"Wara no Tate" or "Shield of Straw" is a Japanese action-thriller and drama based on a novel by Kiuchi Kazuhiro. This movie convinces with a balanced mixture of brutal and gripping action sequences on one side and philosophical discussions on the other. It tells the intriguing tale of a disgusting psychopath who needs an ambitious police escort to get transported from a rural town to the capital Tokyo where he should be sentenced by a public prosecutor. The grand-father of the psychopath's latest victim, who is terminally ill with a heart disease, wants the man to get killed at all costs. He bribes editors and reporters to announce that the billionaire is willing to offer one billion yen to anyone who would kill the psychopath and then turn her- or himself in to the police and prosecutor to get judged for her or his actions. The vengeful billionaire goes even further and bribes criminals, nurses and even police officers to get the psychopath killed. Five courageous police officers get the dangerous job to get the psychopath to Tokyo via transporters, trains and even cars as they have to face one hundred twenty-five Million potential opponents. Soon, their conscience come into play. Is it worth to risk your lives to save a monster that is probably going to get sentenced to death anyway? Are their accuracy, honour and sense of responsibility strong enough to bring their job to an end? And is there even a traitor within the small group who wants to get the Money and help the billionaire to get his worst enemy killed? "Wara no Tate" is not only an entertaining but also thought-provoking piece of art that works very well despite a few minor lengths during a running time of over two hours. The question the viewer is constantly asking her- or himself is: Would I hand the psychopath over to the prosecutor or would I kill him, get the hefty reward and go to jail? This movie is clearly above average not only due to its balanced mixture of profound dramatic elements and vivid action sequences but also due to many excellent actors. From the honest police officers and the scary psychopath over the sick and grieving old man and many potential headhunters, every single actress and actor does an excellent job no matter if his or her screening time is about two hours or just two minutes. The different characters are profound, diversified and credible and many of them develop in an interesting way throughout the movie. The greatest actresses and actors are the intelligent female cop and single mother portrayed by Matsushima Nanako, the desperate and lonely police officer with a strong will portrayed by Ohsawa Takao and especially the wicked psychopath portrayed by Fujiwara Tatsuya. The psychopath gets more and more evil as the movie progresses and especially the last sequences show us the abyss of the human soul. On my list of the most evil characters in cinema, I would place him third just behind the sinister serial killer Kyung-chul portrayed by Choi Min-sik in the Korean psycho-thriller "I Saw The Devil" and the evil spirit Bob portrayed by Frank Silva in the "Twin Peaks" series and movie.Apart of the balanced storyline and the acting performances, Japanese cult director Miike Takashi did one of his most memorable works in recent years. The images, setting and special effects are well employed and feel real and spontaneous yet wisely arranged and chosen. There are neither shaky camera passages as in many Hollywood movies nor an overload of predictable and stereotypical visual effects. Miike proves once again that he is one of the best current directors and he took advantage of a decent budget and excellent cinematographers involved in this project.The only reasons why somebody could not like this movie is because of its mixture of philosophical dialogues and grisly action sequences. Action fans might get bored by the dialogues while fans of more sophisticated dramas might find the movie too repugnant for its violent content. Any open-minded cinephile with a soft spot for Japanese extremes should though watch this high-quality movie that gets easily in my top twenty of the best movies of the year. It's a shame that there were only three people in the cinema when I watched this film as this movie is definitely better than many of the exchangeable Hollywood sequels where you exactly know what to expect.

Being a fan of Miike flicks, I was rather looking forward to that one. The premise sounded rather intriguing: 120 million potential enemies and a handful of cops. 'Smoking Aces' came to mind, but if Miike directs it...I was rather surprised by the first half of the movie, it looked like it could really live up to my expectations. Unfortunately the second half goes places I did not expect - and the ending is, IMO, a total disaster.Seriously, the same man who directed cinematic awesomeness like '13 Assassins', 'Ichimei', 'Sukiyaki Western Django', 'IZO' and, heck, 'Zebraman' comes up with this? To be fair, he tried to place some emphasis on the characters and their motivations, but that want all sideways.At times the logic in this movies is beyond me, same goes for some decisions made by some of the characters. As well as those "coincidences" (like the one near the end where they find a car, who's driver is *wait for it* the father of the murder's first victim). Meh.While the last stand-off had real potential (may I direct your attention to the sword in the cane), it goes all mushy and does not fit the rest of the movie.All in all, I am rather disappointed by that one. I will, however, check out other of his movies, and see if that is just a one time glitch by the maestro or if he's losing it.

I don't know who the heck gave this movie such low ratings but their judgments are way off!! This should at least have an 8, so far the best thriller I've seen in a long time. I mean The Avengers has 8.1 and if you have some gray cells left, you'll know how terrible marvel movies can be. This on the other hand amazing acting, suspense, drama, soundtrack, story. I mean sure it had some minor plot holes but no movie is perfect and it definitely didn't take away from the experience of being immersed in the movie. The protagonists are literally thrown into chaos as we witness their struggles and ultimately how they cope to stay moral and survive this crazy mission. Trust me, there will be times where you as a viewer will put your morals to the test and thats what makes this movie so great, it really engages the viewer and makes them wonder what they'd do in their shoes? Overall I really enjoyed watching this movie from start to finish where there's never a dull moment.

After the murder of his seven year old granddaughter, wealthy financial tycoon Takaoki Ninagawa offers a public reward of ¥1 billion to anyone who kills her murderer: convicted child rapist and murderer Kunihide Kiyomaru. After an attempt is made on his life, Kiyomaru turns himself in to the police and a five-person specialist team is assembled to escort him from Fukuoka to the District Attorney's office in Tokyo within the next 48 hours. But with potentially 125 million people after the reward and the temptation of a massive payout staring them in the face, the team are at long odds to successfully complete their mission.I watched this not long after seeing two of director Takashi Miike's more recent efforts ('For Love's Sake' and 'Lesson of the Evil'). Like those, 'Shield of Straw' displays a definite mainstream style in comparison to other films in Miike's oeuvre, and here it lends itself quite well to the tense and thought-provoking material: five people are bound by duty to stand between the most reviled man in the nation and potentially millions of people who will do anything to get their hands on him. But those who are expecting a thrill-a-minute action-fest would do well to remember that this is a work of Miike (and of Japan) - character is definitely king.'Shield of Straw' is very much a character-driven film. The set pieces and exposition push the story along (albeit a bit clumsily at times) but the real drivers are the characters, their motivations (vengeance, hatred, greed, honour, duty) and their subsequent actions after being thrust into an extraordinary set of circumstances. All of these are explored and ably expressed through terrific performances from the cast. Of particular note are the two leads, Takao Osawa as the duty-bound team leader with the unenviable task of protecting the most hated man in the country; and Tatsuya Fujiwara as the killer whose seeming lack of motive makes him all the more chilling (his ambiguous last words are particularly disquieting). Also an honourable mention should be made for the brief but impactful appearance of Tsutomu Yamazaki as the frail billionaire whose wealth means nothing in the face of having lost someone so dear to him.The film also touches on ubiquitous aspects of Japanese culture (honour and duty above all else, the common greater good taking precedence over the needs of the individual) and raises interesting questions as to whether these are 'right or wrong'.Overall (and as long as you aren't expecting a mass of explosions and bloody stand-offs every five minutes) 'Shield of Straw' is a terrific and thought-provoking film that will please Miike fans and those who appreciate great character-driven crime thrillers.