'The Blood Of Wolves (2018)' is inspired by films such as 'Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973)' and 'Shinjoku Triad Society (1995)', focusing on a rookie policeman who is partnered with a seasoned yet morally grey detective and tasked with preventing a gang war from igniting between Hiroshima's two most prominent gangs. The thing is basically concerned mainly with trying to decipher what side the detective is really on. Throughout the piece, he does some truly inappropriate things - including straight-up torturing suspects - but he always seems to have the right intentions, despite taking cash from numerous criminals along the way. He's an enigma, for sure, and his abrasive personality actually makes it rather hard to root for him a lot of the time. That's why our perspective character is an important inclusion; he gives us somebody to get behind and care about straight away. The protagonist isn't as interesting as his callous counterpart, for sure, but he's a good way of examining him, of coming to appreciate just what he represents. The plot that they're placed in is pretty complicated, with plenty of faceless names and nameless faces to remember, but it does a good job of keeping you engaged in-the-moment and never feels confusing, as such. What it does feel, however, is long. The pacing isn't exactly slow, but so much happens over the course of the piece that it actually feels much longer than it is. Some of it could perhaps have been nipped and tucked ever-so-slightly to make for a more consistently propulsive affair. Still, the film isn't boring. It's an interesting an entertaining thriller that takes a few unexpected turns and has several moments of surprisingly wince-inducing violence. It isn't something that's likely to stick in your memory for all that long, but it's an enjoyable experience nevertheless. 7/10.
