‘Dangerous Metropolis’ Delivers a Gritty and Thrilling Trip for V-Cinema Followers

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This text is a part of our protection of the 2022 version of Incredible Fest, going down from September 22-29. On this entry, we assessment the brand new Kensuke Sonomura movie, Dangerous Metropolis. Observe together with our critiques, interviews, and options from the fest in our Incredible Fest archive.

For these unfamiliar with V-cinema, it’s basically Japan’s personal tackle the sorts of direct-to-video style movies that also discover audiences right here within the U.S. Decrease budgets allowed for larger freedoms, and in Japan that provided one thing of a boon to filmmakers like Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and others by a lot of the 80s and 90s. They’re not almost as prevalent today, however the love for what they’ve to supply stays. Director Kensuke Sonomura clearly shares in that love, as his second characteristic is a throwback in the very best methods. Dangerous Metropolis is a densely packed story of corruption, honor, and bloody beatdowns delivering a extremely satisfying romp and a well-deserved star-turn for the nice Hitoshi Ozawa.

Everybody is aware of high-profile businessman Wataru Gojo (Lily Franky) is soiled, however nobody can show it. His newest ploy to safe extra energy includes a run for mayor, and understanding how dangerous that will be for the town, the police kind a particular unit headed up by a tricky ex-cop named Torada (Ozawa) to carry him down. First step? Get Torada out of jail. These two are removed from the one gamers within the combine as Korean gangsters, corrupt cops, a knife-wielding murderer (the all the time dependable Tak Sakaguchi), and Torada’s three-person squad (Masanori Mimoto, Sakanoue Akane, and Katsuya) all get bloody within the sandbox that it Kaiko Metropolis.

Dangerous Metropolis is a terrifically entertaining nod to V-cinema classics that’s dense with characters strolling either side of the ethical divide. The plot might by no means stretch past the minimal of what’s anticipated, however Sonomura crafts an engagingly gritty world. Even higher, and as ought to be anticipated from the previous stuntman turned motion choreographer turned director, the battle sequences are blistering enjoyable.

The motion is isn’t essentially frequent all through the primary two acts, but it surely explodes into superb confrontations within the closing stretch. A lot of it’s brawler fashion — much less about delivering fights that impress with their choreography, and extra about delivering choreography that impresses with the fights. It’s gangsters and cops scrapping with fists, knives, and batons, preventing for his or her lives with much less curiosity in fashion than in survival. Sprinkled all through, although, are masterclasses in preventing fashion as Sakaguchi and Mimoto shine with lightning fast, close-quarters fight.

Sixty-year-old Ozawa leans far nearer to the previous, however he’s no much less spectacular as he punches and rolls with the very best of them. The style legend, a well-recognized face from the likes of Miike’s Lifeless or Alive (1999) and the woefully underseen Deadman Inferno (2015), has performed extra yakuza members than most actors can declare, however they’re all the time memorable. He performs a badass cop in Dangerous Metropolis, however he nonetheless makes nice use of the wealthy character traces in his face that run as deep as his gravelly baritone voice. The function requires a splash of sincerity and remorse, and Ozawa delivers simply sufficient pathos with out disturbing the style’s want for a grizzled powerful man.

As talked about, Dangerous Metropolis is so dense with characters and layered with betrayals that it’s not tough to get misplaced within the stew of motivation and corruption. Some beats really feel unnecessarily difficult whereas others are as one-note as they arrive, but it surely’s all expectedly in service of dramatic confrontations and action-fueled set-pieces. They’re all the time welcome, after all, however you don’t come to V-cinema (or DTV motion) for elaborate plotting. You come for the beatdowns and memorable characters, and Sonomura delivers on each counts.

Whereas nonetheless at residence within the motion style, Dangerous Metropolis is a far totally different animal from Sonomura’s wonderful debut, Hydra (2019). The place that movie is way smaller and solely bookended with fights, his follow-up paints its carnage throughout a bigger canvas. Budgetary limitations stay, however we nonetheless really feel the town’s breadth, the ominous attain of its corrupt people, and the stoic heights of its heroes. A B-movie, maybe, however an A-plus trip for followers of honor, desperation, and impressed avenue violence.

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Movie Faculty Rejects since earlier than you had been born, which is bizarre seeing as he is so rattling younger. He is our Chief Movie Critic and Affiliate Editor and lists ‘Broadcast Information’ as his favourite movie of all time. Be at liberty to say hello should you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.