Supsutoraberzu (2000) Space Travelers

Directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro

Starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ken Watanabe, Eri Fukatsu

Not a sci-fi film as the title might suggest, this is a film about an attempted bank robbery by three friends who have known each other since they met in an orphanage. Things do not proceed as planned and the robbers hole up in the bank with some of the staff and a few customers while the police surround it with a blockade believing that one of their men has been killed.

Sounds pretty heavy, but for the most part it isnt, after a while you get swept along with the story, the robbers and their captive audience treat the occasion almost as a game, adopting character names from an anime series (the Space Travelers of the title) and behaving as if they were them. 

Emotionally its a great ride and quite a comical (though not comedy) story that suddenly stops you dead in your tracks but any more information would spoil the film!

The end of the siege is highly reminiscent of a certain well known western, Im sure you wont need to be told which one!

Ignore the daft name, look at the superb cast list, this is a highly recommended entertaining film, one Im sure most people would enjoy if they gave it a chance. 

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rating none yet but would probably be 15.

Region 3 ntsc DVD available from several retailers.