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.
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