If theres one thing thatBad Cityproves, its that sometimes justice doesnt play fair.
From the onset,Bad Cityisnt pretentious about its fight scenes or the moral dilemmas that follow.
In this case, the protagonist, Captain Torada is meant to be the guy everyone roots for.
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Torada wouldnt be caughtrallying the troopsby deliveringheartfelt speechesabout truth and justice.
Hes the guy out there cracking skulls and getting his hands dirty to get the job done.
In the same vein, the so-called villains here are not particularly nefarious to the core.
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Take Gojo (Lily Franky), businessman-turned-crime-boss, theres no doubt hes from a troubled past.
However, the film points fingers at the system that made him turn intothe boogeyman.
When action meets brains, it’s a battle of wits and power.
What ensues is nothing short of messy, violent, and brutal.
The film goes for something more along the lines of brutal and chaotic which makes it even more engaging.
Onestandout fightoccurs in a dingy apartment between Torada and a group of thugs.
When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.
By all means, its not a fair fight, and it doesnt look pretty.
The bottom line here is that this isnt about flashy moves orsuperhuman stamina, its life or death.
Unpolished brawls like these go a long way to amp up the tension and the stakes.
Anytime Torada took a hit, it felt real, because it looked real.
Even more, if someone went down, there was no assurance that theyd come up again.
Its this kind of unpredictability that injects the kind of tension that sleek action scenes could never pull off.
The cherry on the top here is the shaky, handheld camera work during these fights.
It gives viewers the sense of watching a live fight not a well-planned performance.
At the end of the day, its this desperate,unpredictable energythat keeps viewers hooked.
