Bayside Shakedown 2 (2003)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I'm Japanese, and I really enjoyed this film. This is set in Tokyo, and the system works totally differently compared to all others around the world, so I wouldn't expect for any foreign countries to understand the concept of the film. Besides, it's originally in Japanese. What do you expect if the lines sound cheesy? The sense of humor between laguages are impossible to be translated directly and understood at the sametime, so you can't really tell if it's funny or not unless you watch it with real Japanese viewers. So if you're going to watch this film, don't think too much of the lines. Just go with the flow and enjoy what you see! That's how international films should be watched.

The same cast is back with a much bigger budget with their success on the first blockbuster movie! You can tell right off the start they spent a lot of money on this. It has the same style as the first with yet another awesome title intro and music score. I thought it was well crafted and much bigger than most Hollywood movies. I believe this movie was out in theaters in Japan while Battle Royale 2 was. And I can see why this movie was #1 and Battle Royale 2 was lower down the rank. Battle Royale 2 was a major disappointment, and was stressing to watch with the constant screaming and random shooting, a total Saving Private Ryan rip-off, and ridiculous ending! Well, I guess that is a totally different review but I can see why this movie was #1, as it was MUCH MORE enjoyable to watch. The pace of the movie moves pretty fast. I wanted to see more! But it had to end. The story wasn't completely mind blowing but it definitely had its moments and kept me focus all the way to the end. I don't know why but I actually got a bit teary in this one scene!What was sort of a letdown was the criminals in this one did not stand out much. The idea of the criminal type was cool but I expected them to do more and be a little more strong and threatening. But this is more of a comedy so I guess they can't really go deep into that direction? Well, comedy and drama is a hard mix but they do a pretty good job.If you plan on watching this movie with English subtitles, just be warned, they aren't done that great. Especially the subtitles in one scene, I guess isn't much of a big deal there, but the subtitles says apples when it's really suppose to be pear! That mistake stood out the most but there were others.Bayside Shakedown 2 has an awesome soundtrack, fun and likable cast, great cinematography, and it's just a fun movie to watch that is not to be taken so seriously. It is mainly a comedy after all, not the "Dumb and Dumber" kind though. The making of the film was quite interesting to watch too!Definitely worth a watch, especially if you've seen the first one.Overall Rating: 7/10

Bayside Shakedown 2: Save the Rainbow BridgeThis is the second feature-length spin-off from the Japanese TV series and, like the first, it feels over long - as if there's a really good 60 minute TV show trapped inside a 2 hour movie.There's precious little in the way of back-story, so if you're not up to speed on the relationships, particularly between Aoshima and Muroi, and the internal politics, you'll probably end up a little confused because (I'd guess) this film really doesn't stand up very well out of context.On the plus side, if you like the series and / or the first film, you'll enjoy this one too because the formula and cast survive intact - the only real difference being a larger budget which the producers decided to spend on bigger set pieces and more location shoots. Oh - one other change between this film and the previous efforts is that the bumbling local police chief's role has been virtually eliminated - which is a good thing.

I saw this because Zatoichi was standing room only, and I was influenced by the many trailers I'd seen for this where Oda Yuuji (who plays Aoshima) appears. He's rather good-looking, I think! Additionally, the setting is Odaiba, the man-made island in Tokyo connected by the Rainbow Bridge (hence the title), which I'd visited mere days ago.Some people may have problems with this film due to it's refusal to stick to one genre - really, that's their problem. It covers drama, police mystery, comedy, and holds my attention doing so.For those worried about following the plot, it's worth knowing that it's not too difficult at all as many of the jokes are visual. However, you may need to be able to switch between formal/informal Japanese to get the whole story. In any case, my monolingual (English language) father had few problems. If he can understand and enjoy it, anyone can! :)