mooglemania
'Action'? 'Comedy'? For me it was a drama. It was depressing to watch this misogynistic filth. Out of three or so main female characters, one was shot, the other kidnapped and the last was put in her place. What I mean is, she started out as the leader of the investigation but ended up losing her position, her future unclear as the male protagonist got the girl and was credited with getting some of the work done, despite his input being less than 10%. Don't get me wrong, he put in the hours and the work, but he was just so terrible at it. He ran to the wrong place, tripped alarms, lost suspects and left a key witness to fend for herself and generally acted like he's fresh out of the police academy- no, like a struggling minor in some sort of fat camp. It made me mad to see this inept buffoon cruise by while some poor woman got the brunt end of the stick. And why? Because she's pretty. Allegedly. From the second she appeared everyone undermined her authority all because she was pretty, so she must've been a politically placed unqualified dolt. Meanwhile everyone thinks the main guy is a hero despite all the times he messes up.The movie is way too long, moves at a snail's pace and as far as comedy goes, one could get more laughs from Dane Cook (getting hit. Not his actual 'jokes'. If you can call them that.). And ignore anyone who says "If you have knowledge of x culture or y thing then you'll appreciate this" because that person is desperately speaking out of his or her ass trying to justify this turd of a movie and it's just now worth it, read a book, play a video game, it'll be time better spent.
TheHande
'Bayside Shakedown 2' is something of an opposite to its predecessor. Its opening is action-packed and fun, but the meat of the film doesn't hold up quite as well. Once again the film is a successful blend of serious cop drama and comedy with the less serious parts evening out the more serious ones.Over-all the film just isn't as intriguing as its predecessor. The plot-twist comes a tad too early at which point the viewers stop caring about the badguys who weren't all that interesting. Of the side-plots, the vampire one is my favorite but otherwise the setting of the film didn't impress me as much as the predecessor.The film is not bad by any measure, however, and is ultimately recommendable. It simply didn't give the same feeling of fulfillment as the first one did.
Hyokano
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.
ottaky
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.