Why do national cinemas excel in some genres but not in others? Whatever its many sins, Hollywood makes thrillers that for sheer visceral kicks — car chases! explosions! Matt Damon leaping across a chasm through a tiny open window! — are the global standard.
The Japanese film industry, on the other hand, is not known for its thrillers, to put it mildly.
The newer ones may strive for the impact of their Hollywood models, but with an odd, localized blend of ripped-from-the-headlines stories, manga-esque fantasy and rightist wish fulfillment. In the 2005 "Bokoku no Aegis (Aegis)," foreign agents from the "North" (i.e., North Korea), aided by traitorous Japanese mutineers, hijack a Japanese Navy destroyer and threaten to attack Tokyo. The savior of the ship — and the nation — is a plucky NCO, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, who is like a latter-day Tokkotai (Kamikaze Special Attack Force) pilot in his self-sacrificing determination. The treatment was derived from Cold War-era Hollywood spy thrillers, including Sanada's miraculous ability to run unscathed through hails of close-range gunfire, but the film itself was intended strictly for local consumption.