In 2017, director Kang Yun-sung’s based-on-a-true-story The Outlaws introduced audiences to Detective Ma (Don Lee), colloquially known as “Beast Cop” for the way he resolves conflicts within his district with his power-packed fists. Watching Ma tackle Chinese gangsters trying to muscle in on Korean affairs using his brawn, his brains, and his sense of humor to match the energy of any given situation, tickles the parts of your brain looking to be entertained without skimping on story or drama. Now, after four films with Lee’s Ma in the lead (each considered part of the larger “Crime City” series), the series expands into Japan with TOKYO BURST: Crime City (TOKYO BURST-犯罪都市-), offering a brand-new perspective all with the same signature mixture of violence, humor, and heart. Having its International premiere in the Cheval Noir section of Fantasia International Film Festival 2026, TOKYO BURST may lack the Beast Cop, but that doesn’t mean it’s not prepared to unleash its trademark violence and heart.
Center: Koji Mizukami as Shiro Aiba in TOKYO BURST: CRIME CITY. Photo courtesy of HIAN/Kadokawa.
Former-gang-leader-turned-first-year-detective Shiro Aiba (Koji Mizukami) is working with his team to track down the culprits of a string of pawnshop heists when Korean officer Choi (Yunho) arrives looking for cooperation apprehending a killer he believes has left Korea for Japan. Though neither wants to work with the other, the unlikely duo starts to follow the leads for one, realizing that the trail takes them to the other, and neither one is ready for their destination.
Written by director Eiji Uchida (The Specials) and writer Tatsuro Mishima (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead), TOKYO BURST establishes itself smartly by doing two things to connect with the Korean-set Crime City films — it incorporates series favorite Jang I-soo (Park Ji-hwan) and utilizes a Korean-based detective who references (but doesn’t name) working alongside Detective Ma. The inclusion of both is treated as something that audiences well-versed in the series will understand without having it explained while folks just joining the mayhem can still understand contextually. Now, sometimes these reference points are also utilized to showcase just how similar the Japanese and Korean law enforcement officers are where their cultural history creates a massive divide. Historically, the Japanese have looked down upon Korea and have tried to invade it, while those of Korean birth who were forcibly removed from Koran and reside in Japan still deal, even today, with denigration and sense of rejection from a community that forced them to be there. One can’t have a buddy cop film, even one that’s buddy cop adjacent, if there isn’t some friction. Here, it’s both the cultural subtext and the “outsider coming in to disrupt our flow” aspect, the latter beginning to resolve as Siba and Choi realize that they both have a “Truth Room,” just different ways of organizing it. Fans of the Crime City films will immediately chuckle in awareness of what’s to come when Choi uses the term. In that vein, TOKYO BURST does also continue the tradition in a long line of law enforcement films meant to uplift the notion that using unlawful tactics is ok as long as it’s just the bad guys who get the wrong end of the truth room. But with this being the fifth entry in the series, even if tangential, it’s a little late to get ethical about our fictional copaganda and we just roll with it.
L-R: Hiccorohee as Miyuki Yoshii, Kiyohiko Shibukawa as Seiichi Kobayashi, Yunho as Choi, and Koji Mizukami as Shiro Aiba in TOKYO BURST: CRIME CITY. Photo courtesy of HIAN/Kadokawa.
To that end, Uchida and Mishima give us villains that match our heroes. They’re fast, smart, and deadly, the script giving us just enough information to know that they’re a duo that shouldn’t be screwed with and that, fronting any kind of defense is going to require individuals who can match them. There’s no Beast Cop here with punches that break the sound barrier, so what does Japan offer? A former yakuza with energy to spare and a penchant for wrestling in the form of Mizukami’s Aiba. Aiba courses with wild card energy regardless of whether he’s chatting with members of his former gang, familiar faces at a restaurant, or suspects. It’s comical at times, but, due to the unhinged presentation Aiba offers, it’s suggestive of one whose turn toward law enforcement is intended to transfer his learned skills from yakuza life toward the greater good. By requirement, Yunho’s Choi is a touch more reserved, though not lacking in precision or intelligence, resulting in a fine pairing when the two start to gel and the clues reveal the actual plot at work and why so many bodies are dropping in Aiba’s Shinjuku district. While these two follow the usual expected trajectory of will-they-won’t-they-get-along, the performances from both actors make the ride a really good time. These two are not meant to replace Detective Ma but to demonstrate the possibility for something new. Mizukami and Yunho make their characters believable in both brain and brawn, skillsets required to not only be successful as officers but to survive the gauntlet before them.
While TOKYO BURST exists in the shadows of the larger Crime City universe, it makes sure to stake its own claim. This means using the locations and customs of Japan as central points in the film and not just showing us different parts of the social scene or business portions of Shinjuku, but also host clubs and the seedier sides of them. This allows TOKYO BURST to generate its own sense of self separate from parts of Seoul featured in the other four films. This extends to the action sequences, which are uneven at best. The action sequences in the early part of the film aren’t as fluid or as easy to follow as ones later in the film due to cinematography intent on keeping some of the violence out of frame or at a distance. But, in one sequence, as the intensity rises, so does their confidence as an expected race to capture suspects goes from a full-on assault to a brilliantly-conceived/executed chase to a one-v-one match that matches the design and intensity of the final fights we’ve gotten in past Crime City entries. It doesn’t hurt that the editing of the sequence as it shifts to one-v-one expertly bounces between Aiba and Choi’s perspectives so the tension never settles as the urgency only rises. Luckily, where the film goes from here, at least action-wise, is up, wrapping with a sequence that our beloved Beast Cop would approve of.
Center: Koji Mizukami as Shiro Aiba in TOKYO BURST: CRIME CITY. Photo courtesy of HIAN/Kadokawa.
Admittedly, TOKYO BURST works as much as a part of the Crime City series as it does as its own thing. In fact, the tie-in is likely more of an IP thing for audiences who haven’t seen Detective Ma power slap a deserving asshole since 2024’s Punishment and the official fifth entry is only anticipated for 2027 (no hard date yet). It’s a meat-and-potatoes cops-and-robbers tale with a Japanese spin and it works. It doesn’t break the mold or modify it in any way, but it doesn’t have to. It just has to make us care about the leads (it does), give us villains we can hate (it does), and provide memorable set pieces of abject ridiculousness that don’t break the rules (it does). Something tells me this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Detective Aiba and I’m here for it.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official TOKYO BURST: Crime City Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival webpage or Japanese theatrical webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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