SYNOPSIS:
Tsukasa's mother presented the couple a tiara, "The Smile of Venus" as an engagement gift. Tsukushi is gazing at the radiant tiara in her hotel room with Tsukasa when suddenly the window of the hotel room shatters and a dark-cloaked figure materializes to steal the tiara. Tsukasa and Tsukushi hastily pursue the man but he vanished into the night. To their bewilderment when they return to their room, the window is completely intact and the place totally undisturbed as if nothing had happened!
Losing the tiara ultimately means losing Tsukushi and Tsukasa must put marriage plans onhold until he can recover the heirloom. Is this a simple robbery or is there a more sinister conspiracy at play that aims to prevent their marriage? And if so who behind it? Tsukushi and F4 travel halfway around the world to recover the lost tiara.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Back in 2001, a Taiwanese idol drama named Meteor Garden created a wave of sensation across Asia and launched the career of then unknowns, Vic Chou, Ken Chu, Vanness Wu and Jerry Yan into superstardom. The drama was actually based on a popular Japanese manga, Boys Over Flowers (Hana yori Dango) which tells the exploits of four rich youngsters. Four years later in December 2005, Tokyo Broadcasting System, TBS for short commissioned a live-drama of their own which spanned nine episodes and a subsequent eleven episodes for season two.
This theatrical version is a spinoff from the television series and brought back the original cast members for the finale aptly titled "Boys Over Flowers: Final the Movie".
One of the glaring weaknesses of this movie version is the lack of a back story. So if you are going in as a freshman, my apologies on behalf of the producers. You are going to wonder why Tsukasa Domyoji (Jun Matsumoto), the obscenely rich egoistic heir to Domyoji Enterprises is so smitten with Tsukushi Makino (Inoue Mao), our average girl-next-door and all the hoo-ha over their marriage. The burglary of Domyoji’s heirloom, 'The Smile of Venus' sparked off a chase across the globe which puts our two protagonists’ marriage plans on hold and well despite a pretty tight and funny prologue which showcases Domyoji’s humour and agile fighting skills, you have the rest of the two hours running time to find out.
Like the Domyoji household, budget seems to be no concern to TBS as the location team travels all the way to Las Vegas and Hong Kong for more rendezvous involving Tsukasa and Tsukushi desperate measures to retrieve the missing tiara. Undeniably, "Boys Over Flowers: Final the Movie" is all eye candy. The charming Jun Matsumoto and the bubbly Inoue Mao is so easy on the eyes that you simply have to overlook the tedious draggy second half of the movie.
Wait a second, if this movie is about four flower boys, you must be forewarned the other three are pretty much missing in the entire movie. Those loyal fans might feel a bit sore but since this movie finale is about the outcome of Tsukasa and Tsukushi’s romance, you just have to be a bit more forgiving.
Ultimately, "Boys Over Flowers: Final the Movie" is a crowd-pleasing movie for the woman fanbase. Nice looking guys, nice clothings and nice scenic locations. The guys on the other hand will be impressed by the flower boys' customised private jet more than anything else.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains no bonus features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer is commendable with bright vibrant colours throughout and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is good enough for this dialogue based movie.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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