Review of Wasabi (2001) by Ädi S — 10 Oct 2007
A great combination of French and Japanese rolled into one. Not as professional as Leon: The Professional, but just as entertaining.The story turns out to be pretty good and actually drives the film, with the minimal action taking a back seat.
The story moves at a pretty quick pace as well, so there is never a dull moment. In fact, this film is only 90 minutes and I think it could have done just as good if it were longer. What really surprised me in this film is the speaking of the French language.
The first 20 minutes or so takes place in Paris, before moving into Japan. Once the movie shifts to Japan the characters that interact with Jean Reno need to speak French so he can understand them. The Japanese actors that do the French speaking do it well.
Especially, the lovely, Ryoko Hirosue who sounded almost fluent.This film also adds in some great humor, but just enough to keep if from becoming an over the top comedy. The mall scene when Hubert (Reno) is taking out the bad guys, but keeping it secret from his daughter Yumi (Hirosue) is just hilarious.
The acting is superb. Ryoko Hirosue shows me once again that she can steal the show with her acting chops. Even away from Jean Reno. As mentioned earlier, her French was well done, and it is a smooth transition when she switches to Japanese.
Jean Reno, once again pulls off a great cop/hitman character. He was born for these rolls.Once again, there isn't a whole lot of action in here, but the few sequences they do have are nicely choreographed.
Just don't expect a lot of bloodshed in this film.If you are expecting an action packed shootout stay away from this. If you are looking for a good story with some great acting, good humor, and only a dash of action, then this may be your dish of wasabi.
This review of Wasabi (2001) was written by Ädi S on 10 Oct 2007.
Wasabi has generally received positive reviews.
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