Cast Shikata Daisuke - Shiina Kiipei
Takarada Machiko - Nakatani Miki
Sasaki Kenji - Tsumabuki Satoshi
Kutsunai Mamoru - Tanabe Seiichi
Yokoyama Hiroki - Yajima Tomohito
Imai Yuko - Ban Juri
Story
The story starts with Shikata, Takarada, Sasaki, Kutsunai and Yokoyama going on a trip to do some "big business". In actual fact, they are a group of tricksters who are going there to sell some fake merchandise and get profits of more than 100 million through the deal. 3 years ago, they last gathered for a deal but Imai cheated them and ran away with the money with another partner she brought along. During the journey, Imai returns to the team and claims that she was cheated by her partner then. Even though Takarada is sceptical about this, the rest of the team accepts Imai back to the team. However, these people each have their own plans and the item of contention is a box of cash as the capital for this mission...
Review
The cast consists of a number of good actors like Shiina, Nakatani and Tsumabuki where it is interesting to see how these characters in the story try to outwit one another to get the money. Shiina plays the leader of the group, Shikata who is regarded as useless because of the incident three years ago and loses the respect of his team members. On the other hand, Takarada still believes in him and that's the primary reason she gets involved in this mission again. At the same time, Sasaki is in this mission because of Takarada and hopes to make her give up on Shikata. And Imai is the object of affection for Kutsunai and Yokoyama thus completing this complex web of relationships. Being professional tricksters, it is hard for them to see through each other's lies.
As Shikata puts it, telling a big lie would require telling another 30 small lies to cover up the tracks. Thus, throughout the story, it was hard trying to find out who is the biggest liar. It was a relatively short movie at about 1 hr 40 min but the pace was fast enough to allow lots of developments. As such, I do not have any grouses about the acting or the plot itself.
However, I think the focus on the individual characters leave much to be desired. Other than the fact that the characters are trying to outwit one another, there is little chance for the viewer to find out more on the individual characters e.g. their background and how they got into the trickery business. Thus, I thnk there is sufficient content to warrant a sequel of the movie.
The music used in the movie is from Crazy Ken Band and the entire movie is shot on a moving train. From what I knew, they made the set of the train cabin in the studio so it's not entirely shot on the train itself. The music from Crazy Ken Band suits the mood of the movie and is very relaxing even though the atmosphere of the movie is rather tense. There's no bloodshed or violence, just a battle of wits.
Out of 10, I'll give it about 8 points since more could be done on the development of the characters.
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