消失的凶手

　　幕府末期，群雄并起，日本上下动荡不安。在英豪辈出的时代，坂本龙马以其卓越的气魄和超前的思想在历史中占有一席之地。影片则主要描述坂本龙马被暗杀前最后两日的生活。
　　庆应三年十一月十三日，京都下着冰雹，坂本龙马（原田芳雄 饰）栖身于海援队经常落脚之地近江屋。“大政奉还”后局势愈加不稳，此时的坂本已被佐幕派和勤王派双方视为危险人物。无所事事的坂本与妓女厮混，更因手枪不慎走火引来刺客。昔日好友中冈慎太郎（石桥莲司 饰）和萍水相逢的右太（松田优作 饰）放下屠刀，与坂本结为挚友。慎太郎因此入狱，坂本与右太将其救出。后右太被杀，坂本与慎太郎密商逃亡之事的午夜，死神的罗网却已悄悄张开……

在国民党搜捕、屠杀的白色恐怖下，武装起义的浪潮再次高涨。而军阀割据，各方角力的川东地区，也在酝酿着一次起义。时任川军邓锡侯部第7混成旅旅长的旷继勋，心怀革命理想。当他坚定地接过四川省委关于在蓬遂发动起义的命令时，江防军司令唐显也带着“肃清”“整编”的命令悄然而至；心怀不轨的军阀谢德轩随即做起了和事佬妄图大捞一笔。起义的部队不能丢，起义的时间更不能耽误，旷继勋顿时陷入到生死绝地。破釜沉舟的不懈努力，终于找到了破绽——浓雾夜色中的激战后，只留下捶胸顿足的唐显和谢德轩，而旷继勋早已率部成功挺进蓬遂，这是四川第一次武装暴动，并创建了中国工农红军四川第一路军，随后建立了四川第一个县级红色政权蓬溪县苏维埃政府。

　　Kyohei Aizawa, an assassin for a covert non-governmental espionage group in Japan called "SEEK", is grieving over the loss of his girlfriend from a tragic plane accident. The leader of "SEEK",Ryo Mikumo, contacts him for an emergency mission; save a fellow agent, recover a new highly explosive liquid called "RDX@", stop a ruthless Yakuza leader, Sojiro Kotsuki, and his gang before they take over Japan. Although the Ninjas were thought to have disappeared... the new breed of assassins live on helping to protect Japan and all that is right; the Ninjas are coming soon.

　　汤姆．伯兰吉尔监制主演的电视电影，题材比较冷僻，但导演克雷格．巴克莱仍然掌握住这个真实故事所具有的戏剧潜力，一方面拍出宗教族群的特殊人际关系，也适度表现了谋杀故事的神秘惊险气氛。故事描述一名摩门教的独自修行信徒，发现了西部教会的领导人布里格姆杨和其他长老将会被敌人阴谋杀害，于是尽一己之力来保护他们的生命。主演过不少宗教巨片的查尔顿．赫斯登以七十二岁的高龄演出摩门教的领袖，六十七岁的詹姆斯．科伯恩则饰演其中一名长老。

　　Having witnessed his junkie father killed Russell Stevens grows up to become a policeman and make a difference. When he is offered an undercover job by Gerald Carver he accepts and begins to build a relationship with David Jason in order to get to the main dealers. However as he is forced to deal drugs and kill to keep his cover he finds the lines between cop and criminal being lost – is he a cop pretending to be a dealer or a dealer pretending to be a cop?
　　Larry (as he was then) Fishburne's first lead role was a typically dark vehicle. The story is the usual one of cop losing himself when undercover, however it manages to be more than that for most of the time. Co-written by Tolkin, who wrote The Player, this naturally has a nice cynical edge to it when it looks at the US's hypocritical approach to drug control and the political links between the street hustlers and the political high rollers who court respectability. The story does eventually settle into a traditional setting but even then it works well as a thriller.
　　The multi-talented Bill Duke directs well with a gritty feel and a few nice touches. However several things are a bit iffy. For most of the film Fishburne's narration/voice over is a bit like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner – it comes across as a little too dark and heavy and also explains things like we can't figure it out ourselves. However once you get into the film it's not as big a deal. My main problem lies with the characters.
　　Fishburne is excellent, a real model of underlying anger and violence, Goldblum is good but perhaps a little OTT on the yuppie/violence thing, but there's good support from Smith and Spin City's beautiful (and often underused – but not here) Victoria Dillard. However the two main white characters (Goldblum and Smith) are both smeared with racist insinuations – Smith appears to insult his black officers and doesn't care about the junkies, while Goldblum is fascinated about all things black and talks about them as wild beautiful beasts and loves having sex with "black'. These things aren't a major problem, but with basically only two white characters in it, it's a little worrying that both are given that edge.
　　However these are minor complaints that get lost with a good thriller. Fishburne excels and Duke delivers a story that is a good thriller but also has a jaded, subversive edge.