This is an interesting film that abruptly changes pace--something that occasionally pays off well, while other times it doesn't. The film begins with Jean Reno playing a Dirty Harry-type cop in France. His answer to every problem seems to be punching people in the face or shooting them. For some inexplicable reason(!), his bosses aren't particularly happy with his methods and suspend him. Then, completely out of the blue, he finds out what happened to his long-lost Japanese wife--she just recently died and her lawyer has contacted Reno about the will. When he arrives in Japan, in addition to being the executor of the will, he also finds out he's been a father for the 19 years since his wife vanished. Now, with a "kooky" new daughter in tow, they are off on some violent adventures.
As for the daughter, she was fine later in the film, but at first she really came off as an obnoxious person and it was hard to see how Reno could resist punching her, as well! Fortunately, this very clichéd bouncy young girl finally began acting believably as the film shifted into overdrive. This shift was when the Yakuza (like the Japanese mob) show up and seem eager to kill Reno and his kooky kid! Throughout all this, Reno is mesmerizing. He's a fine actor and here he carries the entire film. The problem, aside from the distracting girl, is that oddly someone thought it was important to dub this film into English. With Reno, it wasn't so bad--he did his own dubbing since he speaks English so well. But as for most everyone else, they were lousy voice actors--most of the Frenchmen sounded just like Americans. Also, it just made no sense why most of the Japanese people spoke English most of the time. As for me, I always prefer a subtitled film. Still, despite these shortcomings, this is a very good action and father-daughter film--worth your time especially for Reno's seemingly effortless performance.
As for the daughter, she was fine later in the film, but at first she really came off as an obnoxious person and it was hard to see how Reno could resist punching her, as well! Fortunately, this very clichéd bouncy young girl finally began acting believably as the film shifted into overdrive. This shift was when the Yakuza (like the Japanese mob) show up and seem eager to kill Reno and his kooky kid! Throughout all this, Reno is mesmerizing. He's a fine actor and here he carries the entire film. The problem, aside from the distracting girl, is that oddly someone thought it was important to dub this film into English. With Reno, it wasn't so bad--he did his own dubbing since he speaks English so well. But as for most everyone else, they were lousy voice actors--most of the Frenchmen sounded just like Americans. Also, it just made no sense why most of the Japanese people spoke English most of the time. As for me, I always prefer a subtitled film. Still, despite these shortcomings, this is a very good action and father-daughter film--worth your time especially for Reno's seemingly effortless performance.