The Bad Lieutenant series is an oddity in cinema. Each entry feels completely different and has a different director, but all manage to tell a story that dives into the underbelly of law enforcement. Now, one of Japan’s most prolific directors, Takashi Miike, is taking a stab at it. The latest entry, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, premiered at TIFF 2026 and was memorable, even if the film itself was a bit all over the place.
Let’s get it out of the way now: Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is one of the most outlandish films I have seen at this festival, and even if the story is a bit confused, there is no denying this movie has style. Takashi Miike has not lost his edge in directing films that ooze personality out of every pore. Even from the opening moments of the film, I wanted to know more about this dark corner of the Tokyo underworld, and the more I learned about its characters, the more interested I became in seeing what came next.
Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo follows a gambling-addicted police officer from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (Shun Oguri), wasting no time in delving into just how corrupt this man truly is. While it is clear that he may have once followed the law and loved his job, those days are long behind him. He now takes on his work more as a way to extort money from the lowlifes of Tokyo than as a means of making life better for the city’s residents.
His routine is thrown into disarray when a series of murders has the police baffled, a killer from his past shows up again, and, if that were not enough, an FBI agent (Lily James) enlists his help to find a missing girl (Gionna Daddio) who has connections in high places. If it is not clear, there is a lot going on in Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, with many different criminal elements all working against our gambling-addicted lead, and as the movie goes on, it only gets more bombastic from there.
That is the biggest issue with Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo: there is simply too much going on. It never gives the audience time to settle in with one plotline before throwing a curveball that puts everything we just learned into question. This has worked for many of Miike’s films in the past, but somehow it feels like a step too far this time around, with some of the plotlines not fully fleshed out and others leaving me confused about how they fit into the overall narrative.
Do not get me wrong, there is a lot to enjoy with Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo. The performance of Shun Oguri as the titular police officer hits the right level of drunk, stressed out and unhinged, making him a joy to watch. I love how he takes us on this journey into depravity, but somehow I could not help but root for him, even as he was blowing every potential lifeline thrown his way. His interactions and nihilistic view of the world are also interesting, especially as you begin to see that there is still a good man buried somewhere beneath the booze, gambling, and drugs. He just hates to admit it.
I also have to say there are some remarkable shots in this film. Takashi Miike has a way of bringing the city to life unlike anyone else. It feels almost surreal at times, highlighting the neon, nightlife and diverse locations Tokyo offers that are unlike anywhere else in the world. From the clubs to the gambling halls, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is a feast for the eyes, even if you will have no idea what is going on half the time.
The violence is unflinching, showcasing some truly horrific concepts that the film depicts with a raw sense of wonder and horror. It is hard not to be in awe of some of the horrors captured on film in Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, with some of the violence later in the movie getting a deservedly horrified reaction from attendees at TIFF. For better or worse, this is Takashi Miike at his most brutal, and it takes what could have been a simple crime flick and elevates it into something beautiful in a horrific sort of way.
There is a brilliant movie just under the surface of Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, and it manages to shine through despite itself, but it really feels like this is two films in one, with neither given the room to breathe or showcase the potential of either storyline. That said, there is still a lot to like and enjoy, especially for fans of Miike-san’s style or those who love a good story about the underbelly of a city.
This is by no means Takashi Miike’s best movie, or even in his top 10, but there is something unique about the journey the film takes us on. It is violent, brutal and often horrific, but also striking in the way it dives in headfirst, with an unflinching desire to explore the horrors this world can showcase. It is not for everyone, but if you can look past some major story problems, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is an interesting journey, well suited to late-night marathons or simply exploring how low someone will go because of their vices.
