Odoru daisosasen the movie 2: Rainbow Bridge wo fuusa seyo!

I saw this because Zatoichi was standing room only, and I was influenced by the many trailers I'd seen for this where Oda Yuuji (who plays Aoshima) appears. He's rather good-looking, I think! Additionally, the setting is Odaiba, the man-made island in Tokyo connected by the Rainbow Bridge (hence the title), which I'd visited mere days ago.

Some people may have problems with this film due to it's refusal to stick to one genre - really, that's their problem. It covers drama, police mystery, comedy, and holds my attention doing so.

For those worried about following the plot, it's worth knowing that it's not too difficult at all as many of the jokes are visual. However, you may need to be able to switch between formal/informal Japanese to get the whole story. In any case, my monolingual (English language) father had few problems. If he can understand and enjoy it, anyone can! :)

I'm Japanese, and I really enjoyed this film. This is set in Tokyo, and the system works totally differently compared to all others around the world, so I wouldn't expect for any foreign countries to understand the concept of the film. Besides, it's originally in Japanese. What do you expect if the lines sound cheesy? The sense of humor between laguages are impossible to be translated directly and understood at the sametime, so you can't really tell if it's funny or not unless you watch it with real Japanese viewers. So if you're going to watch this film, don't think too much of the lines. Just go with the flow and enjoy what you see! That's how international films should be watched.

Went into the cinema with absolutely no preconceptions of the show - hadn't heard of it, or its sequel, and chose it because it looked like it might be good, brainless entertainment.

In the end it was just brainless. It really was. Plot loopholes aplenty. Illogical logic. Lame, flat humour, cheesy lines, uninspiring action. Everything was so obvious, so run of the mill, so pointless. Really, I couldn't figure out why this show was even made, let alone how it came to be "Japan's biggest live action box office hit".

Maybe the ending would've redeemed it - I wouldn't know. From about 15 minutes in I knew the movie was a bad idea, and despite valiant attempts to fight the urge, good taste prevailed and I walked out about 70 minutes in. I've only ever walked out on two movies before in my life, mind, so I'm not the type to often vote with my feet.

Looking at voting here people seem to think better of the show, but I know my friend and I who were both watching the show thought the same of it - very little indeed. This was a -1/5 (yes that's negative one) on my personal scale - not just a waste of money, I almost feel like writing to the show's producers for a refund.

'Bayside Shakedown 2' is something of an opposite to its predecessor. Its opening is action-packed and fun, but the meat of the film doesn't hold up quite as well. Once again the film is a successful blend of serious cop drama and comedy with the less serious parts evening out the more serious ones.

Over-all the film just isn't as intriguing as its predecessor. The plot-twist comes a tad too early at which point the viewers stop caring about the badguys who weren't all that interesting. Of the side-plots, the vampire one is my favorite but otherwise the setting of the film didn't impress me as much as the predecessor.

The film is not bad by any measure, however, and is ultimately recommendable. It simply didn't give the same feeling of fulfillment as the first one did.

Bayside Shakedown 2: Save the Rainbow Bridge

This is the second feature-length spin-off from the Japanese TV series and, like the first, it feels over long - as if there's a really good 60 minute TV show trapped inside a 2 hour movie.

There's precious little in the way of back-story, so if you're not up to speed on the relationships, particularly between Aoshima and Muroi, and the internal politics, you'll probably end up a little confused because (I'd guess) this film really doesn't stand up very well out of context.

On the plus side, if you like the series and / or the first film, you'll enjoy this one too because the formula and cast survive intact - the only real difference being a larger budget which the producers decided to spend on bigger set pieces and more location shoots. Oh - one other change between this film and the previous efforts is that the bumbling local police chief's role has been virtually eliminated - which is a good thing.