Hell Dogs

The idea of going undercover to get a job done is not new, in American cinema it probably goes back at least to Undercover Agent (1939). Police procedurals being popular, almost every other country on the planet has played with this genre also, and it is especially popular in Asia. Masato Harada is a senior director with decades of experience in Japan and this appears to have been his pet project. References in the film show that Harada was very familiar with the American "film noir" (as above), and in many ways Hell Dogs is almost an homage. That said, while direction and acting is sharp, and the action scenes razor-sharp, my concerns are the same ones mentioned in the overseas reviews. Running over 2 hours is just too long; long scenes of exposition with heavy dialog; long distances between action scenes; and so many characters to keep track of that the viewer gets the sense a pop quiz may be coming. Tighter editing would have helped. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

If you are into action, gangster and Yakuza movies, this one is for you. The acting is great and you are not bored one minute. Shogo Kanetaka (Junichi Okada) is a police officer, who suffers from trauma when his loved one was murdered. Since that horrific time, Shogo Kanetaka has only thought about revenge. He then receives an order to go undercover as a yakuza member. And the action just picks up. The narrative is pretty dynamic, so it seems it's always moving/progressing (which it is). There's also a couple of surprises and twists along the way, which add to whole movie. The action and suspense goes on for almost the entire movie.

Netflix has done a masterpiece with this one. Its a must watch.

Nice cinematography and story.

The characters are well developed and you really understand their motivation and why they are acting like that, they are also pretty different with different life stories that are very well acted out.

The violent scenes are very well masked-up so they don't seem that gritty nevertheless you manage to have the whole story.

I really liked the connection between the two leads, if was believable.

Nice soundtrack, it really manage to communicate the tension in a very subtle way. I would definitely look for the scores.

The twist at the end was interesting, I even had a moment " would he or wouldn't he do it"

Couldn't take protagonist seriously as he is supposed to be a fighter but from the fist shot it is obvious that he has never lifted a weight or even heard of a gym.

Regardless, the action is good and visceral.

The story is better than expected even if it has some wtf moments.

So if you just want some action with at least some quality this movie is well worth watching!

So to recap here are some things to improve upon:

Cinematography: most of the shots were generic with just a bunch of dudes walking around in obvious sets.

Please put more effort to cinematography, it can make or break a movie!

Also if someone is supposed to be an unstoppable fighter... he should look like one.

Finally, if you make an Yakuza action movie, the political side should be fast explained (like this movie did... in the beginning) Especially when everything eventually boils down to "KILL EVERYONE"

Anyway, watch it but don't think too much.

I tuned into this film because of netflix. I I consider myself a connoisseur of asian films it could have been just another straight justice story but it's emaculate filming and performances separate it. The story of an undercover cop catching out the criminals is one thing , The ending wasn't fleshed out enough to have the emotional impact expected. The story of this film is not difficult to understand but the film wants you to think it is. If I had to complain it would be against its runtime. 2 hrs and 17 minutes is madness!! It still works however and is still worth a watch. Despite all its downfalls it's still an incredibly strong film.