Bad City

This is a fantastic Japanese Mafia gangster Yakuza crazy excellent fight scene movie with a pretty good story as well, of course it's not like the best movie in the world, it's not some sort of fantastic drama, it's not supposed to be!, the characters are great, the acting is wonderful, and the fight scenes are really really good, pretty authentic, yeah yeah there's not too many people who can withstand that many blows or who can fight countless multiple opponents, but why not?, it's a movie for crying out loud!, that's the point, it's for fun, what's with people and their crazy serious reviews?, trust me you might really like this movie if you give it a chance, of course it's some sort of police and Yakuza and Mafia storyline we see a lot of like it, but so what?, it's done well and it has a great hero in the captain the old dude with gray hair kicks proverbial butt!!

Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a mass murder at a bathhouse occurs and yet local businessman Wataru Gojo (Lily Franky) is acquitted, the cops realize that traditional methods no longer apply. Three members of the Violent Crimes Unit join a disgraced former police captain in jail for murder named Torada (Hitoshi Ozawa), to get evidence on Gojo, his dealings with the yakuza and even worse -- his connection to South Korean organized crime and a yearning for a career in politics. Hitoshi Ozawa is sixty years old but has made a career of playing roles just like this: hard men willing to do hard jobs no matter the cost. You may know him from Takeshi Miike's Dead or Alive or may even go deep and know Japanese V-cinema. He's the best part of this very good movie. And Tak Sakiguchi (Versus) is in this as a silent killer gunning for the police. Directed by Kensuke Sonomura and written by Ozawa, this is a film filled with twists and turns but most importantly action. It also has so much of what works in Japanese crime cinema, that being the ever-twisted connection between cops and crime, with characters that have a foot in part of each world and yet pushed and pulled by concepts like duty and honor. But this is all about the stunts and fights, too. Sonomura has made a career in stunts, from directing the action in movies like Baby Assassins, Black Rat and The Machine Girl as well as directing Hydra. He's also lent his fight choreography to video games including Devil May Cry 3, Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Resident Evil 3. He's also choreographed the action scenes for some world-class directors including Mamoru Oshii, Yudai Yamaguchi, John Woo and Donnie Yen. This movie is deliriously exciting. Make sure you catch it.

Well. It's your very stereotypical run of the mill gangsters vs cops Japanese movie that doesn't take itself seriously, with exaggerated acting etc. I prefer the more serious gangster thrillers that especially Korea (but also sometimes Japan) puts out, but as an action and martial arts movie fan, I find this one worth it for the last 30 minutes or so of the movie, which is one big brawl with lots of fighting and martial arts. Just don't go in expecting an engaging plot. Well. It's your very stereotypical run of the mill gangsters vs cops Japanese movie that doesn't take itself seriously, with exaggerated acting etc. I prefer the more serious gangster thrillers that especially Korea (but also sometimes Japan) puts out, but as an action and martial arts movie fan, I find this one worth it for the last 30 minutes or so of the movie, which is one big brawl with lots of fighting and martial arts. Just don't go in expecting an engaging plot.