Hard Days

I already liked Jun'ichi Okada in Hell Dogs, so I was curious to see if I’d have just as much fun this time. I didn't. Well, I did, but not as much. I haven't seen the Korean original, so I can't compare, but I think the Japanese did a pretty decent job with the theme. After the first ten minutes, Yuji Kudo's day can basically be summed up by this joke: / A man is walking along the riverbank when he comes across a ten-year-old girl crying. "What happened, why are you crying?" he asks. "Both my parents drowned in the river just now," the girl sobs. "Girl, let me tell you, you're having a bad day," says the man, unzipping his pants. / If it wasn't clear from what I've written so far, Detective Kudo is like that unfortunate little girl in this scenario. Despite the grim premise, this thriller made me smile several times because it occasionally blurred the line between thriller and comedy, and in this case, I don't consider that a creative flaw. On the other hand, the Terminator-esque sequence in the last twenty minutes definitely was a creative misstep. If it weren’t for that, I would have given it four stars. / Lesson learned: If you're having a bad day, it's better to stay at home. 3*+ (2024.05.14)