Hero

2007 Japanese movie that stars Kimura Takuya as a slovenly bengoshi with true justice as his only motive for handling a case.

He's really handsome in a ruggedly macho kind of way, and I like it.

He's not typical of the average, Japanese mega-star, yet he's definitely a mega-star in his own right.

He possesses the prerequisite good looks with a touch of grass-eater thrown in the mix, and yet he couldn't be considered stylish-hair, make-up wearing, girly-girl, is there a chance he might be gay? looking by any means.

Hero also starred ABE HIROSHI as another, obstinate attorney in the firm, and at the beginning of this exceptional movie, there is a scene where he and the rest of the crew file into an elevator.

He stands head & shoulders above them all, and I couldn't help but laugh, wanting to rewind again and again even though I couldn't.

Everyone at aznv.tv asked about or expressed an interest in a second season, but I haven't found anything in that regard.

Here is what the synopsis had to say ...

"Based on a well-known TV series, "Hero" Kuryu (Takuya Kimura) is finally back in the Tokyo Prosecutor's Office "Josai" Branch and reunited with old familiar colleagues and handling a variety of petty theft and injury cases."

This makes it sound like it was originally aired as a half-hour television spot that ended up as a movie ... which is what I just watched ... having never seen nor found anywhere the 'original' television version.

AND ... it sounds like the cast of the movie were in said or implied television series.

Confused, as usual.

Anyway, Hero revolves around a single case of political greed that lands a street punk in jail as a case of mistaken identity (or is it a frame up?)

An innocent man is killed, a supposedly innocent youth is accused of the crime, and it is up to Kimura's character to uncover the truth regardless of the mammoth implications involved should he decide to go up against the powers that be both in and outside the legal arena.

The incident takes him to Korea, where I breathlessly awaited the arrival of promised hunk, Lee Byung hun as another no-nonsense law man who actually arrives at the very end of their stay in Korea, and is on-screen for approximately ten seconds.

ya pa de

However ~ it's what occurs in Korea that had everyone who watched this great movie wondering about a sequel, because the guy they chased down at the start dropped a flash drive inside Kimura's assistant's bag, and then nothing about it was ever mentioned again.

He did it in order to keep it out of the hands of the Korean authorities, but what does it contain, and ...

I like funny mixed in with serious, and Hero had me laughing as much as I was riveted with anticipation of the eventual outcome.

***UPDATE: I found the 2001 television series! (hurray for me!) ^.^'
will watch with interest and blog when I'm through. ***