Best movie of this year hands down!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

**NO SPOILER REVIEW** I really liked this movie. This movie has some AMAZING cinematography, and does a fairly good job of portraying the culture shock that an American would experience during a first time visit to Japan, even though it's somewhat simplified and is also trying to be a buddy cop movie where there's also a good cop/bad cop dynamic. Bottom line is, it's a movie, some themes will have to simplified otherwise it'd be a 3 hour slog.The concepts of "GAIJIN" and Japanese police culture aren't fully explained so if you take some time to learn about these two things beforehand it makes the movie much more cohesive and ... well, just helps things make more sense. The movie 'Freakonomics' details a fascinating aspect of Japanese police culture which is on full display in this film, I highly recommend you watch a segment in the movie 'Freakonomics' on Japanese policing (probably 20-30 minutes long) I'd also suggest you briefly read up on Japanese people's disdain for a "Gaijin" prior to watching this movie if you aren't familiar with either concept. It will greatly enhance your viewing experience. Also keep in mind that in Japanese culture, saving face and maintaining honor (in all aspects of life, not just policing) is of the utmost importance, this will help explain why the Japanese seemed to do some of the things they did in the movie. It wasn't that unrealistic or far-fetched if you ask me.FYI: I served overseas as a military service-member in Tokyo (so I WAS the Gaijin), this is partially why I enjoyed the film so much. If you lived in Japan like I did you probably don't need to read up on "Gaijin" or research too deeply into Japanese culture since you're already familiar. I'm rating this 10 stars because some other people rated the movie way too low IMO, the cinematography alone is 5 star quality, the plot is somewhat predictable at times but there are a few surprising twists so I wasn't disappointed. If you ever traveled to Japan (which would help you understand and enjoy the film's setting easier) or if you enjoy Asian themed cop flicks (i.e. Police Story, Supercop, etc.) then you'll like this movie. I was lucky to come across it on Amazon Prime so if you see it on your streaming service definitely give it a watch!

Okay, so I'm particular about things in some movies while not in others, but what really has to do it for me at the end of the day is the forces that move the cinematic world. These can be all sorts, a set of values that a protagonist embodies, or abstraction about how we see; long story short, the world has to be held together in some way that I find interesting.This lets me like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard even though the worldviews at play are different. Duellists, Alien and Bladerunner, and even Thelma and Louise to an extent, they all come with structured experience about how their worlds move.I leave without anything here. The protagonist is a blowhard full of ego and noisy energy, constantly griping and thumping people, as unlikable a presence as Douglas was in Falling Down. The way we see is cowboy bluster without any other awareness of how the world moves. It tries to transfer to the Japanese, cops and yakuza, some of that awareness that eludes him, duty in the abstract, all sophomoric on that end and fails to really know Japan except as scented orientalist postcard.So what's the use if Osaka is marvelous, neon-streets and gleaming cityscapes seen from above? The relation of the cinematic eye to this world is random, incidental. It's one operatic backdrop wheeled in after another for a cop story where we chase after bad guys. Compare for example with Kar Wai where the neon city is ink from a lover's poem that melts to become breath, or how Assayas in Demonlover makes it tear from the woman's mind. This is like Cimino in Dragon, the notion that you'll write "big" if you hold a very big pen or write in a big room.Something else I'd like to note is that this isn't noir as mentioned a lot of the time, I don't believe it is, and it speaks to the existing confusion about what modern noir really is. It seems every other crime film has been lumped as neo noir at one point or other so long as the world is gloomy, or there's a case to be solved. The closest call of this to noir so far as I see is that it takes place in the big city at night. Noir, next to the other tropes, for me is to be found in a certain relation between a narrator and the world. We get action dynamics here.One interesting thing here is that he wouldn't have been sucked into this story, he would have simply boarded the next flight home, had he not been tricked to release the prisoner in the wrong hands.

I'm going to start by saying I'm one of the many people who did not particularly enjoy this movie. Id expect a lot of the clichés and so forth from a cop action/thriller film, but I really didn't expect it from from a director like Ridley. That said, I don't blame Ridley, he did the best he could with a weak script. And in fairness to him, the visuals and soundtrack are the only things that stop this from being a completely forgettable. The soundtrack alone is particularly good.I'm not going to write a synopsis, it's already been done by hundreds of other reviewers, and frankly it isn't worth another attempt. Save to say, it's a fish out of water cop film, starring hard nosed cop, streetwise girl, rookie partner and an evil gangster. Basically take any other cop film you have seen and change the setting to Japan. I noticed another review touting this as the "thinking mans cop film", which I found quite amusing as the storyline isn't exactly homers odyssey in terms of complexity. The acting is, at best, passable, but nothing overly attention grabbing. I'm not a great fan of Douglas, I find his acting a little contrived at the best of times, but his is probably the strongest performance, which isn't really saying a lot as his character is thoroughly unlikeable and you can't help but savour every bad thing that happens to him. The Japanese cast appear to be there purely for decorative purposes, and to enforce various stereotypes and tired clichés. The saddest thing about this film is the potential it had, and in the presence of a script that wasn't totally worn out and lacking in plausibility, it could have been something quite spectacular, instead of an aesthetically pleasing waste of time.

Some may think that this is just another cop action movie but nothing could be father from the truth.It is a story of good,evil,love,friendship and deep loyalty.A clash of two different culture creates a unbreakable bond between them.The music that was made specifically for this movie is what makes a part of the greatness of this movie.The rest is just great acting.I watched this movie a very long time ago(like 20 something years ago)but i never forgot it and the feeling i had when i watched it.This movie contains all what makes a human being and the essence of life.