Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose (2010) [Film Review]

Bayside Shakedown: The Movie 3; or, Release the Prisoners!
     One thing I forgot to say... Your death won't be beautiful. You've got no pride, huh? No matter what, I'm going to arrest you. I take pride in that.
It’s been 7 years since the latest instalment of Bayside Shakedown until Yuji Oda proudly announced in 2010: "We’re back". Indeed, the Odoru Daisousasen team returned in this new and exciting reboot/sequel called Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose.
Release Info
Directed by: Katsuyuki Motohiro Starring: Yuji Oda, Eri Fukatsu, Toshiro Yanagiba, Yusuke Santamaria
Language: Japanese Original Title: 踊る大捜査線 THE MOVIE3 Runtime: 141 min
 
Synopsis
Aoshima (Yuji Oda) was promoted to Section Chief and he is currently handling a difficult logistic operation of moving the Wangan Police Station to its new headquarters. In the meantime, strange crimes take place. A bus hijack without any hijackers on board or a bank robbery without any money being stolen. What is more, the WPS chiefs find out that three pistols were stolen from the station’s arsenal. An unknown group of high-tech terrorists send in the ultimatum: Release specific prisoners arrested by Detective Aoshima or people will be shot from the stolen guns, and the Wangan staff will be gassed by toxins. In the course of his investigation, Aoshima discovers that the terrorists are connected with one of the prisoners.
 
Running Scared
Well, Bayside Shakedown 3, what can I say? After The Suspect: Muroi Shinji (2005) and the long break between the second and the third movie, I gather that the series began to run out of steam. Thus, it needed a proper injection of novelty as well as referencing to the previous films. As a result, this sequel feels very much like a reboot. We have a change of location and some new characters like Waku’s nephew, Shinjiro Waku (Atsushi Ito), Chinese police officer Wang (Kenichi Takito), and Natsumi Shinohara (Yuki Uchida), returning from the 1998 special episode: Wangan Police Station Female Officers’ Story. Even the picture’s colour palette seems more lively and vivid in comparison to the other movies, which had more greyish overlay.
 
With regard to the story, thankfully the usual Odoru theme of bureaucracy is not brought into the spotlight. Instead, the drama is delivered with the subplot of Aoshima being misdiagnosed with cancer... (I did not make that up). This sounds so far-fetched outright that it becomes the main disadvantage of this movie. I realise that the makers wanted some emotional scenes between Aoshima and Sumire (Eri Fukatsu) as well as some big catharsis towards the end (that Aoshima is actually healthy and the x-ray was faulty), but it is really uninspiring to watch. Especially when the script tried to turn Aoshima into Dabney Coleman’s character from Short Time (1990), as he is unafraid of anything, because he knows that he is going to die. The movie could easily got away without this subplot, and thus, decrease its lengthy runtime (140 minutes).
 
When all was said about the downsides, some positives have to be mentioned. Well, Kyoko Koizumi returns as Manami Hyuga from the first movie and she is revealed to be the main villainess of this story. However, contrary to her performance in Movie 1, Koizumi gives a very distanced and frigid portrayal of a crazy psychopath, so do not expect to hear her hysterical laughter or see her running amok with a loaded gun.
 
When the action is there, it is entertaining, especially with Akihiko Matsumoto’s main theme. New characters serve as a good addition to Aoshima’s team, though they are not given much time in the movie. Oh! Susumu Terajima has a small cameo in one of the scenes as Detective Kijima. Also, Shun Oguri plays Torigai, a Harvey Dent-like character who appears to start off as a good guy but gradually transforms into a baddie by the fourth movie.
 
About the performances, the original cast shines as brightly as ever with Yuji Oda and Eri Fukatsu in the leading roles. Toshiro Yanagiba’s appearance as Muroi Shinji is slightly limited in this sequel, but it’s always great to see him. Yusuke Santamaria and Kotaro Koizumi also return from Negotiator: Mashita Masayoshi (2005) and the WPS chiefs (Soichiro Kitmura, Satoru Saito, Takehiko Ono) are funny as always, though one can tell that the passage of time has taken a toll on them.
   
Recommendations
To sum up, Odoru Daisōsasen The Movie 3: Yatsura o Kaihō Seyo! is a fun and refreshing entry in the series. Though uneven at times, it’s a safe pick for Friday night. Unfortunately, it may not be suited for repetitive viewing. Probably that is the reason why it did well in the box office (over 7 billion yen), but not as good as the two previous films. However, it has the cast, it has the music, and it has the entertaining factor. This is a fully fledged Bayside Shakedown sequel.
Overall score: 8/10

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment moderation is switched on due to recent spam postings.