Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo Review – Neon-Soaked Crime Thriller Fails To Live Up To Its Potential

In the opening five minutes of Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, which premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, Shun Oguri’s Detective Yabuki (the “bad” cop in question) drops his kids off at school. He says goodbye, and immediately gets wrapped up in his own activity: taking drugs. He gets them out, puts some powder on the palm of his hand, and snorts it. Yabuki looks back up and sees his kids, along with their friends, looking into the car window and watching him as he did it. The film then abruptly cuts to a man with tattoos covering most of his back, lying face down in a bed – and missing the back half of his head. None of these events are played for laughs; Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is earnest in its portrayal of these characters and in its telling of the story.

Directed by Takashi Miike, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo follows the aforementioned detective as he’s tasked with solving the brutal murder of the tattooed man. More bodies start to pop up, too, and the killer is turning their flesh into circular meatballs. The film also shows Yabuki’s relationship with an American FBI agent (Lily James). Not only does he have to deal with the meatball killer, but the agent also recruits him to help her find the daughter of an important member of Congress in the United States.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo Has Too Much Going On

If that sounds like a lot to pack into the story of one movie, that’s because it is. The film begins relatively simply, with one killer coupled with Yabuki’s personal problems and money troubles. Afterwards, however, the story of the latest entry of the Bad Lieutenant franchise becomes incredibly convoluted, with different storylines all going on at once.

Story-wise, the murder plot line is much more interesting than the missing woman, especially at first. This is, in large part, because little time is spent on the daughter of the Congressman compared to the murder investigation. The attention given to that plot does pick up as the film goes along, but it still feels too little, too late. Admittedly, there is some attempt made to connect the two primary storylines. However, without going into too much detail, the film’s link between the missing young woman and the murders feels over the top and extremely convenient.

Lily James Is Woefully Miscast In Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo

Lily James has built an amazing career in the last fifteen years, from being a regular in the iconic British television series Downton Abbey to starring in films like Cinderella and Baby Driver. There’s no doubt about her talent, but James is unfortunately unable to show it off in Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo.

She simply doesn’t fit the character she’s assigned to play. The FBI agent is a hardened, semi-corrupt woman who is committed to her job, but also more than willing to bend the rules while she’s out on a mission. That’s a very specific type of character, and James struggles to match that energy. She’s more than unconvincing in the role, and that negatively impacts the believability of the overall film greatly.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo Squanders Its Potential

The Bad Lieutenant franchise is one that was ripe for continuation. The Nicolas Cage-led installment Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has become a cult classic, and the original from 1992 starring Harvey Keitel remains an incredibly underrated film. That’s why there was so much excitement when another entry in the franchise, this time set in Tokyo, was announced.

With excitement comes expectations, however, and this film fails to live up to those. As a gritty detective story in the same vein as the other films, but set in a completely different part of the world, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo had so much potential. Tokyo is an especially fitting city for this, with its glowing neon lights and the presence of the Yakuza. But the film is more style than substance in this way, with a cool premise and impressive visuals that are brought down by a flat, convoluted story. It’s authentically told with an air of seriousness in both its tone and atmosphere,but it eventually becomes muddled to the point of ridiculousness.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.