"Abunai Deka: The Movie" from 1987 review, part two

 

 Release Date: December 12, 1987 Director: Yasuharu Hasebe

Length: 98 minutes Subs were done by Mashhamid 

**** The below character info was carried over from the drama recaps as the main five characters were the same, did make some edits though very few.

Main Cast:  What a popular long running series this has been in Japan, perhaps it has more of a following than of any other drama/movie franchise! There have been at least three seasons of this drama, a few TV specials plus eight regular movies, the last one just came out a month ago! This film had the title of "Dangerous Cop" which is really the same as the drama so left that same title. Did say there have been eight films but think just the first two have been subbed, of course have the first here and will get to the second very soon. The main five characters below each have two screenshots, the top is from the drama and the other is one from this movie. 

 Hiroshi Tachi as Toshiki Takayama.... You'll see him referred to as Taka often in the screenshots. He's about a 35 year old man who is an investigator of serious crimes and the gangsters go out of their way to avoid him! Takayama has a bit of a 'cool persona' about him and is an ace with guns, he's the partner of Oshita but seems they didn't start working closely together until the first episode. While both are aces with guns their methods also get them in hot water with their superiors but the pair usually come out on top at the end as far as solving cases go. Below is Takayama hopping on a motorcycle, he is an ace rider.

Kyohei Shibata as Yuji Oshita.... About the same age as Takayama but looks younger. During the first episode Oshita blurted out he's got a bit of a shady past and it surprised many he became a sergeant. He knows how to pick a lock and some other methods criminals use, sure we'll find out more as time goes on. Like his new partner Takayama he is quite adept using all guns, unlike his partner Oshita isn't much of a 'people person' as Takayama is the one who often interviews witnesses, criminals or others. 

Atsuko Asana as Kaoru Mayama.... Member of the Juvenile Division which shares the same office as the Investigative Unit which Takayama and Oshita are a part of. Karou has gone out to crime scenes with the detectives but they never let her get in on the real action. However she is a tough woman who used to be a regular officer and knows how to use a gun well. Beginning with the fourth season she became goofier than ever which has been annoying.

Toru Nakamura as Toru Machida.... Not a rookie but hasn't been an inspector for all that long. Machida is the best fighter in the unit and also the women swoon over him but he does have a girlfriend which he said in the first show.... that may have been a lie. Think it was for since then Toru has had such a hard time finding girls to date him though he a good looking guy. He does get taken advantage of too often by Takayama and Oshita.

Shizuo Chujo as Takuzo Kondo.... Chief of the Investigation Unit, a smart man but seems to be more concerned on what he'll be having for lunch! But at one time Kondo was feared by the Yokohama gangsters and has been on the force for thirty years. Five years ago before coming chief Kondo had killed a Yakuza thug which is one reason he's so feared. In episode 45 Kudo did shave off his mustache, in the movie he was much ore stern towards Takayama and Oshita.

  In the third season the roles of Yoshi and Tanaka have become much larger, will add them in for season four. In the two screenshots below Yoshi is on the left, Tanaka is right next to him.

 

 Main guest stars, there were really just these three. Also making a reappearance was the Juvenile Unit leader Yuko. In the drama she disappeared after the eleventh episode but did have a minor role in this movie. Hideo Murota is an actor I like a lot and have seen many of his movies from the 1970's, 80's and 90's. He also made a guest appearance in episode fifty of the drama but played a different character.

Miyuki Ono as Yuki Midori.... Secretary to Narumi who owns an art gallery. The two met up in  NYC where Midori was studying art but realized she had no talent and returned to Yokohama where Narumi hired her. Don't think the two were having an affair and she was unaware of the underhanded dealings Narumi was involved in.

Hideo Murota as Narumi Sotaro.... Is on the right below, not a huge role but an important one. Owner of an art gallery in Yokohama and does much investing in stocks. He made a recent fortune selling his Cosmo Pharmaceutical stocks and that was what led Takayama and Oshita to this man. Narumi had hired a mercenary named Hyodo to take care of Cosmo's rival company Nakamitsu Pharmaceutical which was the main story to this movie.

Shun Sugata as Kojiri Hyodo.... He was in many scenes though we didn't see Hyodo too clearly all that often. He had been hired by Narumi to destroy important anti-cancer research the Makamiitu Pharmaceutical company was doing. That Hyodo was successful at but in the process of escaping had killed two police officers. Hyodo had planned on leaving Japan once that caper was done but that plan was thwarted by Takayama and Oshita. Narumi had also given Hyodo an assignment later on to kill Midori!

 

Previous recaps: There's 51 episodes but they were divided into six seasons, there was no break between them. Season one was episode one to nine, second season was ten through eighteen and this third ran from the nineteenth until the 26th episode. Season four has been completed which is episodes 27 through 35, the last two seasons each had eight episodes. Know there's too many to recaps to read but have the list just in case you do and it's also for me as it's easy to go back and check any post.

Episode one .... Episode two ... Episode three .... Episode four .... Episode five

Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight .... Episode nine .... Episode ten

Episode eleven .... Episode twelve .... Episode thirteen .... Episode fourteen

Episode fifteen .... Episode sixteen .... Episode seventeen .... Episode eighteen

Episode nineteen .... Episode twenty .... Episode twenty-one .... Episode twenty-two

Episode 23 .... Episode 24 .... Episode 25 .... Episode 26 .... Episode 27 .... Episode 28

Episode 29 .... Episode 30 .... Episode 31 .... Episode 32 .... Episode 33 .... Episode 34

Episode 35 .... Episode 36 .... Episode 37 .... Episode 38 .... Episode 39

Episode 40 .... Episode 41 .... Episode 42 .... Episode 43 .... Episode 44

Episode 45 .... Episode 46 .... Episode 47 .... Episode 48 .... Episode 49

Episode 50 .... Episode 51- final

 Couldn't find a regular trailer for this movie but this short video a partial one and it was promoting the Blue-Ray of the movie.

   

 
 Thanks for reading that first post, am presuming you did and it really does need to be read or you won't understand this post!. So often when I write up a review/recap it feels as though I'm watching a movie or drama episode for the second time with the main reason being I'm looking at the screenshots. What happens is that often I tend to look more favorably at what was viewed and that did take place for this movie. At first was going to give this a grade of an 8.6/10 which is quite decent but my final rating will rise to an 8.8/10. Did think the drama was a bit better but there were even a few so-so shows out of 51 episodes, did think the cases were more interesting than this one. There was much more action in the movie than the drama and that's probably because the budget was bigger. So while the first twenty minutes were a bit sluggish the remaining 75 zoomed right by as there wasn't a dull moment plus the main characters of Takayama and Oshita are just so charismatic. If you enjoyed the TV drama you will also like this movie, no new ground was broken which was okay by me so would recommend viewing this if you can find it.

 Think we're a little past the fifty minute mark now in this movie, about 45 more to go. The first post ended off with the above scene as the extraordinary mercenary soldier Hyodo pulled a fast one on the Minato police force. After exchanging the investigator Kaoru for Midori Hyodo was able to escape with her as a hostage through the sewer tunnels underneath Yokohama, he set a fire which meant he couldn't be followed. So will pick things up from that scene, Takayama and Oshita need to get on the ball quickly as Hyodo's mission is to kill Midori!

 What I can't understand is why has Hyodo abducted Midori twice and then didn't end up killing her? He was hired by her boss Narumi to first destroy a research project at a pharmaceutical company and steal a disc that had the research for this anti-cancer project on it, that was successful. Later on Narumi ordered Hyodo to kill his secretary Midori thinking she may know too much which I'm not sure was the case. So if Hyodo's assignment was to just kill the woman why didn't he just do that instead of abducting her? Hyodo puts himself at risk the longer he waits, after Takayama and Oshita interviewed Kaoru about her kidnapping it appears Hyodo is holed up at a large hospital. The nearest large hospital that has an abandoned section is Koihin Chou, both feel that's where Hyodo has brought Midori. Oshita feels there's no time to waste and the pair need to head there right away as her life is is danger! 'That is true' said Takayama but he said rushing in could be too dangerous and Hyodo has proved to be such a formidable foe. For the first time Takayama and Oshita had a major spat, if Takayama won't join his partner then he'll do this job solo and Oshita headed to the hospital alone. Where he did locate Hyodo holding Midori hostage in an abandoned section but Oshita was unsure on what to do. He did recall that Takayama said rushing in would put Midori in danger and Oshita just bided his time trying to think of a plan. Which he never did but appearing out of nowhere was his partner Takayama, though they had such an intense disagreement there was no way Takayama could let his partner attempt this mission alone.

 This ex-soldier Hyodo is the toughest opponent the pair have fought up until now, he noticed Takayama and the pair began to grapple. Hyodo soon got the upper hand and dragged Takayama outside, the hospital was overlooking a river and Hyodo dumped him in there! Oshita witnessed this and knew he was no match for Hyodo, he grabbed Midori and whisked her to safety. Oshita then called the Minato precinct to let them know what happened, he has no clue where Takayama is now and whether he's still alive! In her only semi-major scene the Juvenile Unit leader Yuko took charge of finding Takayama and had an idea on where to start. She went to that river where Takayama had been thrown into, she knew the young gangs from that area as so many had been arrested. But Yuko had given many a break so was owed some favors and this time she needed their help to find Takayama which very quickly was successful! He had been discovered along the river's edge and brought to the apartment of a biker's girlfriend, he was soon transported to a nearby hospital and all of that took only about three minutes! But Takayama is in rough shape and was unconscious, that you can see above. The Minato chief Kondo arrived and told Yoshi to take away the guns of Oshita and Takayama, Kondo was beyond furious at his investigators once again disobeying his orders The guns were taken away as he didn't trust Oshita not to take Takayama's gun and seek revenge for his partner!

                                   

I always tend to make those first two paragraphs a bit too long but quite a bit did take place in those scenes. With Oshita watching over him Takayama did eventually wake up, he was badly injured but hadn't been shot nor did he have any broken bones. Oshita snuck Takayama out of the hospital and the pair ended up at an abandoned movie theatre, there were so many abandoned places in Yokohama during the 1980's. Also there was Midori and she finally told the investigators the story of her and Narumi. The pair met in NYC five years ago, Midori was studying to be an artist and Narumi was buying some antiques. Two years later Narumi gave up her art studies as she wasn't that talented, upon returning to Yokohama she was hired by Narumi to be his personal secretary and he owns an elite art gallery. From what Midori said it appears she did know many of the illegal doings of Narumi and how he had ordered Hyodo to raid the Nakamitsu Pharmaceutical company. With that Narumi was able to make a three billion yen profit on their rival Cosmo Pharmaceutical's stock and Midori knew much more than I had thought. So that's why Narumi wanted Hyodo to rub her out, there was a bit more info that Midori told Takayama and Oshita about so now they have all the evidence they need to bring Narumi down. Oshita called the Minato precinct but not to talk to his chief Kondo, instead for the umpteenth time was going to slyly use the young investigator Machida.

 The pistols of Takayama and Oshita were locked up at the Minato station, Oshita told Machida to grab them and dash to the abandoned movie theater plus bring plenty of ammo! Which Machida did but it wasn't an easy task, how can he sneak guns and ammo out of the police station? Machida ended up dumping everything onto a vase which you can see above but Yuko had noticed Machida acting very suspicious and asked what was up? Secretly noticing Machida had been his chief Kondo who knew exactly what Machida was doing, Kondo may be overly furious with Takayama and Oshita but he also knows they're his top two investigators. So Kondo allowed Machida to slip out of the station while carrying the vase, his next destination was the movie theater. But before he left Machida had let Kondo know he had concrete evidence from a source(Oshita) that Narumi was their man, Kondo put out an APB on him and another one on Hyodo but of course we all know who will end up saving the day!

 Getting close to the end, did make those first two paragraphs a bit too big but that's meant the ones since then have been smaller. Now the two heroes are down to finding Narumi and Hyodo but where to begin? That search didn't even begin as Midori figured the pair would have fled to Narumi's secret villa in Arasaki, a secret to all save for Midori! Besides getting their guns back Machida also grabbed Takayama and Oshita a vehicle, no regular cars were available and just the cab for a trailer but that was good enough So off to the villa went Takayama, Oshita and Midori as a very dejected Machida had to stay behind. It was easy enough to enter Narumi's villa, perhaps too easy for was Hyodo laying a trap for the trio? YES he was and more on that coming right up, Takayama and Oshita were able to quickly locate Narumi which is right above. Narumi had been stabbed but it wasn't severe enough to kill him and you know that Hyodo had planned that out. Narumi told the investigators that Hyodo was going to be fleeing via a boat at any minute, the pier was nearby so that was the next destination for the pair. But just before they left the villa the duo discovered the computer disc that had been stolen from Nakamitsu Pharmaceutical, that and finding Narumi was like killing two birds with one stone!

 However there were two killings about to take place and they weren't of birds. Shortly after Takayama and Oshita departed from the villa, they had left Midori behind to care for Narumi, there was a huge bang and that screenshot is above. Hyodo had left a timed detonator behind and the whole villa blew up right in front of the investigator's eyes killing Midori and Narumi, if they had waited two more minutes they would have been history too! That blast was another reason to nab Hyodo but they better hurry as he's probably on the open seas by now. Which was the case and somehow within minutes Takayama and Oshita were able to get hold of a helicopter and it's driver, guess it's better at times not to know how things work out in a movie! So you can see below Hyodo had been spotted, he was on a boat with two men and don't know if they were hired hands or colleagues of Hyodo. The chase went on for a while and so many rounds of ammo were fired, of course all missed as it's close to impossible to hit a moving boat or helicopter.

 There's only about five minutes to go in the film, the boat Hyodo was on ended up docking at a pier on the other side of Yokohama Bay. Immediately after departing the boat Hyodo shot and killed the two men who had brought him there, once again it appeared he would flee to safety. That's not so easy to do with Takayama and Oshita on your tail, the helicopter landed and before long the pair had Hyodo trapped outside a warehouse. But once again it almost seemed as though Hyodo would escape, he is an ace shooter and if he entered the dark warehouse the investigators would be sitting ducks. However unknown to Hyodo before he entered the warehouse he was standing next to some barrels of fluorescent paint, Oshita shot at one which sprayed Hyodo with the substance. As you can see above when Hyodo entered the dark warehouse he was glowing green and was the sitting duck!!!! There was a brief shootout but with Hyodo unable to see either Takayama or Oshita he was soon gunned down and fell off a balcony to his death!

 So once again our heroes have solved a case, that makes 52 out of 52 if you include the 51 drama episodes! What took place in the final minute is above, the helicopter had taken off without the pair but Takayama grabbed hold a hold of a skid, with Oshita hanging on for dear life the helicopter returned over Yokohama Bay! That wraps up this movie review and this did turn out to be a fun movie which I recommend, mentioned why in the intro. I also have the second film in the series so that will be my next watch and will be having a pair of posts for it about a week from now or at least hope so. Do want to have a mini break from dramas and view more movies. Have quite a few older ones that I've never viewed so will hit some of those after the next "Abumbai Deka" movie.