Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' - Movie Review

Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F, a new Dragon Ball Z movie in limited theatrical run. This is an amazing time for Dragon Ball Z fans. As some of you may know, I grew up with Dragon Ball Z. I've always loved Dragon Ball Z, and the Frieza saga has always been my favorite saga. So I was really excited to find out that Frieza was gonna be resurrected for this movie. So in this film, Frieza gets revived by the Dragon Balls. So you may be thinking, but since then they've already defeated people like the Androids, and Cell, and Majin Buu. So why does Frieza have a chance? This film explains it by saying that never in his entire lifetime did Frieza ever attempt to train or get stronger, because he was always stronger than everyone else. So in this film, they give him a few months to train, and in that time he gets stronger, and is now a worthy opponent for Goku, who has also made some advancements of his own. Now last year, the film Battle of Gods came out, and I had a really good time with that movie. I loved it a lot. One of the things I loved about it was how unconventional it was for your stereotypical Dragon Ball Z. Even as a fan, I recognize the cliches in Dragon Ball Z. Goku always has to win. There always has to be, like, these big epic fights. And I liked how Battle of Gods subverted that and gave us a less conventional Dragon Ball Z movie, especially with the ending of that film. Resurrection F is far more of a fan-service Dragon Ball Z film. They've resurrected everyone's fan-favorite villain. In my experience, there are two different types of Dragon Ball Z fans. There's the fans who just want to see people getting punched in the face, and action, and exciting, fun fight sequences. And then there's the fans that want that, but they also care more about the story and the characters and getting little beats right. I think those fans are the ones that love Battle of Gods. The ones who just wanted to see action and wanted to see Goku punch something in the face were more disappointed with that film, and those fans are gonna like Resurrection F more, because this film definitely focuses more on the action. It's a lot of Goku versus Frieza punching each other, and it's awesome. The animation's fantastic. The fight sequences are vivid with excellent choreography. It all looks amazing. But the story and the characters isn't as strong as it was in the last film, and certainly not as strong as it was in the show. And that aspect of this movie disappointed me. I'm not gonna sit here and fanboy over Dragon Ball Z, despite the fact that you may have thought I was going to, because that's not the kind of person I am. I love Dragon Ball Z, and I really enjoyed this movie, and I had fun with it. But it was a bit disappointing for me for a few reasons. For one, certain characters in this film simply do things that don't make sense. Master Roshi fighting Frieza's army doesn't make sense. He's not that strong. It's cool to see him there. I love that character. It just doesn't really make sense in the storyline, because I know Master Roshi isn't that strong. He's just there because fan service. Also, this movie continues the unfortunate string of events that has led Gohan, one of my all-time favorite characters in the entire show, to be the most nerfed, unnecessary side character that gets his ass kicked easily. He has one awesome moment, and then he's just tossed to the side, once again, to focus on Goku being awesome. Frieza was back, which is awesome. He's my favorite villain. Trust me, I got chills watching Goku and Frieza fight again. The fight's extremely satisfying. However, the first 20 minutes of this movie are very slow. The extended edition of Battle of Gods on Blu-ray had a lot of scenes that were removed from the theatrical, about 20 minutes of them. It almost felt like Resurrection F had more of those deleted scenes, except they weren't deleted, they were included, and so it was longer, and it felt like there was a lot more baggage that didn't need to be there in those first 20 minutes. Still, though, this movie was really funny. Akira Toriyama's signature humor is prevalent throughout this entire thing. Lots of off-color, strange, weird humor, and it just works. It's very funny. The characters are also well-realized, for the most part, particularly Vegeta and Goku still have amazing banter with one another. Watching them argue and watching Vegeta get all huffy and upset is great. Goku's hilarious. I love Goku. Piccolo got more chances to shine in this movie than he did in Battle of Gods, which was very satisfying for me, as did Krillin. And Tien. It was great to see Tien kick an ass again. There was more respect given to some of those characters, but I just hate how they continue to pound Gohan into the ground until he's just like this guy in a tracksuit, wearing glasses, and he's just not Gohan anymore. He was so cool in the Cell Saga. This movie also introduced a new character named Jaco that I really liked. He was like this intergalactic policeman of sorts. He was extremely funny, very entertaining, and he also had some butt-kicking skills of his own. I really like that new character. One of the things I'm really pleased with this film and Battle of Gods is that they're introducing new characters that aren't annoying, that are actually very entertaining. They brought back Beerus and Whis in this film. My biggest issue with this movie, though, is unfortunately the ending, and don't worry, I will not spoil it for you. Don't worry about that. You guys know me. The ending is sort of leading you into this possibility, and you're like, Oh man, that could be awesome! That would be like, that would just make sense, like in the show, in the history, and it was like, Yes, do it! Oh, you did that. Okay. The film pulls a really cheap maneuver in the last five minutes that didn't work for me. It was leading to something really epic and very powerful and very different, and they went the safe route, and that bugged me. But there's something to be said about Dragon Ball Z, and I think it's very important. You see, when Dragon Ball Z reached popularity, I was a kid. I was like 11, 12. I was so into it. I thought it was great. Most people in this theater were my age, in their 20s to early 30s. What Dragon Ball Z was about was always extreme optimism. You can be the best at what you want to do. You can work for your goals. You can obtain them. Nothing can bring you down. When we were kids, it was a lot easier to buy into that. Now we're older, and the cynicism and pessimism of the world has started to seep into us. So it's a little harder for us to peer back into that world and accept that extreme optimism that Dragon Ball Z is still preaching to this day, and I've got to commend them for that because it's harder for us now to go back to that place. And I have to remember that when I watch Resurrection F, despite the fact that this movie is asking me to just have fun and enjoy myself, there is a part of me that wants to be like, No, I'm an adult! And then I'm like, Wait, what am I doing? This is Dragon Ball Z and I get to watch it in a theater. How cool is this? And I think there is something to be said about the fact that most of the fans now are older and there's certain things we're expecting now. And I think we're expecting Dragon Ball Z to change a little bit and become a little bit more like how we work now, even though it's still working on that level that we liked it on when we were like 13. Now that we're in our 20s and 30s, I think we need a little more meat in the next film, and I hope they give that to us. Still, I had a great time watching this movie. The action was fun. It was fast-paced, entertaining. It was very funny. There were some new characters I liked. There were just certain elements in regards to the ending especially and the storyline leading up to said ending that just didn't work for me. It wasn't as interesting as Battle of Gods. It was a more conventional and safe Dragon Ball Z film I still had a good time with this movie, though. And if you are a die-hard Dragon Ball Z fan like I am, I think you'll agree with me when I give Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F a B. So guys, if you do see the film, let me know what your thoughts are below. It's currently in a limited theatrical run between August 4th and August 12th. Go see it if you'd like to. And as always, thank you so much for watching. And if you liked this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.