HERO Movie Review

Title: Hero

Genre: Legal, Crime

Broadcast date: September 8, 2007

Origin:  Japan

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Matsu Takako, Abe Hiroshi, Lee Byung Hun, Otsuka Nene, Katsumura Masanou, Kohinata Fumiyo, Yashima Norito and Ayase Haruka.

After the entire incident with the Kimura family on Yamaguchi Island, Kuryu Kohei (Kimura Takuya) returns to the Josai branch in Tokyo, and teams up with his former colleagues and former paralegal Amamiya Maiko (Matsu Takako) who is not forgiving Kohei for not keeping his promises to her.

When homicide case lands on Kuryus desk after another prosecutor has personal business to take care of, Kuryu is shocked when the accused pleads not guilty after having plead guilty before. That being a common thing for prosecutors they decides to not think too much of it, but soon they find out that there is so much more going on behind the homicide. And for some reason the secretary of a former minister is helping the accused…

Compared to the drama and the special the movie has a bigger focus on actual court room situations, which happens after indication of suspects. And to be honest it kind of gives a better idea of how capacious a prosecutor’s work actually is. Also compared to the other cases this one is kind of a bigger scale type of case, and involves all the prosecutors, which yeah we do see in the drama and special, but here it really goes all the way, and I like that the original cast is in it. Besides that I would’ve liked them to make it a bit faster, it really goes on a slow pace. Of course there are tense moments but there are way too many of those quiet and dull moments they could have cut out or replaced.

But all in all a good movie that you could watch with ease…

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

HERO Review

Title: Hero

Genre: Legal, Crime

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2001-Jan to 2001-Mar

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Mastu Takako, Otsuka Nene, Abe Hiroshi, Katsumura Masanou, Kohinata Fumiyo and Yashima Norito.

Once a high school dropout, Prosecutor Kuryu Kaohei (Kimura Takuya) is assigned the Josai Bureau in Tokyo. He is a different kind of prosecutor as he takes his time to evaluate every case until the very last minute, and doesn’t seem to differentiate in cases: be it a murder case or being it a theft case. In his eyes all cases are of equal importance. He is paired up with a paralegal, Amamiya Maiko (Mastu Takako), who is the complete opposite. She dreams of becoming a prosecutor, even volunteers to help Kuryu so that she’ll get better points from her boss. At first she finds him repulsive and lazy, but as time passes she notices how diligent and observing he is, and starts to admire him.

Together with the other prosecutors and paralegals they encounter different, often absurd, people, and deal with them as well as their own family and love lives.

Okay so this drama is one old drama, with an extremely young cast that I today know as the ‘oldies’ of jdorama. I’m not only talking about Kimura Takuya but every other cast member that I know as old actors - who were then pretty young, and with black hair. I never really wanted to watch it; one because Jenji said she was unable to finish even episode one. And two, well it’s from 2001.. That is 13 years ago!

BUT I have to admit, it is really a classic. Ones you get used to the way the camera shoots, you will sort of like it. It has the typical ‘awkward humor’ with the long silence and long stare, which at the beginning I kind of felt boring, but ones you get a hang of the ideal, you kind of can’t stop laughing. And yes it most defiantly is a classic.

I liked the storyline(s) and every character, and I completely understand the huge ratings! So! To watch and not to watch? I would recommend it for Takuya fans and for classic drama lovers. But if you can’t deal with old dramas, this probably shouldn’t be your choice.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

The Triumphant Return of General Rouge Movie Review

Title: The Triumphant Return of General Rouge

AKA: Glorious Team Batista 2 Movie

Genre: Medical, Mystery, Thriller

Origin: Japan

Release date: March 7, 2009

Cast: Takeuchi Yuko, Abe Hiroshi, Sakai Masato, Kanjiya Shirori, Yamamoto Taro and Shiro Sano.

This movie is the follow-up on the movie “The Glorious Team Batistsa”.

One year has passed since Taguchi Kimiko (Takeuchi Yuko) and Shiratori Keisuke (Abe Hiroshi) solved the case with the Team Batista scandal, and now Taguchi has unwillingly become a member of the ethnic’s board. Still doing the counseling, she one morning gets an anonymous letter addressed to her about a doctor having a collusive relationship with Medical Arts: a medical supply company. After taking the letter to the hospital director she is told to investigate which she only agrees on as long as she is allowed to leave the ethics board.

While investigating one doctor from the Medical Arts company dies, and Taguchi becomes a prime suspect since she was last seen with him. Moments after being released she hears of Shiratori’s admitted in the same hospital, so she goes to taunt him. But when she is told by Shiratori that he had gotten the same letter as her they team up once again to find the truth…

Compared to the first movie, the first part, this one I like better. It has a bit more humor, and it is more ‘medical’ in the essences of there actually being more about patients and doctors. The duo seems more enjoyable around each other, and the overall story is kind of a bit more intriguing than the first movie. Though I have to admit, I like the drama idea of the stories more. I haven’t watched the second season, but I think I will still prefer the drama. The movies have this dark ‘cloud’ around it, as if it’s scary in some way, and I am not sure it’s supposed to be like that. The atmosphere is kind of dark, and it was like that in the first movie as well.

It’s an okay movie to watch if you liked the first one.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

The Glorious Team Batista Movie Review

Title: The Glorious Team Batista

AKA: Chiimu Bachisuta no Eikou

Genre: Medical, Mystery

Origin: Japan

Release date: February 9, 2008

Cast: Takeuchi Yuko, Abe Hiroshi, Kikkawa Koji, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Tamayama Tetsuji and Sano Shiro.

After a little girl is saved by a medical team that focuses on heart-diseases, the team got to stay and started becoming famous. But one day the ‘death in surgery’ patients started to grow, and the lead surgeon Kiryu Kyoichi (Kikkawa Koji) asked for an inquiry as he did not understand what happened so differently in the surgeries that made these people die. When the hospital chief invites a friend of his, the friend sends Taguchi Kimiko (Takeuchi Yuko), a doctor who listens to patients complain. She is asked to investigate the surgeries as an objective third party, and while doing so, she does not find any reason for the deaths.

When the secretariat of the ministry of health and labor Shiratori Keisuke (Abe Hiroshi) comes to her clinic and tells her that he believes its murder, Taguchi joins him in re-investigating and finding out what really is the reason for the deaths..

I was looking forward to this, because I was in the mood for a medical movie, and to tell you the truth, if you are considering this a medical thing, it’s not. It had so much ‘detective’/’figure-out-how-they-did-it’ bull that I was seriously upset half way through. But once I started to focus I started getting more interested and it was fairly good. The ending was surprising and the acting was okay as well. Though I didn’t really get any character development, which ruins a lot, I gotta admit I was fine with it.

Recommendable? Yes, if you like those movies that find out about truths and lies… whatever.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 3 hearts