Tokyo Burst : Crime City
Japanese | Korean subtitles
2025 | 116 Minutes
Director: Eiji Uchida
Cast: Sota Fukushi, Uhm Ki-joon,
Koshi Mizukami, Yunho
One of the Fantasia Film Festival’s most loved franchises, The Roundup, has a spin-off to display to its fans this year, named Tokyo Burst : Crime City. That, is the good news. The bad, is that it doesn’t feature Don Lee. I know, right?
Tokyo Burst is set within the same universe, making the fifth entry to feature with that timeline. The Outlaws, three The Round films and now this one. This time, however, the scene is set in Japan rather than in South Korea and is sort of a collaboration between the two nations. Perhaps a best of both worlds type scenario.
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I suppose, the biggest question on my mind and on everyone’s mind is can there really be a The Roundup related film without the great Don Lee – and the answer is complicated.
Yes – because Tokyo Burst delivers some fantastic fight choreography and superb martial arts scenes, as well as the trade mark comedic elements that have made the series so much fun to watch, but also no – because there’s no Don Lee, and we all want to see more of that mountain of man beating people up.
Rookie detective Aiba, a native of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s liveliest district, grew up among the shopkeepers, locals… and the yakuza of this legendary neighborhood. This background comes with the attitude and methods that go hand in hand with it. As a result, several of his colleagues suspect him of being a mole, but the results he achieves through sheer brute force oblige them to respect him, despite his lack of subtlety and the chaos he causes with every operation.
When a dangerous criminal who seems untouchable, with a history in the Philippines and Korea, begins wreaking havoc on his turf, Cho, a special agent from Seoul sent in as reinforcement, is assigned to Aiba to resolve the case. Although the relationship between the two men is frosty at first, they must quickly learn to work together in the face of extremely arrogant and bloodthirsty adversaries with strong connections to those in power. Faced with all these obstacles, there is only one option: to throw protocol out of the window and dish out some spectacular beatings.
Amusingly, the relationship between Cho and Aiba is reminiscent to one found in the third The Roundup film, and seems to pull inspiration from those roles. While there isn’t a lot, if anything, to connect Tokyo Burst with The Roundup series, it sure does feel like the stage is being set to unite the films in the near future – and with Don Lee serving as a producer on this film, that just adds to the speculation. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Comically, Aiba is able to deliver devastating headbutts, that are telegraphed from about six miles away, that cause massive damage to his opponents but don’t seem to affect him in any way at all. And he loves to dish them out frequently and to practically anybody within striking distance.
Tokyo Burst is a fun film, filled with solid cinematography, intense martial arts sequences and a goofiness that reminds me of another series that I, and the Fantasia brood adore, Baby Assassins! Yet, there’s something missing. Not sure what. Maybe it needed a little extra paprika or a an extra sprinkling of cumin – a little more egg maybe? Something about the recipe just doesn’t hit the way the Roundup films do. Could it be the missing factor, is Don Lee? While the cast is strong and the chemistry between actors is high, sometimes you need a big Hulk-like figure to storm in and throw haymakers at the bad guy.
But… what if we see the cast of Tokyo Bust and the cast of The Roundup come together down the line? We’d have those epic haymakers and these massive headbutts too! At the same time! Eureka! Would it be too much to ask, that this ensemble trope be hot on the heels of the gals from Baby Assassins?! Yeah, probably actually. I got excited and ventured too far. Again. Like that time I wanted the mechs from Pacific Rim to take on Godzilla. I’ll… just stop now.
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Anyway, while not a true to form Roundup film, there is still a whole lot to like about Tokyo Burst, and it goes without saying that voyeurs that enjoy this type of buddy cop film, where the bad guys get tracked down and thumped a bunch, will enjoy Tokyo Burst. I did. I think I would have liked it more had it not have been tied into the Roundup-verse but I’m also not willing to write off the potential for future films yet.
There’s probably a plan in a high-rise office building somewhere, right now, plotting and planning something spicy for the future – and it might even land on our plates for next year’s edition of the Fantasia festival. Let’s hope!
