Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 12, 2018

When even someone of Tony Rayns’ expertise with Japanese cinema in general and Seijun Suzuki in particular mentions that at least parts of a film absolutely don’t work, it’s probably best to set expectation meters accordingly. As Rayns talks about in the appealing interview included on this Blu- ray as a supplement, there’s some data that suggests, if tangentially, that Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! may have been planned at some stage as the initial entry in a franchise, as evidenced by the expletive laden subtitle (somewhat amusingly, according to the subtitles on this release the first title to appear in the credits is actually Go to Hell, Bastards!, with Detective Bureau 2 - 3 then appearing underneath in smaller ideographs). Rayns laments the thought of even more entries featuring what Rayns considers a decidedly unfunny duo of supposedly comedic supporting characters, and seems to feel it’s actually a good thing that no follow up sequels were ever greenlit. There is definitely a formulaic aspect to parts of Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! which in fact does imply a template both being exploited as well as further molded to perhaps pave the way for more adventures of a private dick named Hideo Tajima (Jô Shishido). Tajima owns the titular detective agency (and the two supposedly unfunny supporting characters are his assistants), but once the story kicks into gear Tajima actually spends most of this film going undercover with an assumed identity of a sharpshooter named Tanaka. That assumed identity comes courtesy of local police inspector Kumagai (Nobuo Kaneko), with whom Tajima has a kind of bantering but useful relationship. As Rayns also points out in his analysis, there’s some interesting if subtle cross-cultural criticism in the film, including a kind of pointed (if again subliminal) indictment of the American “occupation” (such as it was in 1963) in the form of an American serviceman who is evidently complicit in surreptitiously delivering an arms supply to a bunch of yakuza as the film opens.

As Rayns also mentions, Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! has a hyperbolic style that includes bookending slaughter fests out in the open (something Rayns kind of amusedly states could never happen in very polite Japanese society), but the same “turned up to 11” ambience imbues a lot of the rest of the film, albeit arguably more subtly. The whole plot hinges on the arms seen being delivered to a bunch of thugs in the first sequence, thugs who are soon set upon themselves by a rival gang. But there’s also a third gang involved, and when a likely witness and/or informant named Manabe (Tamio Kawaji) is taken in by police but can’t be held, Tajima, with a little help from the Inspector, dons a new identity and attempts to become BFFs with Manabe, in the hopes of infiltrating the secretive gang to find out who’s actually in charge. The over the top approach alluded to above shows up in this particular chain of events fairly early on, when one of the reasons Tajima gives to the recalcitrant Inspector (who initially doesn’t want a private detective involved) is that a bunch of rival gang members have already set up shop outside the police headquarters, all with their guns aimed squarely at the exit door, to give Manabe a little “welcoming party”. It’s just flat out silly stuff, and some may feel it actually plays more humorously than some of the ostensible “comedy” which has obviously been shoehorned into the proceedings.

There’s a certain kind of 007-ish feel in one of the early scenes, where Tajima is in a casino and gets some cash from his showgirl friend Sally (Naomi Hoshi), and in fact Tajima has a kind of Bondian allure for several of the females in the cast, including Chiako (Reiko Sassamori), who is arguably a bit more of a tragic character. In terms of Sally and some club entertainment Tajima experiences, though, as Rayns states in the supplement, anyone who has ever wanted to see Shishido sing and dance the Charleston will finally have their dreams fulfilled in a couple of the weirder, if still enjoyable, moments in the film.

Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! kind of plays light a slightly more opulent version of some of those interchangeable old Warner Brothers produced television detective shows from the late fifties - early sixties like 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye and Surfside 6, with a fairly hackneyed plot and characters who often feel more like types than fully fleshed out human beings. Still, Suzuki’s style is really interesting here — this is a film that warrants attention to both some of the framings (the first rapid dolly in to Tajima and the Inspector is a nice case in point) and especially lighting and production design. This may be a fairly rote B-movie, but it was done with some intelligence along the way.

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in (the slightly unusual aspect ratio of) 2.45:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only the following fairly generic verbiage about the transfer:

Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! has been newly transferred in High Definition by Nikkatsu Corporation and the film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with original mono audio.

As mentioned above in the main body of the review, Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! has some really interesting stylistic conceits that tend to elevate it, at least at times, above "mere" genre fare. There are some rather interesting uses of pretty lurid lighting that can change suddenly (compare screenshots 3 and 8, which are actually from the same sequence), and it's probably understandable that fine detail levels can vary somewhat due to these choices. There are some passing density fluctuations as well, and at times I personally wished the palette could have been a bit warmer, but there are long sections of the film that look very nice, with excellent detail levels and rich saturation. Some nighttime material features slightly milky looking blacks, but overall contrast is solid. The grain field resolves naturally throughout and I noticed no compression issues.

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese with optional English subtitles. The soundtrack for this film is rather unique, blending then trendy three chord rock 'n' roll motifs with some jazzier elements that recall then popular American composers like Pete Rugolo or even Henry Mancini. There's some very slight distortion that can be heard occasionally in some of these cues, as well as even in a few selected dialogue moments when amplitude creeps up, but overall this is a solid accounting of a rather energetic and at times kind of goofy sound mix.

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Tony Rayns on Detective Bureau 2-3 (1080p; 29:01) offers the typically cheerful and insightful Rayns commenting on the film in particular, but also some of Suzuki's other offerings as well as quite a bit of information on Shishido's long career.


• Stills Gallery (1080p; 4:20)

As is their wont, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with stills and an enjoyable essay on the film by Jasper Sharp.

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! is never less than enjoyable even if it can't ever quite escape from being pretty resolutely formulaic and predictable. Suzuki is really showing some stylistic chops here that the actual material may not really suggest, something that's probably a testament to the care with which he approached even "everyday" assignments like this one. Technical merits are solid, and at least for Suzuki and/or Shishido fans, Detective Bureau 2 - 3: Go to Hell, Bastards! comes Recommended.