Hell Dogs Review: Netflix Action Revenge Movie Set In The Criminal Environment Of The Yakuza

Stars: Jun’ichi Okada, Kentarô Sakaguchi, Mayu Matsuoka

Director: Masato Harada

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)

In Hell Dogs, available on Netflix, the protagonist acts as a sort of mad dog, a mad splinter ready to throw turmoil in the underworld organization, always torn between fidelity to his mission and the relationship with his comrades in arms who blindly believed in him, despite Shogo being the same deceiver from day one. First, his direct boss Tsutomi Toki and finally the powerful leader Toake are in his sights but completing the assignment will not be easy at all and the possibility of being discovered becomes increasingly concrete after his tragic past threatens to return floating. Shogo Kanetaka is an ex-cop who has been assigned on a dangerous undercover mission to infiltrate the yakuza. With a trauma in his past that haunts him every day, he ends up climbing more and more hierarchies to the point of being among the most trusted men of the boss.

Hell Dogs Review: The Story

Infiltrator missions are a classic trope of certain crime films and often end up being an intelligent expedient to delve into a mind in turmoil, torn between the fulfillment of one’s task and the increasingly close bond that binds the aforementioned protagonist to the criminal environment, with the other affiliates with whom relationships are established that become almost fraternal. Hell Dogs—In the Bamboo House is no exception and draws us into the intrigues of the yakuza, where this “mad dog” moves, ready to shuffle the cards, with a personal revenge mission to complete, which is progressively accomplished in black and white flashbacks, even if the final revelation is a little forced and gratuitous on the actual and real reasons.

Hell Dogs Review and Analysis

Two hours and twenty give them a certain dynamism that seeks to unite the classic autochthonous archetypes with influences not only from Western cinema but also from other Far East scenes, such as the Korean one, above all as regards the management of the characters and related interpersonal relationships between them. The result, while running the risk of being partially derivative, turns out to be quite convincing, guaranteeing the right mix of dramatic tension and genre action, sprinkled here and there with eroticism and bromance subtexts more or less insisted upon. The codes of survival in a criminal context, where even the slightest mistake or a simple dislike by one of the bosses can cost even his life in extreme cases—or at least the “famous” amputation of one or more fingers—are respected in full in a screenplay that populates the underworld environment with numerous secondary figures, all with their own personality, thus allowing the story to be more lively and perky.

An often-intrepid film, even beyond measure, which risks overflowing on several occasions between twists and serial betrayals that make the story varied and ready to overwhelm the viewer with its hard-boiled load, where numerous shootings accompany the desperate mission of redemption of the main character, a crazed splinter ready to unleash hell on earth. Hell Dogs—In the Bamboo House is taken from the manga of the same name and tries to reflect its atmospheres also in the transposition in the flesh: a successful undertaking even despite some obvious limitations that do not, however, detract from the charm of the operation, always able to stand up on its legs with a distinctive personality.

Hell Dogs Review: The Last Words

An anti-hero in search of revenge and driven by remorse, ready to infiltrate the yakuza to destroy it from within while having to submit to certain rules and criminal diktats in order not to be discovered. A protagonist aimed at the betrayal to annihilate his demons, who, as we tell you in the review of Hell Dogs—In the Bamboo House, stops at nothing or anyone to complete the mission assigned to him. It is not a classic yakuza movie but a refined noir that flirts with the modern dynamics of the genre in a colorful and often overloaded mix, capable of daring even despite some ingenuity, which, while not affecting the final result, consists of two hours and winds of pure and solid genre entertainment, courageous and reckless in an attempt to desecrate consolidated canons.