Jo Shisido
stars as Tajima, a resourceful private eye who owns the Detective Bureau 2-3 of
the title. For reasons never clearly explained, he manifests a deep-seated and
simmering hate for the yakuza, an emotion that primes his motivational pump
throughout the film. Following a munitions theft from an American military base,
Tajima convinces the police to let him infiltrate one of two yakuza gangs
battling for control of the local gun-running trade. Posing as an ex-con, he
befriends a mid-level criminal named Manabe and gets close enough to the
underworld hierarchy to identify the major players and the location of the
guns. Even when his cover is blown, the quick-thinking detective improvises
schemes to remain useful to the competing gangs—that is, until the bad guys
lock him in an underground garage, pump gallons of motor oil into it and set it
on fire. Tajima escapes the inferno with the aid of what has to be the world’s
most powerful machinegun, then lights the fuse that ignites a battle royal
between the rival gangs—a ferocious encounter fought with guns and samurai swords—that
brings the film to a spectacularly convulsive conclusion.
Treatment
Suzuki was a
supreme visual stylist whose dynamic compositions constantly surprise and
stimulate the eye, like the startling overhead shot of Tajima listening to a
tape recording of the gang while seated in a cramped toilet stall. The
director’s lighting and color schemes were also becoming more daring and
surreal by 1963; witness the scenes in the apartment where Manabe and his
girlfriend meet for romantic trysts, imaged in flagrantly unrealistic,
super-saturated hues of yellow and red. The viewer can similarly sense Suzuki
pushing the narrative envelope through his sardonic, tongue-in-cheek attitude.
Much of the action is imbued with outlandish black humor, as when Manabe, a suspected
informer, is about to be released from police custody, while dozens of rival
gang members openly wait outside police headquarters with long-range rifles and
samurai swords in anticipation of knocking him off. Suzuki’s offbeat staging
also enhances the script’s occasional potshots at postwar greed and American
colonialism—the audacious pre-credit sequence depicts a Pepsi truck being
symbolically riddled with what seems like thousands of bullets.
Performance
Shishido was
a well-established action star at the time, thanks in part to
cheek-augmentation surgery that altered his features for a fuller, more rounded
look. In addition to his striking appearance, Shishido was versatile enough to
play out-and-out villains as well as chivalrous, if sardonic, heroes. Like
Suzuki, he was frustrated with routine scripts and always tried to inject
something extra into his performances, which made him the perfect leading man
for the iconic director. He plays Tajima with confident swagger, taking obvious
enjoyment in posing as a yakuza while playing both ends against the middle.
Shishido shows his hipster side, too, especially in a nightclub scene where his
ex-girlfriend is the featured attraction. Fearing that she might recognize him
and blow his cover, he jumps onstage and joins her in an extended song and
dance number, singing lyrics that shatter the fourth wall to comment
sardonically on the situation. Despite its absurdity, it’s one of the coolest
moments in the film. The remaining actors provide competent support, but the
film is thoroughly dominated by Shishido’s manic energy and cynical cool.
Coupled with Suzuki’s supercharged aesthetic, it all adds up to 88 minutes of
combustible, eye-popping fun.
3 SECONDS BEFORE EXPLOSION (1967)
This
late-sixties Nikkatsu spy flick, if less inspired than Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!, is nonetheless an
enjoyable romp set in the shadowy world of Japanese espionage. It’s
distinguished by its visual energy, fast pace and the solid charisma of leading
man Akira Kobayashi. Notwithstanding a labyrinthine plot (which requires
multiple viewings to sort out all the narrative nuances), 3 Seconds Before Explosion delivers more than its share of genre
pleasures.
Story
Kobayashi stars as
Yabuki, an ex-boxer recruited by a secret government intelligence bureau,
trained to become a ninja-like superspy, and tasked with recovering a cache of
stolen World War II-era jewels before it’s nabbed by one of several competing
criminal outfits. Complicating matters is the presence of an old acquaintance
of Yabuki’s named Yamawaki, himself a former government agent and now a
freelance security specialist employed by one of the underworld organizations.
The two former friends butt heads repeatedly during the course of events before
Yamawaki eventually renounces his mercenary ways and joins forces with Yabuki
to do the right thing. Toss in an ex-Nazi smuggler; a sadistic, scar-faced
villain; sultry, lingerie-clad femme fatales; old loyalties and new betrayals;
plus double crosses galore; and you have one hell of a lot of narrative terrain
to navigate before the titular explosion occurs.
Treatment
Director
Motomu Ida is a rather obscure figure in Japanese cinema, having directed only
a handful of films between 1966 and 1969. He’s no Seijun Suzuki, but he manages
to fill the frame with plenty of action and energy while maintaining a
breakneck pace. He grabs the viewer’s attention right off the bat with a
dynamic opening sequence in which Yabuki is subjected to a high-tech
sound-and-light torture. This turns out to be part of his training, one of
several instances in which the storyline makes a disorienting sudden left turn.
Yet despite the filmmakers’ attempts to impart a subversive tone, 3 Seconds Before Explosion is actually
somewhat conservative stylistically, especially compared to other Japanese
action movies released the same year. At times, the film feels like it was made
in 1957, not 1967. This is especially apparent during exposition scenes, which
tend to be unimaginatively staged and indifferently acted. Ida seems on firmer
ground with the action sequences, including a cool rooftop pursuit in which
Yabuki leaps from building to building while under heavy fire, and several
roughhouse brawls between Yabuki and Yamawaki (although these are sometimes
flawed by clearly missed kicks and punches). Ida also generates a few moments
of genuine suspense, most notably when good guy Yabuki is ordered to gun down a
helpless female spy in order to establish his criminal credibility with one of
the gangs.
Performance
The film’s
best asset is Kobayashi, who enjoyed a highly successful career throughout the
sixties and seventies in numerous action films, his handsome, almost boyish
features belying a gritty intensity and considerable acting chops. Kobayashi
spends much of the film in stealth mode decked out in tight black pants and
pullover, although he also fills out a snazzy brown suit with admirable
panache. He’s smooth and slick and always in control, whether he’s dodging
bullets, throwing down with Yamawaki, making high-wire escapes from killer
thugs, or, most dangerous of all, resisting the charms of a duplicitous female.
Kobayashi brings conviction to even the most ludicrous moments in 3 Seconds Before Explosion, and his
charisma lifts the film to a higher level than it probably deserves.
(Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards
and 3 Seconds Before Explosion are
both available on DVD from Kino. Please visit www.kino.com
for more information.)