Shield of Straw

 

An immensely wealthy man puts out a billion-dollar bounty on the head of the killer who murdered his granddaughter. The killer in question throws himself to the mercy of the police force and the justice system. A team of dedicated security police are forced to protect the killer and get him to court before he’s assassinated, with anybody being a possible suspect, including those within the force itself. It’s a pretty decent premise for a thriller, and one ripe for tense drama. Unfortunately none of this happens, because Shield of Straw squanders it’s potential to deliver a sterile, bland, plodding thriller devoid of excitement. This is an arduous experience, a cold picture that almost feels strangely obligatory. It was directed by Takashi Miike, but it lacks any of his flair or signature style to the point where it could have been directed by anybody.
 
The premise, as said before, sounds pretty good. Powerful, ageing billionaire Ninagawa puts out a massive bounty on the serial killer who murdered his granddaughter. Fearing for his life, the killer, Kiyomaru, hands himself in to the police, who are tasked with protecting him and getting him to Tokyo justice headquarters within 48 hours so he can be judged and sentenced according to the law. Veteran security expert Mekari and enthusiastic rookie Shiraiwa are hand-picked to personally ensure Kiyomaru’s safety, along with a detachment of police. But as the escort begins, tensions arise as the allure of one billion dollars strikes seemingly everyone, from civilians to medics and soldiers. When a website run by Ninagawa starts posting their movements and locations suspicions pass through the team as it becomes clear one of them is a traitor.

It’s a really good premise for a film, and Shield of Straw manages to completely waste it, never capitalising on the potential for tension and suspense. Instead everything is mundane and straightforward as things move from one small obstacle to the next at a plodding pace. That’s another problem with the film, it’s horrendously long and boring, never managing the frantic tension the story demands. The two day time limit is never a factor, there are very long stretches when nobody is in danger and considering the massive bounty not that many people try and kill Kiyomaru. If anything early scenes sort of lie as most of the Japanese countryside and roads are absent of people and cars.

Not a lot happens at all actually. While the premise suggests a frantic, adrenaline-pumping rush, the movie and the characters move at an absurdly slow pace, lingering far too long and building up every minor confrontation way more than they needed to be. Because that’s what they largely are; minor confrontations. While there is one ridiculous set piece involving a runaway gas tanker flipping over and blowing up on a highway (something the trailer took great relish in showing off), for the most part there’ll be one or two people who’ll try and get Kiyomaru, mostly in low key and non-exciting ways. Somebody might put poison in a syringe, or a pair of baton-wielding security guards might menacingly approach. The insane chaos of the situation is largely ignored. It's baffling how low-key and uneventful the entire film ends up being.

So if we’re not going the action route we’d be going the character-focused route instead, but that doesn’t work here either. The characters are all so overwhelmingly dull and unlikeable, almost all written paper-thin and without any real defining features. Most are unemotional and statue-like in their acting, standing around for long stretches of time without doing or saying anything interesting. A common thing that happens is characters accusing each other of being suspect, but they never go anywhere. I think every single character gets accused of having a motive in killing Kiyomaru, some a few times over. Mekari is astoundingly dull as the determined security professional, having the personality and acting ability of a shield made of straw. Shiraiwa manages to be just as dull, blindly following Mekari’s teachings. There’re also some police officers involved, most of whom use their time accusing each other of being after the money.

This all could have still worked if it had a memorable villain, but Kiyomaru is a really boring one. He’s just a regular, ordinary killer, and a whiny idiot to boot. He's no mastermind, and there's no psychological manipulation at play here. Sure he says and does cruel things, constantly antagonising the security team he relies on for protection, but he has no presence and spends most of his time cowering or yelling for help. His actions also make no sense whatsoever – he flees to the police and is desperate for their help, but then he starts to do things that put everyone in danger for no reason. It’s almost as though he doesn’t care about his survival, but then why’d he even bother heading to the police for protection? The film's ending likewise misses the mark, bringing things together in the most ordinary way imaginable, almost as though they were wilfully doing all they could to avoid doing anything interesting or unexpected.

The entire film is so cold and clinical, lacking any visual or stylistic flair. Everything is dull and grey, from the interiors of buildings and precincts, the various cars, buses and subway cars their journey takes place on and even the empty Japanese streets. Coming from a director like Miike it’s baffling, and the entire thing comes across as being some sort of contractual obligation. There’s no passion or energy put into it by anybody, as characters sleepwalk through its dull script. Shield of Straw is not only a bad movie, but a disappointing one as well since there was so much potential there. The premise in Takashi Miike’s hands sounds like it could have given us something astoundingly insane, but instead we get the most boring and bland ‘thriller’ imaginable.