Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F Recap/Impressions

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Dragon Ball Z was one of the biggest part of a lot of childhoods for those that grew up in the late ’90s and early ’00s, so the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods last year in theaters was a major treat. One year later, the series is in full force again with a brand new anime in Dragon Ball Super and now the US release of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F in theaters.

Before reading any further, naturally there will be plenty of spoilers in this article, so if you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend you stop reading now, so you can experience the movie fresh when you see it.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is the second of the line of new movies that released in theaters and has seen a larger number of theaters showing the film, though still not getting a full wide release. The big appeal this time is that of the return of Frieza, the most iconic villain the series has ever had.

The movie starts in quite the strange way with this area that doesn’t even seem like it would fit in the Dragon Ball Z universe. Stuffed animals and fairies frolic all around a field of flowers beating drums and just genuinely being happy. Then we pay up and see a cocoon of sorts hanging from a tree that has Frieza trapped within it in his last form we saw him when Trunks killed him.

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We then cut to a ship like the ones we saw from Frieza back on Namek that holds the new leader of the Frieza Force named Sorbet. We learn that the Frieza Force is still in tact in some capacity, ruling with an iron fist as always. They are trying to find the remaining Namekian survivors to use their Dragon Balls, but with them not being able to find New Namek, they instead head to Earth to find the Dragon Balls.

Of course, Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu were tasked to find the Dragon balls for Sorbet and upon getting all 7, they summon Shenron and Sorbet wishes for Frieza to be brought back. Shenron reminds him that Frieza is in pieces and that bringing him back won’t actually revive him. He doesn’t care, as they have a plan to revive and rejuvenate him, so he makes the wish anyways. Sorbet is shocked to learn he can have a second wish, but Shu thinks on his feet and yells for 1 million Zeni. Sorbet is mad, but happy enough they got Frieza back and retreats to space.

Taking place a few years after Battle of the Gods, the Earth has remained peaceful as we see calming moments like Piccolo babysitting baby Pan and such. However, trouble is coming soon and a newcomer to the series named Jaco shows up on Earth and wants to speak with Bulma. Jaco the Galactic Patroller is actually another Akira Toriyama character that had his own series that involved Bulma’s sister Tights as well. Jaco manages to steal the show during a lot of his scenes and was a very hilarious and natural addition to the movie in many ways.

Jaco warns Bulma that Frieza is returning and she must gather all the help they can get. Bulma realizes they really need Goku and Vegeta, but the problem is they happen to be training with Whis. Bulma tries to entice him with a treat, but they get no response.

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Goku and Vegeta are training hard with Whis, where he even tells them each of their flaws and how they could literally be unstoppable if they worked together. Beerus wakes up and finds out that Whis was brought to Earth this time with a delectable treat known as pizza.

With Goku and Vegeta pre-occupied and Whis not responding to calls from Bulma, this meant they had to get together a team of the best that they could find without them, which had an interesting roster.

Krillin leads the team by getting everyone together after we see a funny scene with him as a cop, which leads to him getting 18 to shave his hair off for the classic Krillin look. While it seems dumb to leave 18 at home against a strong opponent, Krillin’s reasoning made sense, as she needed to protect their daughter.

Gohan of course shows up, though wearing a random green track suit. They even comment on this, as Krillin is wearing his gi, but Gohan says he was in a hurry and couldn’t find his, so this was the next best thing. Piccolo is also there naturally. Krillin  also brings along Master Roshi himself, with Tien arriving to fight as well. Jaco is also forced into fighting thanks to Bulma, which leads to some classic moments.

Tien even makes a comment about him leaving Chiaotzu and Yamcha at home, which got one of the biggest laughs of all at my showing, due to Yamcha’s incompetence as a rule. Gohan mentions that they purposely kept Goten and Trunks away from the fight, but this was rather disappointing. I really wanted to see Gotenks show up and have some fun here. The glaring omission is that of Majin Buu, who without a doubt could have been a big help here against the scrubs and likely even Frieza at the start.

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After the team is gathered, we see a giant fight between a horde of Frieza Force henceman and the good guys. For the most part, they make quick work of these, though a few struggle at times. Gohan is probably the most dominant, though he made the kind of frustrating remark that he didn’t even know if he could go Super Saiyan anymore at first. As a big Gohan fan, that kind of bugged me personally.

All of the characters get to show off their signature moves with Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon, Tien’s Tri-Beam, Krillin’s Destructo Disc, and Master Roshi’s Kamehameha. The best part of this fight overall was actually getting to see Roshi fight, with him utilizing his super bulked up from the original Dragon Ball series.

After defeating nearly all of Frieza’s men, Sorbet sends Shisami after Piccolo and he actually gives him a good fight. Gohan comes in and helps and takes him down rather easily after going Super Saiyan finally. Frieza is disappointed by these pathetic soldiers and obliterates all of them with one blast, as the good guys were merely knocking them unconscious for the most part. He then, while only in his first form, moves forward and essentially puts Gohan one step away from death in one swift move. Piccolo has to use a ki blast to restart his heart to even be able to swallow a senzu bean.

At this point, Whis finally realizes that he had missed calls on his staff from Bulma and Goku and Vegeta learn of the situation. Goku finds all of their energy, especially Frieza’s on Earth and uses Instant Transmission to get him and Vegeta back. This brought about yet another moment that had my theater rolling, as Vegeta did not want to hold Goku’s hand to do Instant Transmission, but he eventually gives in considering the situation.

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Frieza quickly says he’s going to take his final form from the start to avoid the mistakes he made before, though this is technically not his final form as we’ll discuss soon. Frieza’s power is immense in this form at this point, leaving the Z Fighters visibly shaken.

Goku goes in and him and Frieza start to fight, with Goku in his base form. They fight for awhile with them seeming pretty even, with Goku probably having the edge. At this point, we get an unexpected but great moment where Vegeta breaks in and starts fighting Goku. He argues that they promised they would switch off, showing that they are seeing this as just a game and now viewing Frieza as a real threat.

Vegeta then backs off at the request of Goku and both Frieza and Goku decide to take the fight to the next level. Goku powers up to Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, which gives him bright blue hair instead of the red we saw in Battle of the Gods. It is a little disappointing that we don’t see him actually reach this form for the first time in the movie, but that should be shown in Dragon Ball Super at least when they get to the events of this movie.

Frieza then powers up to his new Golden Frieza form that we’ve seen in all of the marketing for this movie. Yet another hilarious moment came at this point, where Goku says “Hey Vegeta, so you want to take that turn right now?” in which he responds “Don’t pawn him off on me now, Kakorrot. He’s obviously wanted to fight you, remember?” This brings a bit of levity to the fight, which is classic Dragon Ball.

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We really see Goku and Frieza in their most powerful forms go at it for awhile and eventually Beerus and Whis arrive, after having to take a longer route of travel. Frieza is astounded to see Beerus and is worried he is there to stop his fight, but he is there just to watch, so the fight continues.

Goku really starts to get the best of Frieza, especially with a giant Kamehameha that really damages him. At this point, Goku gets cocky and tells Frieza he can leave and he’ll be there for a rematch when he’s ready, just like he did on Namek trying to let him live. Frieza then has Sorbet use their contingency plan, which has him shoot Goku with a blaster ring through his chest from behind unexpectedly, which forces Goku back to his base form and nearly kills him.

This part kind of bugged me in a way. Even if Goku wasn’t expecting it at all, a measly shot like that should feel like nothing more than a sting to Goku, but instead it not only damaged him, but badly at that. It does show that even Goku can be vulnerable, but I still don’t know he should be able to be taken down that easily, just because he didn’t see it coming.

With Goku down, Vegeta has to step in and he gets Krillin to come and give the final senzu bean to Goku. Vegeta then surprises everyone by turning into Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form himself, which probably got the biggest reaction in the audience with cheers at my showing.

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Vegeta completely outmatches Frieza in this form and beats him so badly that he reverts to his previous final form. When Vegeta has Frieza down and ready to kill him with one final blast, he takes an old trick from Namek and attacks the Earth himself in one hit that almost instantly destroys the planet by destroying it from the core.

All hope seems lost with everything destroyed, but luckily Whis saves at least all of the good guys, besides Vegeta, and has them inside a bubble in space, where they then realize Frieza wouldn’t have even been killed by that since he’s able to breath in space, making the situation worse. All is not lost however, as earlier in the movie, Whis talked about having the power to turn back time by a few minutes since he’s had to do that with Beerus at times.

This allows them to go back three minutes to the point where Vegeta is about to blast Frieza. At the point where Frieza is about to destroy the planet however, Goku yells his name loudly and shoots a massive Kamehameha while in Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form. Vegeta leaps out of the way and Frieza is completely destroyed, once again saving the world. Needless to say, Vegeta isn’t too happy about this outcome, though Bulma explains it to him.

This ending was kind of a bummer for me as well, as I really wanted to see Vegeta get his time to shine by taking out a villain. Goku had his chance to destroy Frieza before, as did Trunks, so why couldn’t Vegeta get it this time? Regardless, it was still done well though so it’s hard to complain too much.

The movie then has Goku asking Vegeta about what he thought about what Whis said earlier, with them being unstoppable is they fought together. They both agree they can never do this and it cuts to credits, which are full of moments from the movie. There is also a quick scene at the end of the credits that shows Frieza back in his own hell of stuffed animals and fairies.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is an absolutely fantastic movie that any fan of the series will more than likely adore. There are moments of fan service for longtime fans and fantastic action that even non-fans can appreciate. There are definitely some flaws, but I just love that Dragon Ball Z is back and can’t wait to see the upcoming dub for Dragon Ball Super with this cast that just keeps getting better and better together.


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