Adorenarin doraibu

Everyone can find laughs and enjoyment in this movie, an unpredictable twist on a familiar theme. The lead actors are completely charming and natural, making their somewhat pitiful characters attractive and endearing. One truly hilarious episode deals with an explosion, showing a chain-of-events that is logical, comical and a bit frightening.

Even the secondary characters shine in their roles, and the movie allows them time to bring their characters to life. The strict head nurse from the hospital explores her dark side while the nastiest gangster is humbled by medical procedures and a limited capacity.

Sure there are some cliches, like the mousey nurse transforming into a stylish vixen, and the inept thugs who don't have a clue, or the strategically placed pickup truck that leaves at precisely the right moment. But it's all done with enough good nature and energy that makes it more than worthwhile.

This movie caught my attention as a japanese version of "Office Space." It was less goofy and more intelligent than that though. It had decent acting and very probable situations. Nothing was really over the top (ie no big explosions, bloody deaths, etc). Also had a lot of really good things to make you think about life, death, money and power. It was serious without being depressing and after the final credits rolled, I was left with a good feeling inside.

"Adrenaline Drive", a misnomer, is about money and a shy guy and a not-so-shy girl who have it and a handful thugs and one real badass Yakuza dude who want it. A busy, fun, and creative little flick, "AD" works well in the beginning and slowly wears out as it plods sweetly but doggedly towards its conclusion. Worth a look for those into Japanese films. (B-)

By coincidence I rented Adrenaline Drive the day after I watched Waterboys, but until I went to add review to IMDB I had no idea they were by the same director! I had heard quite a bit of negative criticism of the movie, but this seems to be from people who were misled by the title into expecting some kind of high octane action movie, which it certainly is not. It is actually a very nice quirky character-driven (romantic) comedy.

Shy car rental worker Masanobu Ando and even more shy nurse Hikari Ishida find their lives suddenly brought together when they find themselves in possession of a case full of Yakuza money, and go on the run together. Love blossoms on the road, and the two learn to take more of a front seat role in life.

The story is not a particularly original one, but with a movie like this it's all about the details - and the development of the plot, dialogue and situations are all very well thought out and original. It never feels tired or worryingly cliched.

Adrenaline Drive is built on the kind of solid foundations that the best movies always stand on - a cast of well developed characters, each with distinct personalities and quirks and enough screen time to let you get to know them. The two leads get most of the screen time and are therefore the core of the movie, and thankfully Masanobu Ando and Hikari Ishida play them perfectly. They seem totally natural in the roles. The smaller roles are all equally well filled too - the all round brilliance of the acting suggests that director Shinobu Yaguchi had a strong influence on the mostly young cast, and knew exactly what he was doing.

There is a certain amount of excitement in the young couple's adventures, but nothing that warrants the application of the word "Adrenaline". There's a little bit of romance, a little bit of pathos and a lot of effective comedy, but only one or two scenes that are likely to raise the blood pressure noticably. The movie is very pleasant and agreeable to watch.

The closest movie I can think of to compare with Adrenaline Drive is another Japanese comedy, Space Travellers. Both have a warm hearted nature and characters nobody could fail to love (even the bad guys), and both handle the development of a familiar situation in innovative and enjoyable ways. Adrenaline Drive perhaps has a slight edge, being masterfully put together at every turn. I find it hard to imagine anybody failing to enjoy the movie as long as their expectations are in the right genre, in fact.

Highly recommended!

I've always liked Japanese comedy but this one tops my list. Very real characters combined with a very unreal situation can always bring out the best in a film. And reversal of roles is also prevalent: the head nurse getting greedy and the mob boss struggling with full body casts.

There's dark, light, and every other kind of humor in this film, and the situation is very enjoyable. I've always liked mischievous dark comedy and if you're tired of what's come to be common "American Dark Comedy"(Very Bad Things, Something About Mary, etc. etc.)this will be a great and refreshing film to watch. It's so fun that you won't even notice the subtitles.