9 January 2010
Starring: Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun, Kuroki Meisa, Fujiki Naohito, Otsuka Nene...
This Tanpatsu drama is about the hijacking of a building belonging to a Pharmaceutical company with hundreds of employees. The drama focuses on five young men trapped in the building when the hijacking took place.
Satoru, an annoyed, overly tanned, cleaner. He spent most of the 90 minutes of the hijacking in the air duct with his colleague who is good at picking locks.
Yukio, a persistent Insurance agent who was just about to give up pestering Fuyuko (an employee) to invest in his insurance policy.
A barista named Akira just made a mistake with the customers' orders when the hijackers took action. Noticing that something was wrong, Akira hid in a toilet cubicle as he contacted the cops.
In the security control room, Shoji was overlooking the tight security system of the building with his lazy smartass boss, Shinichiro.
Nozomu was just in the building by chance, sending a package to the daughter of the president of the company, Yuriko. Yuriko lashed out at Nozomu when the package he sent was less than what she expected.
What unfolded was 90 minutes of thrill and suspense as these five young men worked hard at their respective aims, whether it is to walk out of the building alive or to help a hot damsel in distress or to perform his job well so as to have a clear conscience. Will they be able to survive the hijack and what was the intent of the hijackers when they committed such a crime?
Err... there's that suspense-creating question at the end of the synopsis. Cool eh?
*****
Whoa! Whoa! If the criminals had a better reason to hijack the building, this drama would've been that much better. The reason was lame, but how unpredictable the whole thing was really wowed me. I really prided myself as someone who has watched a lot of dramas and movies and was almost always able to spot the big kaboom before it happens. But this time, I missed. I missed by 3/5 of it.
Nino was as usual, impressive. The facial expressions, the body language, everything! He's amazing. Ohno wasn't bad either. Jun was mediocre. But I had to cringe sometimes, especially during Sho's and Aiba's scenes. Aiba's towards the end, the man can play stupid alright, but not determined. Sho's was... okay, I have "Yatterman" stashed somewhere, but I've seen his other works. He was quite good in "The Quiz Show II", but wasn't anywhere as good in "Kiiroi Namida". But Nino never fails to amaze me. This is the reason I like Nino, no matter how whiny he is, no matter how much of a lazy, cocky troll he is. He has something called talent. That is irreplaceable. The man can freaking act.
Kuroki Meisa is as bland as can be, as expressionless as can be. I might go as far to say she is worse than Aiba. If she isn't pretty, she'd be out of a job. But this is reality and looks trumps talent for girls. Fujiki Naohito was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have time like I used to to follow all of their news, so I watched the movie with really next to no clue as to what will happen. I just knew there's a building and there will be some hijackers. I still prefer hot older men to hot young men. =D
I get the posters and banners now. (Not the ones at the train station, that's just a gimmick.) I get the title too. How very Arashi-like, the parts where all five had interaction. Most of them were just playing themselves, except Ohno, I guess. Teehee.
Fat spoilers in hidden text. Highlight to read.
Shit, I knew Sho and Ohno were going to be some of the hijackers, I never thought it'd be all of them. That caught me by surprise. I love surprises. What I find unreasonable is that... so there were consistently three people in the control room with Nino. That makes four of them. And Sho has been consistently trapped with the rest of the hostages, Ohno spent a lot of time in the air duct and Jun has been with Meisa... that leaves only Aiba who was able to guard the room! It doesn't make sense, please.
Next thing that doesn't make sense... seriously, would you hijack a building for a team captain that died a decade ago? I mean... and they tried to make the five come across honorable and kind in nature, just that they need the truth. Riiight... okay. I'd prefer it if they were freaking terrorists, or money-hungry robbers. Something cool! But no... Arashi can't be baddies. What do you think they are? Morita Go? Lol.
Okay, and like... the hijackers were waving the gun around without firing, even when the people were sorta rebelling. I get it, I get it, these people did not intend to kill. But there were hundreds of hostages, normally, people would just lunge at the wimpy people who won't fire won't they? Doesn't make sense for hijackers to not fire, doesn't make sense for the hostages to not rebel at wimpy hijackers. Doesn't make sense.
Reitings: 4/5
Starring: Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun, Kuroki Meisa, Fujiki Naohito, Otsuka Nene...
This Tanpatsu drama is about the hijacking of a building belonging to a Pharmaceutical company with hundreds of employees. The drama focuses on five young men trapped in the building when the hijacking took place.
Satoru, an annoyed, overly tanned, cleaner. He spent most of the 90 minutes of the hijacking in the air duct with his colleague who is good at picking locks.
Yukio, a persistent Insurance agent who was just about to give up pestering Fuyuko (an employee) to invest in his insurance policy.
A barista named Akira just made a mistake with the customers' orders when the hijackers took action. Noticing that something was wrong, Akira hid in a toilet cubicle as he contacted the cops.
In the security control room, Shoji was overlooking the tight security system of the building with his lazy smartass boss, Shinichiro.
Nozomu was just in the building by chance, sending a package to the daughter of the president of the company, Yuriko. Yuriko lashed out at Nozomu when the package he sent was less than what she expected.
What unfolded was 90 minutes of thrill and suspense as these five young men worked hard at their respective aims, whether it is to walk out of the building alive or to help a hot damsel in distress or to perform his job well so as to have a clear conscience. Will they be able to survive the hijack and what was the intent of the hijackers when they committed such a crime?
Err... there's that suspense-creating question at the end of the synopsis. Cool eh?
*****
Whoa! Whoa! If the criminals had a better reason to hijack the building, this drama would've been that much better. The reason was lame, but how unpredictable the whole thing was really wowed me. I really prided myself as someone who has watched a lot of dramas and movies and was almost always able to spot the big kaboom before it happens. But this time, I missed. I missed by 3/5 of it.
Nino was as usual, impressive. The facial expressions, the body language, everything! He's amazing. Ohno wasn't bad either. Jun was mediocre. But I had to cringe sometimes, especially during Sho's and Aiba's scenes. Aiba's towards the end, the man can play stupid alright, but not determined. Sho's was... okay, I have "Yatterman" stashed somewhere, but I've seen his other works. He was quite good in "The Quiz Show II", but wasn't anywhere as good in "Kiiroi Namida". But Nino never fails to amaze me. This is the reason I like Nino, no matter how whiny he is, no matter how much of a lazy, cocky troll he is. He has something called talent. That is irreplaceable. The man can freaking act.
Kuroki Meisa is as bland as can be, as expressionless as can be. I might go as far to say she is worse than Aiba. If she isn't pretty, she'd be out of a job. But this is reality and looks trumps talent for girls. Fujiki Naohito was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have time like I used to to follow all of their news, so I watched the movie with really next to no clue as to what will happen. I just knew there's a building and there will be some hijackers. I still prefer hot older men to hot young men. =D
I get the posters and banners now. (Not the ones at the train station, that's just a gimmick.) I get the title too. How very Arashi-like, the parts where all five had interaction. Most of them were just playing themselves, except Ohno, I guess. Teehee.
Fat spoilers in hidden text. Highlight to read.
Shit, I knew Sho and Ohno were going to be some of the hijackers, I never thought it'd be all of them. That caught me by surprise. I love surprises. What I find unreasonable is that... so there were consistently three people in the control room with Nino. That makes four of them. And Sho has been consistently trapped with the rest of the hostages, Ohno spent a lot of time in the air duct and Jun has been with Meisa... that leaves only Aiba who was able to guard the room! It doesn't make sense, please.
Next thing that doesn't make sense... seriously, would you hijack a building for a team captain that died a decade ago? I mean... and they tried to make the five come across honorable and kind in nature, just that they need the truth. Riiight... okay. I'd prefer it if they were freaking terrorists, or money-hungry robbers. Something cool! But no... Arashi can't be baddies. What do you think they are? Morita Go? Lol.
Okay, and like... the hijackers were waving the gun around without firing, even when the people were sorta rebelling. I get it, I get it, these people did not intend to kill. But there were hundreds of hostages, normally, people would just lunge at the wimpy people who won't fire won't they? Doesn't make sense for hijackers to not fire, doesn't make sense for the hostages to not rebel at wimpy hijackers. Doesn't make sense.
Reitings: 4/5
Posts
I just found out about your blog, and let me say that I agree with most of what you said. I am a HUGE Arashi fan and all, but we have to accept the fact that not all of them are GOOD actors. Aiba's face looks blank half the time...it's no wonder he got the least airtime. He should stick to varieties because he's really good at doing improved reactions, and there's none of that in dramas. And Sho can only really play Sho. That's why he was a huge FAIL in Kiroii Namida. His character was so far off from his real personality. Matsujun, on the other hand, can only play Domyouji. I cringed when he was crying in the first ep of Smile. Well, at least he got a little better throughout the series.
I had the same quips about the storyline. They should've done a quick explanation (with flashbacks) about how 2 masked men were in the control room with Nino and his boss. Seriously, I could only explain Aiba to my dad who was shaking his head increduously at the whole thing (he likes Arashi too...LOL).
bdash
2:17 PM, January 16, 2010They explained that it was their juniors from highschool who were guarding the rooms at first and they switched costumes during the panic. The juniors then escaped with the rest of the hostages.
Totally agree with the reason behind the whole operation being way too unbelievable and aiba's acting being extremely cringe-worthy. But I really didn't expect all of them to be the terrorists so that twist was pulled off really well i think.
Loved Aiba's YAY at the fireworks at the end btw haha
oh and i just discovered your blog and love reading your stuff. It's really entertaining :P
Anonymous
5:34 AM, January 24, 2010Lol. Spot on observations mate. But isabellali is right about the part that they had their kouhai from high school join in the fray. Didn't really make sense though since all five of them were so disorganized, their juniors should've thought twice about going along with them. Then again you're also right about the inconsistencies-- they should have done a better job at keeping the number of armed men in check. Like the part where b1 was opened, the numbers just didn't add up. Let's say they had Nino and his boss tied up, so Ohno and Aiba fetched Jun and later, Sho. How come there's an extra armed man when the other accomplices had supposedly escaped with all the people from the building?
And don't get me started on the motive. It was just plain ridiculous. Haven't they heard of a lawsuit or a hard hitting exposé? >_<
zooey
5:18 AM, June 05, 2010