Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi (Blu-ray) (Japan Version) Blu-ray Region A

Mashita Masayoshi is the first police negotiator in Tokyo, a position that has drawn him much media attention and much scorn from his fellow police officers who don't consider his expertise manly enough to be real police work. He is treated with scorn by his fellow officers and even his subordinates are convinced that their unit will not last long before being disbanded. Mashita is packing up to meet his girlfriend for a date on Christmas Eve when disaster strikes on three fronts. A prototype subway train is stolen from the work yard and runs rampant on the Tokyo subway lines. As the authorities are realizing that something is wrong the police discover that a hacker has worked his way deep into their computer system, planting challenges for Mashita to stop his train heist while also making not so veiled bomb threats. Moments later a small bomb detonates in a public park to prove that the mysterious train hijacker means business and Mashita is rushed to the subway control center where the transit staff treat him with every bit as much scorn as his fellow policemen. He must now earn the respect of his peers while stopping a wheeled metal apocalypse from striking the city.

And here's where the cultural differences strike. A terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway sells itself in Japan. We're talking instant tension, on a grand scale. In the post Aum world, the post sarin gas attack world, building a film around a Tokyo subway terrorist attack is the rough Japanese equivalent of setting an American film in a plane about to be flown into a very tall, heavily populated building. That particular scenario has a deep, natural resonance for the Japanese that doesn't need to be sold to its native audience and so the filmmakers generally don't. They simply tell you what's happening and then settle into the characters, which will work fine with a Japanese audience while leaving others grasping to find the tension that the characters feel. In Japan the audience will supply the energy that drives the film themselves while viewers elsewhere may be left wondering why everybody's so bothered about a few late trains.

So the film may not entirely work as a cop thriller outside Japan but that doesn't mean it doesn't work on other levels. Read up on the world of Bayside Shakedown it quickly becomes clear that while fans love the police procedural part of the show what really sets it apart are the character quirks, and while I definitely felt that knowing the world and the characters better would have made the film more enjoyable, there is no denying that the film is stocked with memorable characters played compellingly close to the edge of camp. Mashita himself is neurotically insecure, meekly accepting abuse as though he deserves it, a most peculiar trait in a man paid to take control of situations. He is met by the dour transit master control officer, the ridiculously perky transit PR man, and - best of all - veteran character actor Susumu Terajima in a scene chewing performance as a blustering detective. Characters are played for goofy energy rather than serious drama and while they sometimes teeter close to the edge of cliché they never quite tip over.

The film betrays its television origins in the shooting style and emphasis on talk over action - despite a premise that reads very much like a Die Hard movie this is worlds away from an American action film - but it has a unique charm that carries it a long way. It is not without its flaws and will likely be appreciated far more by those already familiar with the Bayside Shakedown universe than those fresh to it but it is certainly strong enough to spur this viewer towards the first films.

By Todd Brown - Twitchfilm.net

As played by comedian Yusuke Santa Maria, the film's title character is anything but a typical action hero. As Tokyo's best and apparently only police negotiator, Mashita Masayoshi has garnered a considerable amount of press. The film kicks off with Mashita addressing the media in the aftermath of the events of Bayside Shakedown 2, an appearance that ends up drawing the attention of the film's enigmatic villain. More than a year later, a crisis strikes Japan when a state-of-the-art prototype super train called the Spider E4-600 is hijacked and electronically sabotaged, causing it to wreak havoc in the labyrinthine underground railways just beneath the city of Tokyo. Police Superintendent Shinji Muroi (Toshiro Yanagiba) calls upon Mashita to handle the case, since the mystery terrorist known only as "Bullet Express" has requested Mashita's participation in his little game of cat and mouse. However, it's no ordinary game - three bombs are set to go off, but when and where?

As respected as one might think Mashita would be among his comrades, the exact opposite proves true. His peers sneer at his so-called celebrity status, his Negotiation Task Force is undermanned and on the verge of being phased out, and Muroi himself has had to put his job on the line for Mashita in the hope he'll pull through. And to make matters worse, he's supposed to meet his girlfriend, fellow detective Yukino Kashiwagi (Miki Mizuno), at the opera for an important, possibly life-changing date. Of course, there's no time for love when the terrorist on the loose!

Along with his team of experts, Mashita sets up shop in the control room of the Tokyo Transportation Railway. Despite the dire crisis at hand, Mashita and his team aren't exactly welcomed with open arms, as the TTR boss Kataoka (Jun Kunimura) doesn't trust Mashita's expertise and believes he can handle the problem himself. While Mashita tries to figure out how to smooth things over with Kataoka, fate intervenes when a cheery PR guy named Yano (Masanori Ishii) feeds Mashita classified TTR information to help him unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking not only on the potential bomb threat, but on Mashita's big date, both of which turn out to be on a collision course with one another.

What really sets this movie apart from others of its kind is its protagonist, Mashita Masayoshi. Rather than give audiences yet another action movie hero in the vein of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mashita isn't quite as macho. In fact, he's a bit of a dork. But what the movie makes clear is that Mashita isn't some lucky bumbler. No, while he may be somewhat meek and deferent to his colleagues, he's actually quite proficient at what he does. As the movie progresses, Mashita's status as Tokyo's top negotiator turns out to be truer than anyone expects.

Although the film is full of great supporting performances, one supporting player who stands out the most is Susume Terajima as Takeichi Kijima, a hilarious, hardboiled cop who takes charge of the manhunt for the villain above ground while Mashita carries out his negotiations from subway command. His take-no-prisoners attitude and cocky swagger make for a hilarious counterpoint to Mashita's polite, "can't we all just get along?" demeanor. In fact, humor is one of the driving forces of this film, a welcome change of pace from the more serious tone these movies tend to take.

Those looking for a pulse-pounding conclusion in which Mashita goes one-on-one with the terrorist will be sorely disappointed. Despite its action flick roots, Negotiator: Mashita Masayoshi is as much about cutting through bureaucratic red tape and winning the respect of your colleagues as it is putting the villain behind bars. If anything, the film seems to promote the idea that if you put your mind to it and work hard enough, you can accomplish just about anything. The same could go for the filmmakers involved here. They made a sequel with a B-movie plot that amounts to something more absorbing, entertaining, and downright funny than it had any right to be. Considering the surprising quality of this film, here's hoping there will be a few more Bayside Shakedowns in the future, and definitely more adventures featuring Mashita Masayoshi and his quirky Negotiator Task Force!

By Calvin McMillin