.ShaneRyanHere reviews TokyoVice, streaming today on HBO Max, a new crime series that is unique, a little strange, and ultimately rewarding:
, the new crime series from HBO Max, they had the courage to put the actual place in the title, which sets a high bar. And it’s a bar they clear, easily; Tokyo is front and center, and in the episodes made available to critics—the first of which is directed by Michael Mann—the drama co-exists with a celebration of all things Tokyo, from the big, bright karaoke bars to the dimly lit side alleys.
The other half of the title, the “vice” part, is almost as good. Jake Adelstein is an aspiring journalist in late ‘90s Tokyo, an era that seems almost quaint for the way it was positioned just before the explosion of the Internet age, and cell phones in particular.
Elgort is up to the task of playing Adelstein, and does so with a sense of humor that makes him less of an absolute weirdo than he could be. The show starts with a meeting between him and a leader of the Tozawa crime organization, who threatens him with all manner of violence if he doesn’t stop work on a damaging story on the group’s de facto patriarch. From there, the writers send us backward in time, before Adelstein worked for the paper, to show us how things got so serious.
The word “slowly” is key. There is superficially fast pacing to the show, in terms of the lights and sounds and crowds that define this version of Tokyo, but the story itself moves at a slow pace and requires patience.
As for the story, it will be interesting to observe the critical reaction here. I found it satisfying in its deliberate pacing, and the characters absorbing enough to warrant my time. But it’s easy to imagine others feeling a bit restless after three episodes , particularly if the title and the trailers lead you to believe you’re in for a sexy, fast-paced thriller.
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