch, a hero who is compassionate (he helps feed locals orphans living rough) fallible good-humoured and masculine without being macho, there's an element of humour and understated romance. There is also plenty of action. When Endo is broken out of prison by local thieves, he is given a book on how to become a master thief. The various elements play to both his intelligence and skills and involve a lot of parkour (the French sport of leaping around buildings) and provides everything he needs to challenge K-20.
The other main players, apart from the masked K-20 and Endo, are Baron Kogoro Takechi the senior police officer in charge of the K-20 and his fiancee Duchess Yoko Hashiba who seems to have reservations about her impending marriage. When Endo rescues Yoko from the clutches of K-20, he takes her to his world, a place of deprivation that Yoko never knew existed and which immediately sparks her social conscience. So we have a three-hander, plus master villain K-20 always waiting in the wings to strike.
There's lots going on in this film which is always fascinating and holds the attention for its two-hour running time (note: not the 2hrs42 it says on the DVD case). The special effects are great, the action is wild, the acting is everything it should be. Don't let the fact that it's subtitled put you off. This is a great action movie with elements of science fiction, super-villainy, comedy, romance, social conscience. Apart from some minor swearing it's fine as family viewing albeit not for younger kids who wouldn't be able to follow the subtitles anyway. That caveat to one side: highly recommended. Trust me, you'll love it.
Phew!
I loved this film. Based on either novels or manga (I'm not sure which) which have been popular for some time in Japan, it's directed with a feminine sensibility by Ms Shimako Sato who also wrote the screenplay. What this means in that there's a lightness of touch, a hero who is compassionate (he helps feed locals orphans living rough) fallible good-humoured and masculine without being macho, there's an element of humour and understated romance. There is also plenty of action. When Endo is broken out of prison by local thieves, he is given a book on how to become a master thief. The various elements play to both his intelligence and skills and involve a lot of parkour (the French sport of leaping around buildings) and provides everything he needs to challenge K-20.
The other main players, apart from the masked K-20 and Endo, are Baron Kogoro Takechi the senior police officer in charge of the K-20 and his fiancee Duchess Yoko Hashiba who seems to have reservations about her impending marriage. When Endo rescues Yoko from the clutches of K-20, he takes her to his world, a place of deprivation that Yoko never knew existed and which immediately sparks her social conscience. So we have a three-hander, plus master villain K-20 always waiting in the wings to strike.
There's lots going on in this film which is always fascinating and holds the attention for its two-hour running time (note: not the 2hrs42 it says on the DVD case). The special effects are great, the action is wild, the acting is everything it should be. Don't let the fact that it's subtitled put you off. This is a great action movie with elements of science fiction, super-villainy, comedy, romance, social conscience. Apart from some minor swearing it's fine as family viewing albeit not for younger kids who wouldn't be able to follow the subtitles anyway. That caveat to one side: highly recommended. Trust me, you'll love it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
From the cover and description I figured that K-20 would be an exciting, swashbuckling, steampunk, alternate-history high adventure. I thought it would be a cross between Arsene Lupin and The Shadow. But it's not. It's long and quite laborious, with not much pay-off.
Set in a mid-20th century Japan where WWII never happened and where social classes are not allowed to inter-marry, K-20 is a thief and a master of disguise (think of the Mission: Impossible with the rubber masks) who steals inventions and artifacts (though we never actually see much of this happening). I figured he'd be the hero but he's really the antagonist. He sets up Endo, a humble circus performer, to take the blame for his crimes and disappear. But Endo and his fellow peasants are not about to just accept this injustice.
With such an expansive premise, K-20 does little with it's potential. At 137 minutes I've seen film almost half it's length with more more action. It's not much of a caper, it's not much of an adventure. This should have/could have been an epic, but it just ain't. The backdrop is lovely when they make the effort, but more often than not the sets are too low-key and in other wider shots they forgot to hide the fact that it's clearly shot in the present day. The subtitle translations are sometimes inconsistent too.
The Blu Ray looks good in 2.40:1 1080p with DTS HD-MA sound. A small amount of extras are included.
Set in a mid-20th century Japan where WWII never happened and where social classes are not allowed to inter-marry, K-20 is a thief and a master of disguise (think of the Mission: Impossible with the rubber masks) who steals inventions and artifacts (though we never actually see much of this happening). I figured he'd be the hero but he's really the antagonist. He sets up Endo, a humble circus performer, to take the blame for his crimes and disappear. But Endo and his fellow peasants are not about to just accept this injustice.
With such an expansive premise, K-20 does little with it's potential. At 137 minutes I've seen film almost half it's length with more more action. It's not much of a caper, it's not much of an adventure. This should have/could have been an epic, but it just ain't. The backdrop is lovely when they make the effort, but more often than not the sets are too low-key and in other wider shots they forgot to hide the fact that it's clearly shot in the present day. The subtitle translations are sometimes inconsistent too.
The Blu Ray looks good in 2.40:1 1080p with DTS HD-MA sound. A small amount of extras are included.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great steampunk
Very good take on an alternate history after the World War 2, which Japan and Germany won in this flick. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Donnar
impressive film
there's a lot of this for an avid Japanese cinema enthusiast. Besides that it's a good action film with good action. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philip Drake
Lol
Good free running stunts and some great martial arts. Looks stunning on blu ray, crystal clear and sharp picture. The acting was bad, some of it just made me laugh out loud. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Golf improver
Manga Mayhem
A superb addition to the live action manga genre. Beautifully realised with plenty of action, super acting and a strong story. Give it a chance - you will love it.
Published 6 months ago by supramaniac121
Enjoyable if a little stilted in places.
A very unusual topic for a "martial arts " film - although it isn't one really. Quite a deep film and on a very different subject to most of those coming out of Asia. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. S. C. Lyons
An almost entirely satisfying superhero film
K20: The Legend of the Black Mask is that increasingly rare beast, an almost entirely satisfying superhero film - and an even rarer one that's written and directed by a woman, Sato... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Trevor Willsmer
Great film
A mix of Flying Daggers and Batman with a retro atmosphere...
You have very good actors, a solid story, suspense, beautiful settings, plenty of action... Read more
You have very good actors, a solid story, suspense, beautiful settings, plenty of action... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Malene
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