It is not only Hollywood that has taken to making big-screen versions of hit TV series (and found that they can make for commercial successes). Rather, Japan’s big box-office earner of 2007, Hero, brings the righteous and likeable legal eagles of a 2001 hit TV series and the 2006 follow-up TV special into a full-length feature film that looks like it’ll not only please fans of this saga’s small screen versions but also make new fans of cinema-goers yet to view a single episode of those earlier Fuji TV productions.
With his leonine mane of dyed red hair, Hero’s main man, Takuya Kimura, can’t help but stand out from the crowd pretty much anywhere he goes. Fortunately, the popular heartthrob possesses sufficient acting chops and charm to pull off the role of Kohei Kuryu, a Tokyo public prosecutor who doesn’t dress at all like your usual lawyer-type and goes about his job in ways hard to believe a real-life Japanese government office would allow to happen.
Not that all this should be taken to mean that Kuryu’s not a good attorney. Indeed, as he goes on to amply show over the course of this high-minded, entertaining offering, he’s intelligent, principled, caring and dogged. In short, precisely the kind of lawyer you would want to have on your side of the court, whatever your case.
At the same time though, as is hinted more than once in the movie, Kuryu appears to be one of those individuals who has attracted his fair share of trouble in the past. For instance, early on in Hero, it is established that the independent-minded individual is newly returned to Tokyo after having been exiled to out-of-town posts for the past six years; posts in which he has not been in contact with the cutely geeky Maiko Amamiya (Takako Matsu), his once – and once more – loyal aide and wannabe girlfriend.
Although their relationship has the makings of a classic soap opera, it is enjoyably tempered with the kind of comedy moments that are also pleasingly scattered throughout the movie as a whole. For the most part, however, both Hero and its hero’s focus is more on the manslaughter case that Kuryu gets re-assigned to by his boss (Takuzo Kadano) because the original lawyer working on it, his adulterous colleague Shibayama (Hiroshi Abe), is being taxed by divorce proceedings initiated by his wife.
As Kuryu pursues the truth and seeks for justice to be served in his own idiosyncratic way, events out of court become interesting indeed, and not least because they allow glimpses into the lives of his committed team of colourful colleagues (played by Nene Otsuka, Norito Yashima and Fumiyo Kohinata) and acquaintances. Unlike with many other legal dramas, however, this film’s courtroom scenes are seriously compelling, with Toshihiro Matumoto being outstanding as defence attorney Kazuomi Gamo in a work full of strong acting performances and which, for all of its already considerable 130-minute length, leaves the viewer wanting to see much more.
Yvonne Teh
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