Ace Attorney

The courts have been made fast. Under the new system a trial finishes within three days, evidence is projected onto screens in the courtroom, and the prosecution almost never loses. Ryuichi Naruhodo is a new defence lawyer. In his first case he has to defend his mentor, and then his mentor is charged with murder. Facing him is Reiji Mitsurugi; a prosecutor with a spotless record whom he has known since childhood. Fifteen years ago a murder was committed in a lift and that case never closed. The two men come out of the same past. Takashi Miike directs. Hiroki Narimiya plays Naruhodo and Takumi Saitoh plays Mitsurugi; Mirei Kiritani is in the cast. It is a Japanese production. The source is Capcom's game series of the same name and the film mainly follows the first game. The adaptation carries the game's visual world across directly; the hairstyles, costumes and the exaggerated reactions in the courtroom are kept as they are in the game. There is a spirit summoning element in the narrative and the film takes it as real. The court scenes are not realistic; evidence flies through the air and objections become performances. The matter it treats is justice sacrificed to speed; the three day trial system is the film's starting point. Among Miike's works this is one of the mildest; there is almost no violence. Its limit is length; the narrative runs past two hours, is too much for anyone who does not know the game, and the ending is long. Who it is for: viewers who like game adaptations and Japanese courtroom fantasy. Who it is not for: it is long, exaggerated, and logic is secondary.