This is a film that tries very hard to be stylistic and visually stimulating but I can't see anyone who can't see the obviousness of the story itself. Story starts in Paris, France where a French "Dirty Harry" named Hubert Fiorentini (Jean Reno) gets a call from Tokyo, Japan that his old girlfriend has died and he has been named in the will so he jumps on the next flight for the reading. Once he gets there he is met by Maurice aka: Momo (Michel Muller) whom he has worked with before as an agent for the French Embassy and he takes him to where the body of Miko (Yuki Sakai) is to be cremated. At the reading he is handed a strange key and told that Miko has left him some money in her account but the big news is that he is a father to a girl named Yumi (Ryoko Hirosue).
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Hubert doesn't tell Yumi he is her father but they head to the bank to check on the money that was left to both of them and it turns out to be $200 million! After learning that he notices that he is being followed and it turns out to be the Yakuza who want their money back that Miko stole.
This film was directed by Gerard Krawczyk who shows that he can make a film with a visual style and it was written by Luc Besson who is a very good director himself. While Krawczyk shows style the problem is that he overdoes it at times and every person who gets shot ends up flying backwards about 20 feet like they were hit by a bus! The main attraction (For me, anyway) is the clash of cultures and I can watch anything that takes place in Japan and I find it a fascinating place to look at in a film. The performances are not to bad and Reno's role is a lot like the one he had in "The Professional" where he plays a gun toting tough guy hanging around a young cute girl. Hirosue is a popular performer in Japan and she does possess a genuine goofy charm but the script doesn't allow for her to be anything but an instrument for Reno's actions. This isn't a bad film and it has enough action to keep you from falling asleep but the script is so predictable and is devoid of any real surprises which keeps this from being anything special and it's definitely something that we have all seen before.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Hubert doesn't tell Yumi he is her father but they head to the bank to check on the money that was left to both of them and it turns out to be $200 million! After learning that he notices that he is being followed and it turns out to be the Yakuza who want their money back that Miko stole.
This film was directed by Gerard Krawczyk who shows that he can make a film with a visual style and it was written by Luc Besson who is a very good director himself. While Krawczyk shows style the problem is that he overdoes it at times and every person who gets shot ends up flying backwards about 20 feet like they were hit by a bus! The main attraction (For me, anyway) is the clash of cultures and I can watch anything that takes place in Japan and I find it a fascinating place to look at in a film. The performances are not to bad and Reno's role is a lot like the one he had in "The Professional" where he plays a gun toting tough guy hanging around a young cute girl. Hirosue is a popular performer in Japan and she does possess a genuine goofy charm but the script doesn't allow for her to be anything but an instrument for Reno's actions. This isn't a bad film and it has enough action to keep you from falling asleep but the script is so predictable and is devoid of any real surprises which keeps this from being anything special and it's definitely something that we have all seen before.