Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

MartinHafer There's no doubt about it--"Tokyo File 212" is a terrible movie. The acting is often terrible (by a cast of mostly unknowns), the writing and dialog silly and the plot is also rather silly. Yet, it's still worth seeing because the film is an interesting look into the Cold War.The film is set in Japan during the Korean War and was made with the cooperation of the Japanese and American governments. What it appears to be is a film that is trying to cement positive relations between the two countries since they were partnered against communism and it was made during the Korean War (and Japan was a staging point for the UN's forces aiding South Korea).The film concerns an American reporter who works as an undercover agent. His job is to locate an old college friend---one who is Japanese and is working for the commies. Through much of the film, the American is assisted by a woman who looks a lot like Natasha from "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle"! Eventually, they are able to get the old friend to see the goodness of democracy and the find ends on a very explosive note.The bottom line is that although the film has a few exciting scenes, many of the actors had great difficulty reciting their lines and the film came off as super-duper cheap. You'd think with the US and Japanese government behind it, the film would have been a lot better! Instead, it looks a lot like a film created by some government hacks with little input from film professionals. Laughably bad at times--but an interesting look into the Cold War and the sort of films that were produced during the height of this tense period.

dbborroughs Tokyo set and filmed tale taking place during the Korean war about a Mr Carter posing as a reporter in order to investigate a group of commies operating in the "last bastion of freedom in the far East". An odd mix of western and eastern sensibilities collide in a film that only looks like Japanese films from the time (This isn't any Hollywood movie I've ever seen). A wonderful travelogue of life in post war Japan this film score several points just for not being from these parts. It scores several more for a plot that is convoluted enough to make you want to keep watching. Filled with wit and intriguing characters this is an animal unto itself and its a beauty. Far from perfect, the climax is almost silly and involves a cheat of sorts, this is also highly recommended for anyone who wants a good film from years past that isn't the same old same old. (probably going to end up on my list of nice surprises for 2009)

PolitiCom A B-Movie must. The lousy dialogue is compensated for by the fact that a lot of key scenes are in Japanese - without subtitles.Filmed entirely on location, it provides some interesting shots of post WWII Japan and the cast includes real soldiers who were part of the American occupation force. Francis Marly is great as a broadly sketched femme fatale. A trivia buff's footnote: the producer was famous San Francisco attorney Melvin Bell

toof The cliches come thick and fast with this story of cops and gangsters in post war occupied Japan. American intelligence officer posing as journalist comes to Japan to find an old college classmate, Taro, who's mixed up with a crime syndicate involved in about every 1950's evil including labor agitation and spying for the North Koreans. Taro, who just missed becoming a Kamekaze pilot before the war ended, finally turns to help the police after his own band of thugs attack his ex-fiancee and father. Predictable and cheap film noir. Beautiful and dangerous dame with strange accent, villains hiding in the shadows, blah blah blah. Two things make it worth watching: the pace is quick and the location shots and re-creation of Japanese setting are remarkably good. Tokyo looks beautiful and mysterious. Many shots of street markets and public gardens. The scene in the Japanese-only bar complete with drunken tattooed men and hula dancers is a 1950's masterpiece of the ultimate den of iniquity.