Returner

Returner (リターナー) is a 2002 Japanese science fiction action film directed, co-written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. It stars Anne Suzuki and Takeshi Kaneshiro, with the former playing a female warrior from 2084, who travels back in time to present-day Japan to prevent an alien race from invading the planet.

Production took place from circa January to April 2002. It reportedly aspired "to be a combination of Mission: Impossible, The Matrix and Leon", and exercised 300 computer-generated shots, as well as wire fu. The film was produced by Robot Communications and was funded by Robot, Toho, Fuji Television Network, Amuse Pictures, Shirogumi, and Imagica.

Returner premiered at Shibuya Public Hall on August 19, 2002, and was released in Japan on August 31. Samuel Goldwyn Films later distributed it in the United States on October 17, 2003. The film grossed over US$11 million worldwide against a US$4 million budget and was the fourteenth highest-grossing Japanese film of 2002. It received generally negative reviews from critics, with most attacking the screenplay and perceived lack of originality, although some praised the acting, action sequences, and visual effects. The film received five nominations at the 26th Japan Academy Film Prize. A sequel was planned but ultimately abandoned.

Plot
Milly is a soldier from 2084, where humanity is on the verge of extinction because of the alien race known as the "Daggra". In mankind's final stronghold in Tibet, Milly leaps into a newly built time portal just before the fortress is overrun. The portal sends her to 2002, where her mission is to kill the first Daggra, who faked a crash landing, and stop him from signaling his invasion fleet.

Milly lands in the aftermath of a shootout in Tokyo Bay, where a hitman named Miyamoto holds the murderous Triad mobster Mizoguchi at gunpoint. Her arrival allows the mobster to escape and Miyamoto takes Milly, whom he thinks he accidentally shot, back to his place. She was saved by a plate of metal in her coat. She tapes a tiny bomb to his neck and threatens him into helping her on her mission. Miyamoto has a personal score to settle with Mizoguchi, who killed his childhood friend by kidnapping him and selling off his organs.

That night, Miyamoto sees Milly cleaning up his trenchcoat on a coat hanger, so he tells her to go back to sleep. The next morning he discovers photos of himself and a newspaper article on his death. He shows these to his weapons supplier Shi, who tells him it's an elaborate trick the Triads wouldn't waste their time on.

With Shi's help, they track down where the alien spaceship crashed, but it was taken away to the National Institute of Space Science. They try to get to the spaceship to kill the alien, but Mizoguchi arrives and tries to take the facility over. Milly is surprised at the alien, it is not what she expected. She hesitates to kill it as Mizoguchi advances into the lab.

The alien uses Miyamoto as its mouthpiece to say it wants to go home. Milly realizes that she has been lied to. The humans and not the aliens, started the war which has been destroying the human race. They started it when they captured and killed the alien. She now knows they must stop Mizoguchi as he wants the alien technology to take over the world. Following the destruction of the Space Science lab, Mizoguchi and his goons take the alien and its ship. Meanwhile, Miyamoto and Milly regroup for the next part of her mission.

The duo again confronts Mizoguchi at an abandoned oil rig, where they rescue the alien. Surviving a huge explosion, a bloodied Mizoguchi threatens to kill them all for ruining his plans. However, his bullets hit an invisible force field. Miyamoto quickly grabs the gun and kills Mizoguchi. Before they can figure out where the force field came from a Daggra craft, disguised as a Boeing 747-400 airliner arrives, having received the alien's distress signal. The Daggra take their wounded comrade and leave Earth. As the future war has ceased to exist, Milly slowly disappears.

Shortly after the incident, Miyamoto decides to give up his life of violence and hands in his guns to Shi. While walking home, he is confronted by a thug whose life he had spared earlier at Tokyo Bay. Realizing that he is weaponless, Miyamoto is helpless as the thug shoots him. The thug walks away, assuming that Miyamoto is dead. Soon after, Miyamoto staggers up and finds a plate of metal similar to Milly's saved his life. The plate has a written message by Milly, telling him she has repaid him. Miyamoto recalls the night Milly messed around with his trenchcoat. While Miyamoto and Milly were asleep, a second, future Milly traveled from the future and slipped the metal plate into his trenchcoat before returning to her timeline. On her way out, she accidentally drops the newspaper article on Miyamoto's death.

Cast

 * Takeshi Kaneshiro as Miyamoto
 * Anne Suzuki as Milly
 * Goro Kishitani as Mizoguchi
 * Kirin Kiki as Shi Zhi Tang
 * Dean Harrington as Dr. Brown
 * Kanata Hongō as young Miyamoto

Production
On January 12, 2002, Screen Daily reported that production on Returner had begun and would wrap in April of the same year. According to a publicist, the film pursued "to be a combination of Mission: Impossible, The Matrix and Leon". It had 300 computer-generated cuts and alleged "state-of-the-art" wire fu. Robot Communications produced it on an estimated ¥450 million (US$4 million) budget, and funded it with Toho, Fuji Television Network, Amuse Pictures, Shirogumi, and Imagica.

Theatrical
Returner had its worldwide premiere at Shibuya Public Hall on August 19, 2002, where it was reportedly attended by 2000 people and the key cast members also gave a "stage greeting". Toho released distributed the film theatrically in Japan on August 31. It was later screened at the 15th Tokyo International Film Festival on October 30, with English subtitles.

As far back as January of that year, Pony Canyon were set to handle the film's international distribution. On August 1, 2002, the official website announced that Columbia TriStar would be responsible for releasing the film overseas. Nevertheless, Pony Canyon would be credited for the film's international release and it eventually received a theatrical release in the United States with English subtitles on October 17, 2003, through Destination Films and Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Home media
On March 7, 2003, Amuse Pictures released Standard and Deluxe editions of the film simultaneously on DVD.

Box office
Returner was a box office hit, becoming the fourteenth highest-grossing Japanese film of 2002. It premiered at number one in the Japanese box office on its release, beating The Cat Returns, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Resident Evil. Overall, the film grossed ¥1.29 billion (US$11 million) in Japan, US$73,060 in the United States, and US$340,920 in Hong Kong, making its global box office total approximately US$.

Critical response
Returner received generally negative reviews.

Derek Elley of Variety wrote in his review that "Kaneshiro is all long flowing locks and smoldering disdain, the visual F/X are only so-so, and pacing [sic] is almost brisk enough to hide the plot holes." Don Willmott of Filmcritic.com gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, calling it "a watchable, if somewhat absurd, sci-fi stir fry." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times said that "A smorgasbord that seems to have been picked out of a Dumpster. It clumsily combines a fish-out-of-water story with bits lifted from sources including the Terminator movies, Star Wars, Starman, Close Encounters, a couple of Pink Floyd albums and H. G. Wells."

On the positive side, Jo Berry of Empire gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying, "So much of this film is 'borrowed' it's like watching a chirpy tribute band. Good fun." Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle offered qualified praise, but also noted that "only subtitles and a few borrowed ideas from the Japan-born video game Metal Gear Solid prevent the movie from looking like an American Film Institute clip show". Since the film features a lack of originality, as Hartlaub pointed out, it "must rely on the strength of its actors, and they're excellent across the board". Manohla Dargis said in her review for the Los Angeles Times: "Like all good B-movies, Returner comes loaded with enough eccentric touches to give the recycling a whiff of freshness and, as is often the case with many above-par follies, it's the cast that takes the whole thing to another level." Jae-Ha Kim gave it a 3/4 rating, calling it "stylish" but even so noted that "we see elements of films we've seen before".

Proposed sequel
Director Takashi Yamazaki planned a sequel to the film after its release, but encountered some difficulties. Thus, producer Shūji Abe insisted Yamazaki make a period piece set during the Shōwa era instead, as he had always wanted to produce such a project. This ultimately led to the creation of Yamazaki's third film, Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), which was called a "milestone" in the usage of computer-generated imagery in Japanese cinema by film critic Tadao Sato.

In December 2023, Yamazaki expressed interest in making a sequel to Returner though he feels "too old" to write it.