TOKYO VICE

JAKE ADELSTEIN
SCRIBE PUBLICATIONS

Tokyo Vice is three things: an outsider’s perspective on Japan in the nineties and noughties; an insider’s view of the complex, often contradictory symbiotic relationship between that country’s press, police force and organised crime syndicates; and an example of the classic journalistic dilemma – how far a person is willing to compromise their own principles in search of a story.

American Jake Adelstein goes to Japan as a college student, to learn the language and perhaps even become a Buddhist monk. What he ends up doing is scoring a gig as a crime reporter on the Yomiuri Shimbun, a prestigious newspaper with the largest circulation in the world. It’s an amazing feat for a Westerner, made more amazing by the fact he sticks it out for 12 years, overcoming cultural barriers to produce articles that actually bring about positive social change.

The cases recounted in his memoir range from the quirky – a suit-wearing master pickpocket who treats his illicit enterprise like a 9-to-5 job and returns victims’ wallets to their pockets after removing only the cash – to the ghastly. The latter category includes an exotic animals salesman who also deals in murder for those who oppose or anger him. Then there are the more sensitive issues, such as the way the Japanese justice system deals with the mentally ill, and a particularly sinister form of loan-sharking designed to entrap individuals for life.

We soon learn that there isn’t much Jake won’t do if he thinks there’s a scoop to be had, whether this means going undercover as a male host, brawling with a bouncer or taking tea with a high-ranking member of the Yakuza. However, he never tries to make himself out to be some kind of action hero, and his writing is thoughtful, at times deeply regretful, and peppered with insights into the Japanese mindset, as in sayings like, “To not know and to ask a question is a moment of embarrassment; to not know and not ask is a lifetime of shame.”

Adelstein plays a prime role in investigating the disappearance of English girl Lucie Blackman in 2000, and he makes it his personal crusade to stop the human trafficking operating virtually unchecked in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. He also attempts to expose and bring down a mob boss guilty of screwing over not just innocent civilians, but fellow Yakuza and the US authorities – an undertaking that results in the death threats to himself, his family and his friends that underlie the entire book. A case of publish and you may very well be damned.

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Edge of Darkness

Director: Martin Campbell
Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
Icon

MEL Gibson is back, doing what he does best: kicking arse (sans spouting racial epithets).  In Edge of Darkness Mel channels the kind of fatal simmering anger his character, Porter, carried throughout the rewarding revenge thriller Pay Back (1999)  into a story of revenge against corporate corruption.

Gibson stars as Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven.  Craven’s only child, 24-year-old science graduate, Emma, is shot dead on the doorstep to the family home just hours after arriving for a short break.

Initially it appears that Craven was the intended target, but when it is discovered that his daughter was also  poisoned with the heavy metal thallium, via interviews with her terrified boyfriend David (Shawn Roberts) and a college friend, Craven uncovers evidence that Emma’s employer, Northmoor, deliberately poisoned her to cover-up her role in a  recent break-in by anti-nuclear activists, looking to uncover other, secret Northmoor dealings.

While burning his daughter’s radioactive clothing in his yard, Thomas is joined by Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a Northmoor “consultant” whose job it is to monitor the situation with Craven and, if necessary, prevent him from uncovering the company’s illegal activities.

The two men are direct and uncompromising in their intentions, and their clouded-yet-clear conversation reveals an undercurrent of unexpected respect for each other.  Jedburgh leaves Craven to investigate, with a warning.

After meeting with a Senator whom his daughter tried to use as a whistleblower, and her former boss, Jack Bennett (Danny Huston), the increasingly haunted father understands that these people not only know what happened to his daughter and the dead activists, but are in collusion to cover up government-sanctioned murder. With little to live for, Craven embarks on a path to mete out his revenge—even if it kills him.

Edge of Darkness is available to rent or buy on 7 July.

Predators

Director: Nimrod Antal
Stars: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo

Produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, 2007) Predators is, first and foremost, a sequel to the incomparable 1987 classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight) and directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, Last Action Hero).  The film successfully integrates many of the key elements beloved of the classic without mimicry or crude imitation.

The film premise involves the Predators hunting game—an element introduced in Paul WS Anderson’s largely successful effort Aliens vs Predators (2004), written in conjunction with Alien writer Dan O’Bannon.  This time the planet is a dumping ground for the worst of our world’s serial predators (soldiers, killers), who are armed, dropped via parachute from the sky, and then tracked and killed by the Predators like game animals in order to hone their hunting skills.

The cast is exciting in its unexpectedness: Adrien Brody is Royce, a former black ops soldier turned mercenary; Walton Goggins (who many will remember as the brilliant Shane Vendrell in The Shield) is serial killer, Stans; Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, CSI) is the survivor of a previous game hunt, Nolans; Danny Trejo (Machete) is Mexican cartel killer, Cuchillo; Alice Braga (niece of Sonia) is South American revolutionary, Isabelle; Oleg Taktarov is Chechen death squad soldier, Nikolai; Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) is scientist Edwin; and Louis Ozawa Changchien is Yakuza assassin, Hanzo.  An already exciting line-up when you consider the many and varied fighting techniques each character will bring to the movie.

The film succeeds because it works across two distinct yet important lines: it is both an homage to the original and an effective sequel. As the movie unfolds snippets of the classic (best not mentioned here to avoid spoiling surprises) are interwoven subtly throughout the script, generating in-the-know chuckles from hardcore fans without alienating those new to the franchise.

The violence is swift, brutal and woven effectively throughout the tense, cat-and-mouse tests of guts and military strategy so necessary to the Predator franchise.

As the group of killer misfits realise they are being hunted to extinction, the challenge to remain alive competes with the human instinct to save each other from (an always) grisly death.  When the group stumbles across a Predator tied to a tree and stripped of its armour, it is revealed that not only are the Predators hunting the humans dropped onto the planet but they also hunting each other. Can a truce between two killers work on the battlefield (also touched on briefly in Paul WS Anderson’s AVP) work? You bet.  But Robert Rodriguez doesn’t “do” predictable, so  prepare for an action-packed ride.

Predators is a well written, low-key and solid return for a franchise many thought was left for dead after the abysmal Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Welcome back.

Predators is releases in cinemas nationally on July 7.

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June 2010 Pet of the Month, Erica Everhart, will be performing in Perth and Queensland throughout July.

Erica will be dancing at Perth’s Voodoo Lounge from July 13 to July 24, and judging Miss Centerfold while she’s there.

She’ll then head to Mackay in time for the mining expo, appearing at Showbar 140 from July 26 to July 31.

Congratulations Zahra Stardust!

Zahra is the winner of the Australian Penthouse 2010 Aussie Babes competition!

Discover more about Zahra!

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