Lupin III: The Last Job

This movie has a ninja dog in it, they call him a ninj-dog. He is the best. As if you need any other description for this movie, I will say some other positives.

Along with the dog, the girl that comes attached to the dog, Ausuka is one of the best Lupin side characters of the series. And the Fuma return as villains. I wish they would reference the "Fuma Conspiracy", but it is still nice to have some good ninja continuity.

This movie has 8 or so great action set pieces, they are unique, exciting and fast moving. They feel like what could be the ending showdowns in other Lupin III movies, but here they are just another action scene.

That does lead to one of the downsides of the film. By the time the final action scene happens, it feels lesser due to how action packed the rest of the movie was. The movie also has too many things going on for its 93-minute runtime. They have about 5 different maguffins they're looking for, a sword, the elf, the Funima, the voice and it all becomes very confusing what the main goal is.

Overall, this is one of Lupin's very best. Great new characters, great old villains, and overall, a great time. It may be called "last", but it certainly is not "least".

The Last Job is enjoyable, I'd say it's a decent special, with fun and zany Lupin action. However, it just doesn't seem as clever or well thought out as a lot of the other specials.

One of the twists to this one is that a recurring character has an apparent death scene near the beginning. Oddly enough, this angle is barely played up, compared to numerous emotional or memorable "death" scenes throughout the years, this didn't really stack up.

Anyways, aside from that bit which doesn't really get much screen time, this is just business as usual, the Lupin gang getting into constant action and one-on-one fights. Very fast paced, pretty much nonstop action. However, its a bit lacking in memorable dialogue or cool character interaction. Pretty much, the legendary classic characters here aren't really well utilized.

None the less, this is still a lot of fun, I was laughing and enjoying the absurdity of it. The plot is especially nonsensical this time around, the climax for example is just so awesomely random. I love how Zenigata is like "Whats that do? What's his goal? Why is this happening? What is happening?", because I'm just as befuddled as he is.

But hey, its fun, and the main villain is hilariously awesomely over-the-top, gotta love his indiscriminate grenade tossing. Andre the huge yo-yo henchman is memorable, and of course Jigen and Goemon come across as classy as ever. Lupin and Fujiko both have some funny and cool moments, but overall they don't get much substance here. The ninja guest girl is decent, there's a wacky dog who has it out for Lupin, and you've gotta love Yuji Ohno's jazzy score.

There are a lot of really fun parts throughout, such as a chase scene involving a great kittens gag, Lupin making some wacky drawings, plus I enjoyed a lot of the action sequences with the jetpacks and whatnot.

So, long story short, I enjoyed this Lupin special, but at the same time it doesn't quite live up to its potential. Worth a watch for fans.