Crime Hunter 2: Bullets Of Betrayal enjoyed its North American Premiere at the fourth edition of Big Bad Film Fest
Early aughts action cinema is back (as if it ever left), and it’s making it’s way through the festival scene these days with several V-Cinema guilty pleasures from the mind of director Shundo Okawa with the Crime Hunter trilogy. The first film is gladly something Asian film fans can own thanks to Arrow Video’s handling, and you can read more of my thoughts by tapping here, while I’m pleased to build on my analysis of Okawa’s work reuniting with actor Masanori Sera in the lead role once more in Crime Hunter 2: Bullets Of Betrayal.
The formula here follows the same route taken with the first film as the Japanese V-Cinema brand required it, with Okawa lending his creativity to the millieu through snackable, more commercial action delights that helped maintain the home video boom of the eighties. You get a full handle of all the aesthetics and tropes as well with shots of the film’s Little Tokyo setting, home to a seedy nightlife allure and streets filled with prostitutes, busy traffic and movie theaters with marquee titles featuring Batman and Lethal Weapon 2 for good measure.
At the film’s core is the return of Joe (a.k.a. Joker), a cop whose latest assignment finds him tussling with underworld foes to bring a rogue undercover cop back from the fray. What he doesn’t know brings him to yet another close call with death as secrets are revealed that force him to choose between saving a life, and his own survival. With the help (or harm) of a mysterious call girl named Reiko (Reiko Hayama), Joe is thrust into battle once more, between an uncompromising police force, his own conscience, and a former friend whose odds of surviving are running out.
For all this and more, you get a delightful star and director reunion, and a feasibly entertaining spectacle that stands the test of time depending on where your tastes are; Nudity and sexual imagery are par for the course in the Crime Hunter saga, coupled with a beautiful lead in co-star Hayama who’s more than meets the eye every step of the way, and comes in clutch at the very end in rather explosive fashion. You also get to see Seiji Matano back in the fray, this time as a menacing fully-formed second-in-command villain going toe-to-toe with Sera from one showdown to the next. Actor Eric Douglas turns in a decent performance of his supporting role as the sole standout Caucasian cast member of the lot.
At sixty-eight minutes and some change including film credits, Crime Hunter 2: Bullets Of Betrayal doesn’t keep you waiting or guessing between scene transitions before the action kicks in. Seiichi Kyoda’s saxophone-fueled score ebulliently captures the noir vibe for a story befitting of a V-Cinema timepleaser, played to the backdrop of neon-lit awnings, Johns looking for a quick lay, and Sera tearing his way through a dangerous world, eating up as many bullets as his body can handle just before getting his guy, and having a bittersweet smoke as he leaves behind a crime scene riddled with devastation and tragedy…
That’s pretty much Crime Hunter 2: Bullets Of Betrayal in a nutshell, and arguably the same can be said of the first film. That’s the niche here, and if you’re down and initiated like the rest of the viewing audience, grab a seat and a snack and enjoy this latest resurgence of Japanese home video action while you can.