Masato Harada, the writer/director of HELL DOGS, tries to break the conventional undercover cop tropes and give something new and original but falls short. HELL DOGS left me wanting more because there did not seem to be enough meat on the bones.
The plot centers around former police officer Shogo “Tak” Kanetaka (Jun’ichi Okada), who is out for vengeance after a Yakuza hit killed one of his loved ones. Throughout the years, he kills off each suspect, only to be caught after his final victim, at which point he is given the choice of serving time in prison or going undercover. He chooses the latter and befriends Hideki “Muro” Murooka (Kentaro Sakaguchi), a psychotic member of the notorious Yakuza gang Toshokai, led by Yoshikata Taoke (Miyavi), to infiltrate the gang and cripple it from the inside.
In most films about undercover cops, the character’s morality is the main focus in order to generate a compelling character arc. The protagonists are always concerned that staying in the organization for too long will make them forget why they went underground in the first place and become just like the people they loathe. We saw this happen to characters in Deep Cover (1992), New World (2010), etc. But in HELL DOGS, Harada steers away from that cliche because Tak does not have that problem. He is determined to defeat the Yakuza, even if it involves killing an innocent person or a police officer. He has no conscience and would never hesitate to get his hands dirty. Masato Harada also avoids another cliched undercover cop stereotype in this film, as there are no moments in which the agent is on the verge of being exposed but miraculously escapes at the last minute.
The movie follows a conventional screenplay structure, showing the rise and fall of Tak within the company. He rises in the ranks, along with Muro, by gaining the confidence of Taoke. Fortunately, his rise does not appear to be either meteoric or fortunate, which would have undermined the credibility of his story. For example, he and Muro kill a rival Yakuza boss to demonstrate their worth to the organization and impress their boss and Taoke’s sub-boss, Tsutomu Toki (Kazuki Kitamura). They also beat the competition by passing the brutal test to become Taoke’s personal bodyguards.
As with any gangster picture, one gangster clan feuds with another, and this film follows suit as the Taoke organization’s relations are deteriorating with another yakuza gang. In one of the best sequences in the movie, Taoke meets with mediators sent by the opposing group to have fruitful discussions, during which Taoke ultimately prevails and gets his way. After things calm down and everyone seems to be in party mode, Tak cleverly uncovers a scheme to kill Taoke, heightening the tension and the intensity of the scene. However, the film loses steam during its last act, which deals with Tak’s fall from the organization. Firstly, his exposure as an undercover agent was exceedingly coincidental, making it feel unconvincing. Secondly, the screenplay rambles on and goes all over the place, with an inordinate number of characters suddenly emerging as undercover agents. In addition, the film might have been better off without so many unnecessary supporting characters. For example, I found the entire subplot involving the masseuse who massages Yakuza members but is actually an undercover agent out to get revenge for her son’s death to be redundant.
The film works largely due to Jun’ichi Okada’s convincing performance as Tak, who plays the role with no emotion, conscience, or sentimentality, as he is willing to go to any lengths to complete his mission. HELL DOGS is enjoyable, but it offers nothing new but the same drink in a different bottle. The movie is now available on Netflix.
HELL DOGS movie link: IMDB
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