Lupin III (film)

Lupin III
Japanese promotional poster
Directed by	Ryuhei Kitamura
Produced by	Mataichirō Yamamoto
Written by	Mataichirō Yamamoto (as Rikiya Mizushima)
Story by	Mataichirō Yamamoto Ryuhei Kitamura Joseph O'Bryan
Based on	Lupin III by Monkey Punch
Starring	Shun Oguri Jerry Yan Tetsuji Tamayama Gō Ayano Meisa Kuroki Tadanobu Asano Kim Joon Thanayong Wongtrakul Nirut Sirijanya Nick Tate
Music by	Aldo Shllaku Tomoyasu Hotei
Cinematography	Pedro J. Márquez
Edited by	Shūichi Kakesu
Production company	TBS Films Kadokawa Tristone Entertainment Pipeline
Distributed by	Toho
Release dates	August 30, 2014 (2014-08-30)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	English Japanese
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$22.3 million[1]

Lupin III (ルパン三世, Rupan Sansei) is a 2014 Japanese heist film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura based on the manga of the same name by Monkey Punch, starring Shun Oguri, Jerry Yan, Tetsuji Tamayama, Gō Ayano, Meisa Kuroki and Tadanobu Asano. It is the second live-action film adaptation of the manga, following Lupin III: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (1974).

The film is a origin story that presents its characters in a modernized context,^[2][3] and follows the title character as he forms his thieving gang to steal a Cleopatran necklace while facing opposition from Michael Lee, his rival, and Pramuk, an underworld crime boss.

Lupin III premiered in Japan on August 30, 2014, and made its international premiere at LA EigaFest 2014.^[4] Although financially successful, critical and audience opinions of the film were mixed to negative, with criticism frequently focusing on the film's derivative and convoluted narrative. Other areas of the production, such as the cast's delivery of the screenplay's largely English dialogue, were also frequently targeted for criticism.

Plot

Arsène Lupin III, grandson of the legendary gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, is a member of the international thieving ring "The Works", which specializes in stealing valuable objects from wealthy owners. Lupin beats his fellow Works members Fujiko Mine (his would-be lover), Pierre (a computer genius) and Jiro to the theft of a valuable medal in Singapore, but is forced to surrender it to his rival, Michael Lee, when he threatens to kill him and Fujiko. At a meeting of The Works, Fujiko is hailed as the culprit behind the theft (thanks to her machinations), and Thomas Dawson, the leader of the organization, shows them the most valuable item in The Works' possession - the Crimson Heart of Cleopatra, a necklace commissioned by Mark Antony to symbolize his love for the Queen of the Nile. However, a ruby of Cleopatra's intended to complete the necklace has not yet been recovered. A trio of thugs led by Michael - Royal, Saber and Maria - steal the necklace and kill Jiro and Dawson, apparently in revenge for "Edward Lam", resulting in the dissolution of The Works. Lupin, Fujiko, Pierre and Daisuke Jigen join forces to find Michael and the necklace.

Within a year, Lupin and Jigen have established themselves as accomplished thieves, but Jigen grows weary of following Fujiko's false leads. While meeting with her, Lupin is turned in to the police in Thailand. He then meets Inspector Koichi Zenigata of ICPO, who informs him that Michael, using the alias Georgio Zhang, is arranging a major buy/sell transaction with Mamrachiao Pramuk, the chairman of Navarone Security (and underworld kingpin). Zenigata wants Lupin to 'steal' the items that they intend to sell to each other for the police so that he can arrest them; in exchange, Lupin's criminal record will be erased. Lupin accepts, and enlists Goemon Ishikawa XIII into the gang.

Fujiko arranges a meeting with Michael, who explains that Edward Lam was a member of The Works and a father to them both, but after helping Dawson find the Crimson Heart and the accompanying ruby in Egypt, Dawson betrayed and killed him, and Pramuk then stole the ruby. Michael intends to buy the ruby to complete the necklace. Lupin, who has been spying on the pair, tells Michael that no matter who wins the buy/sell, he will steal the necklace.

At the buy/sell, Michael and Pramuk prepare to sell each other the necklace and the ruby respectively. During the transaction, Pramuk tells Michael that he was a former member of The Works, and killed Lam while trying to kill Dawson. Michael attempts to kill himself and Pramuk before the latter can buy the necklace, but Pramuk reveals that Royal, who (along with Saber and Maria) now works for him, disarmed the explosives. Pramuk buys the ruby for $200 million, and Michael destroys his reward cheque in defeat. Lupin, having listened to Michael and Pramuk's exchange via lip reading technology, calls off the theft, much to Zenigata's frustration.

Disheartened, Michael offers to join Lupin's gang to steal back the Crimson Heart and ruby from the Ark, Pramuk's stronghold, and is accepted. Lupin and Michael enter the Ark disguised as Zengiata and Commander Narong of the Thailand Army, and upload a virus into the Ark's networks in the guise of a calling card from Lupin. Jigen, Goemon and Fujiko attack the Ark's main defenses, defeating Royal, Saber and Maria in the process, while Lupin and Michael, aided by Pierre and Joseph (a hacker), along with prior research made by Goemon, penetrate the security defenses protecting the Crimson Heart. Pramuk traps the pair in the vault, intending to suffocate them. Michael places Lupin in the vault's safe and blows the vault door up, killing himself but saving Lupin. Lupin and the others are handed over by Pramuk to Zenigata and Narong, but they instead arrest Pramuk for his crimes, using the Crimson Heart as evidence. Zenigata then discovers too late that the necklace and ruby given to him by Lupin were fakes.

Later, Lupin unsuccessfully tries to get Fujiko to wear the Crimson Heart, and Zenigata returns to pursue them. Fujiko takes the necklace and escapes while Lupin and Jigen escape together in their Fiat 500.

Cast

Production

The film was in development for four years, with script development alone consuming two-and-a-half years. Franchise creator Monkey Punch acted as a creative consultant during the scripting and production.^[5] Filming began on October 3, 2013, and included scenes shot in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines, before moving to Thailand for two months. Principal photography concluded on December 26, 2013. A confidant of Ryuhei Kitamura told the media that the director intended to update Lupin III to be more modern.^[3]

The film's first promotional images of the cast were released on April 9.^[6] The first teaser for the film was released online on April 25, 2014,^[7] while the full trailer was uploaded on June 25.^[8] The full trailer features the theme song, "Trick Attack -Theme of Lupin the Third", which was written and performed by Tomoyasu Hotei.^[8][9]

Release

Upon release, the film reached second place at the Japanese box office.^[10] It then made its International release at LA EigaFest 2014 on September 15, 2015. It was released in Japan on DVD and Blu-ray on February 18, 2015 with a collector's edition.^[11] Madman Entertainment released their Blu-ray and DVD of the film in Australia on 24 June 2015.^[12]

Reception

Critical reception of Lupin III was generally negative among Japanese and Western film critics, especially following the film’s showing at LA EigaFest. Areas frequently targeted for criticism were the film’s supporting characters, screenplay, cinematography and editing (especially in the action scenes), costume design and soundtrack. The film was also criticized for having most of its dialogue performed in English (resulting in poor delivery and intonation of numerous lines by its Asian cast members), and for overall squandering its potential as an adaptation of Monkey Punch’s manga. Oguri, Tamayama, Ayano, Kuroki and Asano were, however, frequently seen as well-cast in their roles. Opinions from Japanese audiences were mixed, with some viewing Lupin III as “an enjoyable time to be had to the whole family”, while others viewed it as part of a “terrible live-action adaptation trend that has been going on through the years”.^[13]

Film critic Yuichi Maeda rated the film 3 out of 100 in an online review, writing “The exhibitionism of the movie, ‘Isn’t this action cool?’, ‘Isn’t this pose cool?’, ‘This line’, ‘This costume’, ‘This (etc)’ all feels extremely forced. And more importantly, not one of these things is cool at all. The minute you try to make everything ‘cool,’ everything becomes cheap instead.” Maeda also criticized the film for lacking the franchise’s spirit, stating “[…] Lupin the Third has almost none of the ‘Lupin-ishness’ found in previous pieces [of the franchise]. If you give a big budget to people without any sense, you end up with an outlandish movie. This is a good example of that”.^[13]

Writing for Kotaku, Richard Eisenbeis described Lupin III as “both a Terrible Adaptation and a Horrible Film”, criticizing the script’s numerous plot holes (namely the absurdity behind the buy/sell auction between Michael and Pramuk, in which a live studio audience becomes a “room full of witnesses for illegal dealings”), Kitamura’s “nauseating” direction of the action scenes, and the impractical costumes worn by Lupin, Saber and Maria. He also described the film’s soundtrack as “porno music” and disliked the incorporation of Pierre and Joseph as members of Lupin’s gang. Eisenbeis concluded his review by describing Lupin III as “nothing but a schlock action movie; and while 20 years ago it might have been acceptable among the horde of similar films, that boat has long since set sail”.^[14]

Matt Schley of Otaku USA called the film “a cookie-cutter, movie-by-committee 2+ hour yawner that fails as both as a Kitamura piece and, crucially, a satisfying live-action Lupin the 3rd film”, panning the costumes, the characters of Michael Lee (and his role as the film’s source of conflict), Pierre and Joseph, the unmemorable music, and the derivative heist film set pieces. Schley also stated that “it's not as if those involved couldn't figure out how to replicate the spirit of Lupin in live action form - it's more like they never even tried”.^[15]

Paul Bramhall of cityonfire.com rated the film 3/10, and described it as “a poorly executed retread of the 2012 Korean film The Thieves", noting that Kitamura’s film “steals” numerous plot elements and character motivations from Choi Dong-hoon’s more than it does from Monkey Punch's manga. Bramhall criticized the inclusion of Goemon, “for no other reason than he’s obviously also from the manga”, the convoluted and exposition-heavy storyline, and described the action scenes as “the Hallmark Channel versions of the back seat car fight from The Raid 2, the Donnie Yen vs. Wu Jing fight from Sha Po Lang, and the car chase from The Matrix Reloaded”, lamenting that Japan’s need for its mainstream films to be shown on television as holiday specials frequently results in derivative and diluted productions.^[16]

Planned sequel

Ryuhei Kitamura has confirmed that a sequel is in development.^[17]

References

External links

• Official website
• Lupin III at the Internet Movie Database