Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Fairly well done light entertainment movie with good computer graphics and retro set-up. Some reviewer says Japanese stole Batman, but I would like to present some facts here. K20 character was created in 1930 by Edogawa Rampo, a Japanese pioneer mystery novelist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edogawa_Rampo This movie is based on a recent novel adaptation by a different author. If you think cape and mask means everything MARVEL, think again and do some basic research before saying anything about "originality". Some other characters like Akechi, and boy-sidekick Kobayashi are also came from Rampo's novels.Retro set up seems like homage to the original author who wrote juvenile fun novels about K20 vs Akechi before WW2, and I appreciate the director's sensitivity.

I've watched this film twice on flights to Japan and enjoyed it on two levels. First, by itself, it is a rousing fun action film--superior to most of the US adaptations from graphic novels. The combination of the CGI vistas with realistic local sets works extremely well: you are reminded that you are in an art deco-influenced alternative reality but the immediate surroundings of squalor in the poverty-stricken lower class sections of the city and opulence in the wealthy neighborhoods are entirely plausible. The action and the fights are great and integrated entirely into the plot, and the performances are solid. The only difficulty is that the identity of the villainous K-20 (and, yes, he IS a villain) is probably too easy to guess, while the hero seems at times too dense.The second level of enjoyment is how the film contributes to an understanding of Japanese culture. The mixed admiration and dislike for the wealthy artistocratic class who dominated Japan during the early 20th century strongly emerges from the film. The depiction of how Japanese people would react to a spectacular, mysterious criminal was also interesting. I could write more, but perhaps someone should try a serious academic analysis. The bottom line is that its fun to watch--much more fun than The Hulk or V--and, at the same time, it is a uniquely Japanese take on the whole vigilante against an unjust society theme. It is definitely NOT a Japanese "imitation" of anything.

American remakes of Asian movies are becoming common nowadays... well, take this Hollywood! "Japanese Batman-meets-Spiderman" pretty much describes this movie. Explanation of plot not necessary.Despite the lack of originality and the absurdity of the story, it turned out to be a very entertaining movie for me. The cast is all-star, and not only that, they fit their part very well.One thing I really have to praise about this movie is the CG. The special effects in this movie was by far the best I have seen in any Japanese films. It's true this is nowhere near the Hollywood level, but at least it's not ridiculously fakey like every other Japanese movies that attempted to create an entire world with CGI.A funny and exciting thriller, don't think too much and just enjoy the movie.

K-20: Legend of the mask is considered a Japanese superhero movie although K-20 is not a superhero, he is more of Japanese robin hood but only more evil. The 2 billion yen movie has the realistic special effects that you rarely see in Japanese movies and its action scenes are breath-taking especially the acrobatic stunts and famous Takeshi Kaneshiro with good musicStory: It is set in 1949 where there is no world war, which is lucky. There is K-20, stealing priceless items from the rich. He frames an acrobat, Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Heikichi is caught and soon escapes. He then vows to unmask/catch K-20 and proves his innocence. The fight scenes with K-20 and Heikichi are stunning with amazing acrobatic stunts. I wish there will more of the breath-taking stunts in movies. As Heikichi races to find what K-20 is going after, it leads to the final battle between them where there happens to be a twist.Overall: This is not to be missed for Takeshi fans or those who are fans of Japanese movies. K-20 may be a little long- the runtime is 2 hours 17 minutes but the plot is engrossing that you won't care about the time and watch how K-20 battles with Heikichi with wits and power. It is nice to see a big-budget Japanese action movie as the past few years, there are mostly Japanese thrillers like 20th century boys and death note.