Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 18, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal collection from Arrow Video.

In 1976 folks in the United States were celebrating the bicentennial anniversary celebration of a famous revolution, but another revolution of a technological rather than a political variety was just beginning to unfold across the ocean in Japan at virtually the same time. That was the year that VHS began its scrappy upstart status against Betamax in a format war which in its day was probably at least as notorious as the one that decades later marked the rollout of high definition home video with competing HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. Betamax of course ultimately lost that battle (rather incredibly both Betamax player and VCR production extended well into the 21st century, despite having been supplanted by disc formats), and by the time Toei had the bright idea to start producing direct to video releases in 1989, VHS was the dominant format. In a way it's kind of fascinating to compare and contrast Toei's decision to provide "product" to its chain of video stores with the way the major Hollywood studios used to provide feature films for the theater chains they owned until United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. forced the studios to divest those properties in 1948. One way or the other, despite economic tribulations in Japan which had severely impacted (theatrically exhibited) movie attendance, the direct to video market exploded for Toei, so much so that other major (and minor) Japanese studios soon followed suit by offering their own straight to video productions, though Toei had actually trademarked the term V-Cinema to describe their product. This collection of V-Cinema outings from Arrow includes a nonet of titles that tend to feature hardscrabble criminal types, including the film that started the whole V-Cinema craze, Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage.

Some curmudgeonly types (ahem) may watch Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage and respond with a decided, "This started a straight to video craze in Japan?" The "film" runs less than an hour long, has what might be charitably called a "minimalist" plot, and doesn't exactly exude luxe production values, but it does offer the perhaps slightly gonzo teaming of an unlikely hero named Joe (Masanori Sera) who teams with an equally unlikely nun named Lily (Minako Tanaka) in what might seem like a modern day Japanese update of some elements of Two Mules for Sister Sara. Joe, a hardscrabble cop, is already on the hunt for vengeance when his partner is killed, and when it turns out his perceived target also is low enough to have stolen from a church (hence that nun), a, well, unlikely partnership is forged. This is almost intentionally underdeveloped, relying mostly on some kinetic action sequences to provide "narrative" propulsion.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow lumps all of the films together in their page devoted to the presentations in this set's insert booklet, as follows:

The films in this collection represent a period of film production in Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s where films were made by the Toei Company specifically for home video. Beginning with Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage, these "V-Cinema" titles were produced quickly and inexpensively, but afforded filmmakers significant freedom when it came to censorship, resulting in riskier content than what had been produced for cinema distribution.

As such, the modest origins of these titles can be seen in these presentations. All films have been remastered by the Toei Company in high definition and are presented in the 1.33:1 home video format of the time.

This is an undeniably gritty looking presentation, with some low light material in particular getting close to noisy levels, but with more fulsomely lit material faring a good deal better. Some of the nighttime sequences can have a slightly blue / purple tint. The palette can look just a bid faded and on the dowdy brown side at times, but some of the daytime outdoor material actually pops quite well, even if grain can still be on the chunky side (see screenshot 6). As with almost all of the titles in this set, there is some minor age related wear and tear that can be spotted.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage features LPCM 2.0 Mono in the original Japanese (kind of hilariously with a smattering of English in the very early going). The track has moments of decent force with regard to some of the gunfire and other action elements (including explosions), but is obviously not overly layered or especially sonically impressive. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Loose Canon (HD; 18:24) is an interview with Shundo Okawa, director of Crime Hunter. Subtitled in English.


• Crime Hunter and the Dawn of V-Cinema (HD; 13:09) is a great overview by Tom Mes.


• Trailer (HD; 1:54)


• Introduction by Masaki Tanioka (HD; 4:47) is accessible under the Play Film menu and is authored to lead directly to the feature. Subtitled in English.

Arrow has packaged Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage and Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet together on one disc, and the keepcase features a reversible sleeve highlighting each title, as well as enclosing an art card for each film.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

They say that mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow, but in this particular case that would presuppose that V-Cinema is a towering tree rather than a pesky weed "littering" the better mannered gardens of "ardent cineastes". It's kind of hilarious in a way, though, that Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage spawned not just sequels but a whole "movement" despite its obviously lo fi charms. Technical merits are generally solid, at least within the context of video productions like this, and the supplements appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.