Now in his 70s, Japanese writer/director Masato Harada (of the erotic ghost story/thriller INUGAMI/’01) offers smash action sequences and an ultra-stylish look (cast, clothes, sets) in this contemporary crime pic. Jun'ichi Okada, tough & toned as a revenge-minded ex-cop who’s turned himself in, avoids prosecution but not consequences when he agrees to an undercover assignment inside a Yakuza organization recently splintered into warring factions, a propitious if decidedly dangerous moment to take this on. Quickly bonding with less mature partner Kentarô Sakaguchi, these two professional killers are so efficient they’re soon promoted to Team B bodyguards of their gang’s young mastermind, a boyish man of metrosexual mystery. The Spy/Counterspy games are easy to follow in the first two acts, thanks to Harada’s clear limned logistics, deliriously filled with sex, violence, snazzy locations & Karaoke (surprisingly big on Verdi), accelerating into a third act that’s harder to keep up with (at least for Western audiences), but so loaded with stand alone and wonderfully ‘readable’ set action pieces, you’ll hardly mind. The film a beaut just to take in visually. No doubt a second viewing would clear things up, though not perhaps the amount of ‘reveals’ for characters turning out to be secretly working undercover for one agency or another. (Even the F.B.I. in the mix.) Exciting stuff, not too gruesome or CGI-sweetened for a change.
DOUBLE-BLL/LINK: As mentioned, Harada’s intriguing, if overcooked, INUGAMI/’01. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/inugami-2001.html
CONTEST: Just before a plot-altering fight breaks out in the middle of Karaoke Night, the filmmakers borrow a trope from just about the last film you’d expect to find referenced in a Japanese actioner. Name the famous film and the flagrant lift to win our usual prize: a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of your choosing.
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