SUMMARY
To combat the rising crime rate, the Japanese Government created the
Kerberos (Hellhounds) Police Force. Infused with a strong sense of justice, these
"super cops" set out to tame the wild streets of the beleaguered
country.
In their pursuit of justice, the methods they employed were quite severe. After the beating death of a minor
criminal, the Japanese
Government ordered the unit disbanded. When the Kerberos refused to
surrender, the Government branded them as outlaws, and rounded
them up. The leader of the rebellion, Koichi Todome, was the only
one to escape death or imprisonment.
Inui, a former member of the Kerberos, has just been released from prison.
He travels to China, to look for his former leader Todome. Blaming
Todome for his imprisonment, Inui wants to
find him and kill him. Hooking up with Mei, Todome's girlfriend, the
two of begin a journey across China to learn of Todome's whereabouts.
Inui is not the only one searching for Todome. The secret police
of the Japanese government have sent assassins to eliminate the leader of
the Kerebos riot.
Time is running out for Todome and Inui. Who will find Todome
first?
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: A lot better than the Japanese VHS release.
The grainy, washed out look of the source is gone. There are no
noticeable pixels or technical
errors.
AUDIO: The
Japanese 2.0 audio track is sharp and clear, with no distortion or audio
hiss. As this is a dialogue based movie,
there is not a lot of need for surround sound. During the action segments, the sound is pretty evenly distributed across
the sound stage.
EDITS: No edits.
EXTRAS: The Theatrical Trailer and English credits are all your gonna get.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: Unlike the prequel "The Red
Spectacles", this is very much like Mamoru Oshii movie. There
is a lot of deep introspection, heavy handed social commentary, and very,
very slow pacing. Despite similarities to revenge flicks,
"Payback" it is not.
ACTING: What
acting. Everyone in this film is very sedate, requiring little or no
acting skills. Even the wild Shigeru Chiba is restrained, making the
once wild Todome nothing more than a cipher.
FAN SERVICE:
There are plenty of references to "The Red Spectacles".
The character of Todome returns, as does the gun-toting mimes from the
first movie. Fans of Jin-Roh will recognize the "protect gear" worn by
the Kerebos cops. Like all his movies, Mamoru Oshii's dog does creep
up here and there, so be on the look out.
CONCLUSION
The Red Spectacles was an entertaining and wild black comedy.
Unlike his other films, Oshii seemed to have a sense of humor, and a
red-tinted view of the world. The over the top performances by
Shigeru Chiba and the cast, along with the striking visuals, really help
to elevate the film to almost cult like status.
Unfortunately,
"Stray Dogs" is nothing like that. I don't know if it's
supposed to be a revenge film, or a "voyage of discovery" film.
What I do know is that it is a very boring film. In essence, it's
three people driving around the China countryside, talking. Like the
mind-numbing "Party 7", a cool premise gets bogged down in
pointless dialogue, pretensions visuals, and minimal action.
Majority of
this movie is spent viewing the mundane. Inui and Mei driving.
Inui and Todome eating. Mei walking and doing laundry. What ever
deep meaning these images were supposed to convey escapes me. These
extended montages of normalcy come off as pathetic ways to eat up screen
time.
I think the movie would have been better if they had replaced the
montages with scenes from the Kerebos riot. That way, not only could
we have seen what happened, but understand why Todome's desertion was such a
big issue for Inui. Sure it's a contrived plot device, but it would
have given us something interesting to look at other than long zooms of
washing machines.
In case you were wondering the events in "Stray
Dog" takes place before The Red Spectacles.
One good thing about this movie is that we learn what caused Todome to
return to Japan. We also learn what happened to the "protect
gear" that Bunmei was so intent on finding in "The Red Spectacles".
"Stray
Dog: Kerebos Panzer Cops" is not Oshii's best work. It's a slow
and mostly uninteresting addition to the "Kerebos" world.
While it's not a bad movie, it's no where near as interesting as "The
Red Spectacles". Get it if you need for your collection to be
complete.
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