Adrenaline Drive review

Movies that follow common formulas tend to get a bad rap, fairly or unfairly. However, sometimes a movie is able to transcend its own clichés and deliver an entertaining experience regardless of how trite or overused its plot devices may be. Adrenaline Drive is one of these films, and Shinobu Yaguchi is one of those writer/directors that can infuse cute, amusing moments into any scene. While never a guy to come up with an amazing new concept or think outside of the box, he always delivers good movies with a unique charm that’s been his trademark throughout his 15+ year career.

Satoru Suzuki (Masanobu Ando) is a timid car rental employee who hates his job but can never seem to work up the courage to quit due to his passive nature. One day his boss distracts him while driving and he accidentally bumps the rear fender of a Jaguar in front of him. Unfortunately the owner of the car is a yakuza named Kuroiwa (Yutaka Matsushige). Suzuki’s boss hangs him out to dry and he’s is forced to go with Kuroiwa to work things out (aka to get shaken down). When they get to the yakuza den Suzuki tries to talk his way out of the debt but instead talks himself into a broken thumb. Just then there’s a big explosion. Suzuki wakes up later to find himself in a pile of rubble with all the yakuza dead except an unconscious Kuroiwa next to him. A nurse named Shizuko Sato (Hikari Ishida) helps him to an ambulance with Kuroiwa, whom at this point is semi-conscious and clutching a case full of yakuza cash. After a ridiculous chain of events possible only in a movie like this the ambulance ends up in the river while Suzuki and Sato end up with the case of blood-soaked cash. And they sure don’t plan on turning it in.

In the most adorable interpretation of money-laundering ever they actually bring the money to a Laundromat to wash the blood out of it and then split it evenly, which comes out to about 107,660,000 yen each (about $1 million USD). But you know if things were that easy this wouldn’t be much of a movie, now would it? Of course Kuroiwa miraculously survived the ambulance crash and even though he’s laid up in the hospital he sends a group of low-level yakuza goons (played by Japanese comedy troupe, Jovi Jova) to get the money back. They immediately set out to find Suzuki’s apartment. In a funny scene they actually run into Sato on the way there while she’s still carrying a backpack full of cash and she leads them around in circles for a while. Eventually a cop gives them proper directions and a frantic and amusing sequence eventually ends with Suzuki and Sato narrowly escaping the bumbling yakuza and hopping a ride to the country.

Thinking they’re in the clear, the formerly reserved pair has some fun spending their money in all the ways you might expect; a plush hotel room, new wardrobe, fancy dinners, etc. As a cover they tell all their family and friends they ran off to get married but they do actually start to develop feelings for one another (in that typical Japanese romance “I’m going to let you get totally frustrated with me before I actually tell you how I feel.” sort of way). Meanwhile Kuroiwa is getting healthier and it’s only a matter of time before he’s able to track them down. When he finally does the result is a madcap finale consisting of everyone trying to outsmart everyone else and Jovi Jova in the middle of it all getting smacked in the face with shovels for our amusement.

Adrenaline Drive is a film that’s both disarmingly charming and funny. I pretty much gave away the entire storyline in my synopsis but it makes no difference—everything good about the film is in the delivery. Both Ando and Ishida are completely endearing in their roles which start off pretty similar, but each of them experience growth in different ways during the course of the movie; Suzuki becomes more assertive while Sato learns to be more adventurous. Jovi Jova have a ton of funny moments throughout, and even stole the film in some of the middle parts that could have gotten pretty boring otherwise. Even Kuroiwa begins to show a glimmer of intermittent humanity towards the end (not much, but some). If you’re ever in the mood for a light-hearted caper flick this is definitely the one to check out.

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Availability: Image Entertainment released Adrenaline Drive on region 1, NTSC DVD with English subtitles on June 26, 2001. Check here for full specs.

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