Chasseurs d'espions

Unfortunately there's little known about this film, but a incredible thanks to Criterion for keeping it preserved and able to access for Japanese film/toho fans.

Growing up watching Godzilla, i grew quite fond of the usual actors that are featured in the showa era. Specifically, Akira Takarada, Akihito Hirata, Jun Tazaki etc.

When i found out about ironfinger through Toho Kingdom and that it was a lead role for many Godzilla regulars I had to check out, and thankfully criterion had it to be viewed through Hulu (2013) and ended up having a blast watching it.

Part of the enjoyment was seeing these actors and actress you normally see in Kaiju feature's actually do something different and further showcase their talent for the screen.

It's a wonder why Takarada never became a major star. He performs the role with enthusiasm and Bond like Charisma.

I recommend it. For a casual film goer i doubt this film would have much to add. It has it's moments to be ridiculed but if you are a fan of Toho you shouldn't have a problem having a good time with this.

This film begins with an international agent by the name of "Andrew Hoshino" (Akira Takawada) traveling to several countries in the Far East in an effort to locate and eradicate the leader of a gun-smuggling operation in Japan. While there he forms an unlikely alliance with a freelance bomb expert named "Yumi Sawada" (Mie Hama) who sells her expertise to the highest bidder. In this particular case, she just happens to be working for one specific Japanese clan who is at war with another. Also teaming up with him is a Japanese detective by the name of "Tezuka" (Ichiro Arishima) who wants to stop the carnage at all costs. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an interesting "James Bond" type of film which had much more humor than I initially expected. The plot also featured a number of twists and turns which helped to a certain extent as well. In any case, I enjoyed this film for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

This was made before Golden Eye, and has the same main character in it. It is a good spoof of spy movies. This movie has a ridiculous plot and some ridiculous characters. There were times when I had no idea what was happening. There are a number of actors that many of you watchers of Japanese movies will recognize. There is the Japanese Shemp, Japanese discount George Lazenby, and that one actor that almost always plays the comic relief. The acting is pretty good. But for me the best part was Mie Hama in that red bikini. As for the plot, it involves gun smuggling. The one thing that took me out of the movie just a bit was when they were speaking English or French there would be Japanese subtitles, and since I can't read kanji ( I can read hiragana) I had no idea what those subtitles said, also a bit difficult to read since they are top to bottom and right to left. I don't know who wrote or sang the songs in this movie (and Golden Eyes) but they are some of the worst songs ever and they are not sung well. But if you want a light hearted spoof of 007 movies then this will fit the bill, especially if you like a beautiful Japanese woman in a red bikini.