While the plot of this film is pretty confusing at times and the film is no technical masterpiece, "Take Aim At The Police Van" certainly is entertaining and it was nice to see what Japanese film noir looked like.
The movie begins aboard a bus filled with prisoners headed to prison. At the same time, you see an assassin readying his rifle and scope...and you assume are going to kill the guards and free at least one of the prisoners. However, in a twist, the man simply kills two of the prisoners--and you assume somebody wanted at least one of these guys dead to stop them from talking.
Oddly, the man in charge of this transport was made a scapegoat and given a 6 month suspension from his prison job. Tomon is not angry about this but vows to spend this time off locating the person or persons responsible. His path always seems to lead to a lady named Yume and again and again, she just seemed to be nearby. How she relates to all this and the identity of 'Mr. Big' is something you'll need to see for yourself.
As far as the noir elements go, in some ways this is a lot grittier than traditional noir. A lot of the plot involves prostitution and you see a woman's breasts (something you'd never see in a Hollywood noir film--but nudity like this was a lot more acceptable in Japanese society then and now). However, the film also pulled its punches and didn't become nearly as dark in regard to its central character, Tomon, who was a nice guy! He believed in the goodness within everyone--a concept as alien to noir as you can get! And, at times, Tomon was way, way too lucky and was able to beat huge numbers of hired thugs--again, not exactly a realistic or noir pattern. But, the film did have some nice gritty moments and some cool moments (such as the arm in the piano and the gasoline scenes)--and it never failed to entertain even if the plot seemed a bit too confusing and complicated. Worth seeing--even if technically the film was no masterpiece--such as the badly filmed scene on the train (the angle outside the window was ridiculously off) as well as the scene where Tomon was dragged a 100 or more yards by a car and didn't even have a scratch!!
The movie begins aboard a bus filled with prisoners headed to prison. At the same time, you see an assassin readying his rifle and scope...and you assume are going to kill the guards and free at least one of the prisoners. However, in a twist, the man simply kills two of the prisoners--and you assume somebody wanted at least one of these guys dead to stop them from talking.
Oddly, the man in charge of this transport was made a scapegoat and given a 6 month suspension from his prison job. Tomon is not angry about this but vows to spend this time off locating the person or persons responsible. His path always seems to lead to a lady named Yume and again and again, she just seemed to be nearby. How she relates to all this and the identity of 'Mr. Big' is something you'll need to see for yourself.
As far as the noir elements go, in some ways this is a lot grittier than traditional noir. A lot of the plot involves prostitution and you see a woman's breasts (something you'd never see in a Hollywood noir film--but nudity like this was a lot more acceptable in Japanese society then and now). However, the film also pulled its punches and didn't become nearly as dark in regard to its central character, Tomon, who was a nice guy! He believed in the goodness within everyone--a concept as alien to noir as you can get! And, at times, Tomon was way, way too lucky and was able to beat huge numbers of hired thugs--again, not exactly a realistic or noir pattern. But, the film did have some nice gritty moments and some cool moments (such as the arm in the piano and the gasoline scenes)--and it never failed to entertain even if the plot seemed a bit too confusing and complicated. Worth seeing--even if technically the film was no masterpiece--such as the badly filmed scene on the train (the angle outside the window was ridiculously off) as well as the scene where Tomon was dragged a 100 or more yards by a car and didn't even have a scratch!!