Blu-ray Review: BAD CITY

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Sep 17, 2023 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Kaiko City is seen as a city of crime, plagued by poverty and violence. A tribunal has just acquitted Wataru Gojo (Lily Franky), the chairman of the Gojo conglomerate, of charges of bribery and collusion. In his speech to the press afterwards, Gojo announces that he will be stepping down from his position as chairman to run for mayor, in order to transform the city. However, Superintendent Prosecutor Kenzie Hirayama (Masaya Katô) knows that this is all an act, and that Gojo is a corrupt businessman, just doing this as a front to be able to push through his own agenda. He knows that Gojo has partnered up with Korean mafia boss Kim Seung-gi, to take out his rivals in the Sakurada gang, but needs more proof and to find/arrest Kim Seung-gi. So Hirayama forms a secret group called Division Zero to investigate, recruiting three members of the Violent Crimes Division whom he believes can be trusted—Lieutenant Satoshi Kumamoto (Katsuya Takagi), his partner Lieutenant Ryota Nishizaki (Masanori Mimoto), and their new partner, rookie Lieutenant Megumi Nohara (Akane Sakanoue). In charge of this new team is Koizumi Kaori (Mitsu Dan), from the Public Safety Division.

In the tradition of “in order to catch a thief, you must use a thief”, Hirayama has also enlisted the help of former Violent Crimes Division captain Makoto Torada (Hitoshi Ozawa), Kaori’s former boss. Detective Torada left the prosecutor’s office at the height of his career to join the police force, starting at bottom. While he was a great cop, he’s foul-mouthed, violent, has no etiquette, and likes to intimidate people. He’s also currently under arrest, being held on suspicion of murdering the son of the don of the Korean mafia. The superintendent offers to help clear these false charges if the captain agrees to assist with the mission,—though he won’t be allowed to handle any weapons. As Division Zero sets out to find and arrest Kim Seung-gi, they are on their own, a secret team that only the superintendent knows about. And they soon find themselves up against various deadly gangs and forces, including crime boss Madame (Rino Katase), who has a personal vendetta against the captain. They will need to use their smarts, experience, and fighting skills to find Kim Seung-gi, and take down any threats that get in their way.

Bad City is an action-packed crime thriller with some interesting twists and turns. As Division Zero tries to unlock the mystery of where Kim Seung-gi is and what he is up to, they find themselves up against bigger and bigger threats. Often severely outnumbered, that doesn’t deter them from putting up a fight, whether they’re up against knives, guns, or fists. Meanwhile, Captain Torada is must confront his past and the enemies he has made, while rookie Nohara is forced to face her fears and insecurities in order to step up and help the team. The main characters are quite likeable, and make a fun team. Longtime partners Kumamoto and Nishizaki work really well together, but are now saddled with this sweet but inexperienced young rookie, who needs to learn the ropes quickly before she puts the rest of the team in danger. Add to that, the wise and mysterious (but also a bit ornery) Captain Torada and you’ve got a unique blend of personalities.

The film takes some dark, unexpected dramatic turns, but also has a lot of humor thrown in. There are also some great action/fight sequences, which sometimes get a bit over-the-top, with the team taking on dozens of attackers all at once. While the general story should have been pretty straightforward, I sometimes found it a little difficult to keep track of what was going on. There are several different crime syndicates and organizations at play, and it was confusing at times who was working for which.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release of Bad City offers the film in both a new English dub as well as the original Japanese language track. On these foreign releases I generally try the English dub first so I can fully enjoy the visuals. While the English performances are generally quite good, there were moments where the Japanese track was superior. During fight scenes when there’s actually no dialogue, I sometimes found the grunts in the dub track to be a tad overdone, while the original language track sounded more natural—it seems like they could have just used the original track for these scenes instead of re-dubbing the dialogue-less action. The ambient sounds in these scenes also sounded a bit fuller in the original language track. The dialogue in the English dub and the English subtitles are not exactly the same. The differences were not huge (for example, referring to the groups as clans in one vs gangs in the other), and I think both had their plusses and minuses over the course of the film. The video presentation is quite good, with a nice clean and clear picture, with a solid level of detail throughout.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release is barebones, just including the film’s trailer and some previews for three other Well Go releases as bonus material. The disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase, and doesn’t include a digital copy. Our review copy did not include any slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:58:13)

1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: Japanese DTS-HDMA 5.1, Japanese Stereo, English DTS-HDMA 5.1, English Stereo
Subtitles: English

Extras:

Trailer (1:54)
Previews
- Eye For An Eye: The Blind Swordsman (1:36)
- Aporia (2:27)
- Night of the Assassin (1:24)

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Worth a Look

Bad City is an entertaining crime thriller, following your pretty typical story of a secret division of cops recruited to take down a corrupt element. The characters are likeable and fun, and there are some exciting action sequences and interesting twists and turns tot he story. Well Go’s Blu-ray release features solid picture and sound, but lacks any bonus material. Worth a look for fans of the genre.