Reviewed by Tim Robins
All You Need is Kill is an edgy sci-fi anime that combines romantic comedy, psychological drama and action adventure. The film is based on an illustrated novel previously adapted as Edge of Tomorrow (2012) which starred Tom Cruise as a soldier destined to relive events over and again in a fight against alien invaders called “mimics”.
This is the second time-loop sci-fi film released in as many weeks, the first film being Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025). Both make use of the ‘time-loop’ exemplified by 1993’s Bill Murray vehicle, Groundhog Day. Time-loop stories have also proved popular in TV SF with stories such as the episode “Cause and Effect” in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and “The Carnival of Monsters”, “Heaven Sent” and “Eve of The Daleks” in Doctor Who.
But you don’t have to have seen any of those movies to experience déjà vu, because the feeling is built into All You Need is Kill’s structure.
United Defense Force (UDF) soldier Rita Vrataski (voiced by Ali Makami), finds herself living the same day all over again after a gigantic space plant named Dolan starts seeding the Earth with deadly flowers. Awakened, once again, by the sound of her alarm clock, Vrataski decides to fight back against the invasive species.
In her struggle, Vrataski is aided by Keiji Kiriya (Natuski Hanae), another UDF soldier, who is also experiencing the time loop. Keiji has been secretly watching Vrataski’s efforts and, as day follows night follows day follows night, the pair develop their fighting skills, create advanced battle armour and build a legion of helpful robot allies.
As a gaming friend of mine pointed out, it is worth noting that the source novel’s author, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, was influenced less by movie and TV time-loop stories and more by reading an on-line conversation about the experience of playing video games. One player wrote that getting their character killed meant they could develop their gaming skills and eventually succeed in moving up to a new level.
Even the title, All You Need is Kill, can be seen as a reference to video game culture. It has an awkwardness about it that reminds me of the saying, “all your base belong to us” – a line of badly translated dialogue (from the European edition of the video game Zero Wing) that went viral in the 1990s. Today, oddly worded titles are, in themselves, a signifier of video game culture, such as Ready Player One and, of course, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.
Japanese nomenclature can sound odd, or even funny, to Western ears. I am still not at all sure about the wisdom of naming the monstrous plant, “Dolan”. That said, “Audrey” worked fine as the name of a similar species of alien plant-life in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960/1986). “Kill” in the title is a play on the hero’s nickname – “Killer Cage”.
Yūichirō Kido’s screenplay gender swaps the roles of the novel’s two protagonists. So, Vrataski is the heroine and Kiriya becomes her, now male, sidekick. Vrataski and Kiriyas’ relationship provides the emotional heart of the story. Vrataski is fierce while Kiriya is undeniably cute in his struggle to overcome the effects of bullying in childhood. Be warned, the film contains scenes of attempted suicide.
I did find many of the film’s character designs rather off-putting, or, to be blunt, “ugly”. Vrataski’s blazing red hair is so assertive, it almost becomes a character in its own right. But I accept that a teen audience may well find the eccentric character designs really cool – some were obviously inspired by those in the animation, Lilo and Stitch (2002).
Director Kenichiro Akimoto wears his love for cinema on his sleeve. All You Need is Kill’s opening shot – in which we spped along a rolling highway towards a dark, undetermined future – recalls the closing moments of Terminator II: Judgement Day. Akimotio cites David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997) as another influence on his film.
Whatever my reservations about some of the character designs, All You Need is Kill’s undoubted triumph lies in its visual effects, especially its extraordinarily vibrant colour palette. When Dolan begins its attack, searing lines of blood red force scar their way across the cinema screen. The invasion is accompanied by an ear and eye-popping, obsidian, base note, surges emanating from the heart of the creature.
Where blacks and greys represent an assault on space-time itself, Dolan’s scurrying fruit of the poisoned tree, have hellish petals splashed with luminescent, pinks and greens. I understand that the director’s intent here was to remind us that nature can be beautiful but also deadly. He succeeds.
I have been taken aback by some of the negative criticism All You Need is Kill has received. But Akimoto has noted that the film’s production company, Studio 4°C (here working in partnership with Warner Bros.),“don’t really obey what the public is looking for… instead going with their gut instincts of what they believe is the right thing to create.”
All You Need is Kill is certainly a challenging mix of emotional tones and animation styles. However, consider giving negative, mainstream reviews a miss until you’ve seen the film for yourself, at least for this time around.
Tim Robins
Head downthetubes for…
• Manga Mavericks: The Modern Reimagining of All You Need Is Kill | Interview with Kenichiro Akimoto
• All You Need Is Kill by by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Anything that moves is an enemy. So don’t move, just die!; There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again…; Beware the Bitch of War!; Defeat in death. Victory in rebirth.
When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally–the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji’s escape or his final death?
When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally – the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji’s escape or his final death?
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A freelance journalist and Doctor Who fanzine editor since 1978, Tim Robins has written on comics, films, books and TV programmes for a wide range of publications including Starburst, Interzone, Primetime and TV Guide.
His brief flirtation with comics includes ghost inking a 2000AD strip and co-writing a Doctor Who strip with Mike Collins. Since 1990 he worked at the University of Glamorgan where he was a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Media Studies and the social sciences. Academically, he has published on the animation industry in Wales and approaches to social memory. He claims to be a card carrying member of the Politically Correct, a secret cadre bent on ruling the entire world and all human thought.
Categories: Animation, downthetubes News, Features, Film, Other Worlds, Reviews
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