Mar

14

2008

Hero

Posted by luna6


Name: Hero
Release Date: September 8, 2007
Country: Japan
Director: Masayuki Suzuki
Starring: Takuya Kimura, Takako Matsu
Runtime: 130 min
Editor Rating: 6.5
Users Rating: 6.23 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (13 votes)

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“Hero” is based off the immensely popular 2001 Fuji television show of the same name. Back in 2001, the television “Hero” garnered ratings in excess of 30%, an unheard of number at the time. After watching the movie “Hero” I can certainly understand why the television was such a hit in its native Japan. Simply put the star studded cast of “Hero” makes watching the movie a whole lot of fun, even with its run-of-the-mill script.

For the movie version of “Hero”, eccentric District Attorney Kuryu (Takuya Kimura) returns to Tokyo after a six year absence. Dressed in tattered denim jeans and hooded sweatshirts, you would never guess Kuryu is an attorney. His assistant Maiko Amamiya (Takako Matsu) still works at the D.A.’s office and is ready to help Kuryu. Before Kuryu has time to settle in, his boss assigns Kuryu a new case. The case formerly belonged to Shibayama (Hiroshi Abe), but because of Shibayama’s divorce proceedings, his boss would rather have Kuryu handle the case.

At first the case seems fairly straight forward. The defendant, Keiseke Umebayashi, appears to be a hot-tempered young man who beat up another man in a fit of rage resulting in the other person’s unintentional death. They also have Umebayashi’s confession and an an eye witness to the fight. Case closed right? Not quite.

When Kuryu arrives in court a red flag immediately goes off. Kuryu notices that Umebayshi has one of the most renown “not-guilty” attorneys in all of Japan, named Gamo (Koshiro Matsumoto - Takako Matsu’s real life father), as his personal attorney. Kuryu and his staff are stumped on how a low level street kid could retain such an elite lawyer. Furthermore, it doesn’t take Gamo long to refute all the seemingly clear cut evidence brought forth by the D.A.’s office. Kuryu and his staff must now work furiously to uncover the mystery behind Umebayshi and his elite connections.

The hows and whys behind the Umebayshi case is unveiled without much thrills, but rather in a light hearted manner staying true to its television lineage. The movie also makes a side trip to Busan, South Korea and features a cameo appearance by popular South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee, but don’t watch “Hero” for this reason alone. Kuryu and and Amamiya are in South Korea for only 15 minutes of the movie’s runtime and Byung-hun Lee appears in two scenes that lasts no longer than a minute combined. (Nice way for Byung-hun Lee to pick up a paycheck, but not so nice for the fans that wanted more from the Korean connection). Furthermore, the filming locations chosen for the backdrop of their Korean trip was lousy, never revealing any of the charm found in the port city of Busan. The best thing about their 15 minute escapade to Korea was to hear Takako Matsu recite a few Korean lines in her charmingly broken manner.

As stated earlier, the storyline found in “Hero” is strictly marginal stuff, which would normally kill most movies, but “Hero” isn’t your normal movie. Like Umebayashi himself, the movie holds some very elite connections. Those connections would be with the cast of “Hero”, who are able take something so remedial and turn it into such a charming affair. The chemistry between Takuya Kimura and Takako Matsu seem real and their relationship turns out to be the true drawing card of the film. The impressive supporting cast (Hiroshi Abe, Teruyuki Kagawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Ittoku Kishibe, Haruka Ayase) collectively give the movie a feel good ensemble cast type of feel, something like “The Wow-Choten Hotel” but with a weaker script. Granted, “Hero” is mostly a lightweight shtick, but the movie works anyways because of its charming cast of performers.

buy Hero from YesAsia

Cast:
Takuya Kimura - Ko’hei Kuryu
Takako Matsu - Maiko Amemiya

Hiroshi Abe - Mitsugu Shibayama
Haruka Ayase
Takuzo Kadono- Yutaka Ushimaru
Teruyuki Kagawa
Masanobu Katsumura- Tatsuo Egami
Ittoku Kishibe
Kiyoshi Kodama- Toshimitsu Nabeshima
Fumiyo Kohinata- Takayuki Suitsugu
Ryoko Kuninaka
Byung-hun Lee
Bokuzo Masana- Guardman
Koshiro Matsumoto
Kiichi Nakai
Nene Otsuka- Misuzu Nakamura
Gregory Pekar- TV Shopping Host
Tamori
Norito Yashima- Kenji Endo

If you like this movie you may enjoy: The Wow-Choten Hotel, I Just Didn’t Do It, The Star of Prefecture Government


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2007 Movie Reviews, Japanese Movies, Movie Reviews |

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2 Comments so far

  1. 2 Antony Williams Says: March 21, 2008

    i loved the TV series.
    can’t imagine this will be as good.

  2. 1 rubie Says: March 16, 2008

    Hi! I’m an ardent fan of Lunapark6 (for the Korean movie reviews).. always love reading the comments & everything.

    Finally, the HERO review is up. Thanks so much for it! But yeah.. Byung-hun Lee’s cameo is just way too short for the movie.. a brief scene, no doubt! ^^

    Just to bring up a point though, Lee was actually making a pro bono appearance for the Japanese feature although he might get some reward.. possibly after the box-office record it had in Japan.

    http://www.broasia.com/lwboard/lwboard.php?act=view&bid=NEWS&tpl=news&pg=1&no=243