Wara no tate (2013) Reviews

• Saw it on opening night!

  ebossert2013-04-30

  Shield of Straw (2013) (Japanese Thriller) Viewed on April 26th, 2013 at Shinuku Piccadilly Cinema in Tokyo, Japan. No subtitles. After a young girl is murdered, the grandfather publicly issues a $10 million bounty on the head of the prime suspect (an already convicted rapist/murderer played by Tatsuya Fujiwara). An idealistic cop (Takao Osawa) is assigned the protect and transport the suspect despite the repeated assassination attempts. This film by Takashi Miike is absorbing and pushes the protagonist's ideals to the limit, especially considering how the suspect is obviously a homicidal maniac whose protection endangers the lives of both police officers and citizens. As the bodycount of innocent deaths rise, it becomes more and more difficult to justify the suspects' protection. There are a few good action moments to enjoy, but the tension is expressed more so in the threat than the actual violence itself. One thing I would like to point out is with regard to the performances by both lead actors, which are very strong. This is a bit surprising given their histories. I would not personally classify Tatsuya Fujiwara as a "great" actor, and he does not belong in the same ranks as other Japanese stars like Hiroshi Abe and Koji Yakusho. That said, he has definitely grown on me over the past few years with his performances in "Parade" (2009) and now this film. I see him building a respectable career into the future. Then there's Takao Osawa, a man who has had his fair share of cartoonish and/or stiff performances. But here he turns in the best performance of his career, and actually carries the film on his shoulders from start to finish. Ironically, I also recently saw him give a good performance in "Strawberry Night" (2012), so he is also growing on me. Miike's direction is impressive as always. He represents a great example of a once cult director who has retained his filmmaking qualities despite turning to mainstream projects. In fact, I'd say that his "hit or miss" career has actually grown more consistent in recent years. Fans should see "Shield of Straw" as soon as possible. P.S. - This film was apparently panned at the Cannes Film Festival, which is not much of a surprise since it's probably the most "commercial" film in competition.

• Master-filmmaker Miike goes deep. Never felt so good watching his work.

  killahdelfin2013-12-02

  Shield of Straw probably is Miike's most humane and ''deep''-film. After watching it you will think about it for hours. Does it place a mirror in front of our politically-correct pseudo-''good mind'' society and say : ''Look how absurd and self-righteous you are!'' Does it show us a true modern hero -Mirari ? One who stayed true to his principles when other were driven by greed and weakness? Does it examine the psychology of ''our money is everything'' mindset? Almost limitless food for thought. And that s what makes a film excellent. Not to mention the good as always story , acting , cinematography , soundtrack , etc. Some say Miike went mainstream with his film- wrong! Sorry for you-better watch Transformers then. After watching it you will think about it for hours. As always the master filmmaker knows how to grip the viewer and no letting loose. Unique , gripping , provocative...and good. Watching Miike ,known for his bizarre and brutal films, never felt so right. 8/10 Drama Miike-style.

• Philosophical drama dialogues meet a brutal action-thriller ride

  kluseba2014-07-24

  "Wara no Tate" or "Shield of Straw" is a Japanese action-thriller and drama based on a novel by Kiuchi Kazuhiro. This movie convinces with a balanced mixture of brutal and gripping action sequences on one side and philosophical discussions on the other. It tells the intriguing tale of a disgusting psychopath who needs an ambitious police escort to get transported from a rural town to the capital Tokyo where he should be sentenced by a public prosecutor. The grand-father of the psychopath's latest victim, who is terminally ill with a heart disease, wants the man to get killed at all costs. He bribes editors and reporters to announce that the billionaire is willing to offer one billion yen to anyone who would kill the psychopath and then turn her- or himself in to the police and prosecutor to get judged for her or his actions. The vengeful billionaire goes even further and bribes criminals, nurses and even police officers to get the psychopath killed. Five courageous police officers get the dangerous job to get the psychopath to Tokyo via transporters, trains and even cars as they have to face one hundred twenty-five Million potential opponents. Soon, their conscience come into play. Is it worth to risk your lives to save a monster that is probably going to get sentenced to death anyway? Are their accuracy, honour and sense of responsibility strong enough to bring their job to an end? And is there even a traitor within the small group who wants to get the Money and help the billionaire to get his worst enemy killed? "Wara no Tate" is not only an entertaining but also thought-provoking piece of art that works very well despite a few minor lengths during a running time of over two hours. The question the viewer is constantly asking her- or himself is: Would I hand the psychopath over to the prosecutor or would I kill him, get the hefty reward and go to jail? This movie is clearly above average not only due to its balanced mixture of profound dramatic elements and vivid action sequences but also due to many excellent actors. From the honest police officers and the scary psychopath over the sick and grieving old man and many potential headhunters, every single actress and actor does an excellent job no matter if his or her screening time is about two hours or just two minutes. The different characters are profound, diversified and credible and many of them develop in an interesting way throughout the movie. The greatest actresses and actors are the intelligent female cop and single mother portrayed by Matsushima Nanako, the desperate and lonely police officer with a strong will portrayed by Ohsawa Takao and especially the wicked psychopath portrayed by Fujiwara Tatsuya. The psychopath gets more and more evil as the movie progresses and especially the last sequences show us the abyss of the human soul. On my list of the most evil characters in cinema, I would place him third just behind the sinister serial killer Kyung-chul portrayed by Choi Min-sik in the Korean psycho-thriller "I Saw The Devil" and the evil spirit Bob portrayed by Frank Silva in the "Twin Peaks" series and movie. Apart of the balanced storyline and the acting performances, Japanese cult director Miike Takashi did one of his most memorable works in recent years. The images, setting and special effects are well employed and feel real and spontaneous yet wisely arranged and chosen. There are neither shaky camera passages as in many Hollywood movies nor an overload of predictable and stereotypical visual effects. Miike proves once again that he is one of the best current directors and he took advantage of a decent budget and excellent cinematographers involved in this project. The only reasons why somebody could not like this movie is because of its mixture of philosophical dialogues and grisly action sequences. Action fans might get bored by the dialogues while fans of more sophisticated dramas might find the movie too repugnant for its violent content. Any open-minded cinephile with a soft spot for Japanese extremes should though watch this high-quality movie that gets easily in my top twenty of the best movies of the year. It's a shame that there were only three people in the cinema when I watched this film as this movie is definitely better than many of the exchangeable Hollywood sequels where you exactly know what to expect.

• Oh my, what a picnic

  Bantam2014-07-10

  Being a fan of Miike flicks, I was rather looking forward to that one. The premise sounded rather intriguing: 120 million potential enemies and a handful of cops. 'Smoking Aces' came to mind, but if Miike directs it... I was rather surprised by the first half of the movie, it looked like it could really live up to my expectations. Unfortunately the second half goes places I did not expect - and the ending is, IMO, a total disaster. Seriously, the same man who directed cinematic awesomeness like '13 Assassins', 'Ichimei', 'Sukiyaki Western Django', 'IZO' and, heck, 'Zebraman' comes up with this? To be fair, he tried to place some emphasis on the characters and their motivations, but that want all sideways. At times the logic in this movies is beyond me, same goes for some decisions made by some of the characters. As well as those "coincidences" (like the one near the end where they find a car, who's driver is *wait for it* the father of the murder's first victim). Meh. While the last stand-off had real potential (may I direct your attention to the sword in the cane), it goes all mushy and does not fit the rest of the movie. All in all, I am rather disappointed by that one. I will, however, check out other of his movies, and see if that is just a one time glitch by the maestro or if he's losing it.

• Comment not a review

  grahamcarter-12018-08-31

  Enjoyed it! Straight forward (for a Miike film). It would be a great double bill with Clint Eastwood's 1977 flick The Gauntlet. It is very close in plot and theme with The Gauntlet, which I've found to be an overlooked title that, although a then contemporary cop drama it could have been a spaghetti western (not surprising considering Eastwood's origins with the spaghetti and it's links to samurai films). Becomes much darker as it becomes more personal than political in comparison to The Gauntlet; however I think that paints an adequate picture of Shield Of Straw. Check it out!