‘G-Men’: Pop heartthrobs surprise in silly smackdown

Times may change, but teen rebellion never goes out of style. Now that the dust has settled from this year’s double whammy of “Tokyo Revengers” movies, here’s a more irreverent tale of delinquents beating the bejesus out of each other.

Toichiro Ruto’s “G-Men” takes place at a boys’ high school that was once a haven for teenage hoodlums. However, it’s become a lot more clean-cut since a crop of new girls’ schools were built in the surrounding area.

That’s what draws transfer student Shota (Yuta Kishi), who has heard that enrolling at Takehana High will give him a “120% chance” of finding a girlfriend. He’s aghast to land in Class G, the school’s dumping ground for thugs, geeks and no-hopers. Their classroom is tucked away in a derelict annex, and they’re forced to wear a different uniform that serves as a red flag to any potential romantic partners.

Shota quickly proves himself to be a talented scrapper, but he doesn’t have much confidence when it comes to the opposite sex. This leads him to befriend Takumi (Ryo Ryusei), an elite student whose popularity with the ladies conceals some serious performance issues. Shota also starts a hesitant courtship with girl-gang leader Reina (Yuri Tsunematsu), who, like him, is a lot softer than her exterior would suggest.

Adapted from a manga series by Toshio Ozawa, “G-Men” isn’t the subversion of macho tropes that it initially suggests. While the film briefly alights on touchy topics such as impotence, homosexuality and domestic violence, it doesn’t have much to say about any of them. At heart, this is just another tale of hot-headed youths (played by not-so-youthful actors) having a brawl.

Ruto demonstrated his beat-’em-up bona fides in last year’s “Violence Action,” and the film’s fight sequences have a satisfying crunch. With the exception of one bravura continuous shot during the climax, the dust-ups in “G-Men” are a mess of rapid edits, but they make you feel the weight of each blow.

The director’s approach to comedy bears the obvious influence of Yuichi Fukuda, whose “From Today, It’s My Turn!!” (2020) offered an even goofier take on the genre.

The opening hour of “G-Men” is delivered in a manic, smash-and-grab style, sacrificing smartly written pay-offs in favor of the more immediate sugar rush of a shrieking ad-libbed gag, often with musical accompaniment. There’s a time and place for this kind of comedy, but it tends to be funnier when you’re half-watching it on late-night TV, rather than trapped in a cinema with nowhere to run.

Local audiences will probably get more of a kick out of the movie’s unorthodox casting choices: pop heartthrob Shintaro Morimoto (of SixTones fame) plays a bleach-blond tough guy who dresses like the 1980s never ended; the cuddly Kei Tanaka appears as a fabled fighter with an impressive pompadour. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Kishi, former lead singer for pop group King & Prince, who turns out to be a convincing pugilist.

While it’s harmless — and sometimes punchy — fun, “G-Men” ultimately doesn’t have many new moves to offer. It just about clears the low bar that it’s set for itself — a C- grade, rather than a G.