Netflix’s Japanese action-thriller film, Hard Days, directed by Fujii Michihito, brings out the consequences of corruption and bribery that pull down the image of an individual. It is because of these habits and certain wrong decisions that Yuji Kudo, a detective, gets into trouble. He messes with Takayuki Yazaki in a quest for monetary benefits. The film stars well-known faces like Jun’ichi Okada, Gou Ayano, and others. The top-notch twists and thrills presented in the movie will pave the path for the film to reach the top of the action thrillers list this year. Will Kudo be able to save his family? Will he be able to lay his hands on the illegal money? Let’s find out!
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens To Detective Kudo?
There are charges of corruption against Detective Kudo, and his association with the Senba Syndicate has been brought up by Internal Affairs. While Kudo is tense about it, he also gets the news of his mother’s death. Tensed and puzzled, he runs over a young boy on the road and then does his best to cover it up. He wraps the body in a plastic sheet and puts it in the trunk of his car to get rid of it later. Later, he is stopped on the road by a traffic sergeant, and he is asked to breathe into the breathalyzer, which he refuses. They start doubting him, as everyone knows about his case of corruption, and just as they are going to check his trunk, Yazaki, an officer in internal affairs, arrives and curtails the search. He says that he was headed to Kudo’s office for an investigation into the corruption case. When he asks Kudo to accompany him, he is told that his mother has expired and that he is headed to the hospital.
How Does Kudo Handle The Body?
Kudo keeps coming up with new plans to postpone meeting Yazaki and delay the investigation. After his mother’s body is shifted to the mortuary, he tells everyone that he will stay over and take care of the body alone. He had previously dragged the dead body out of the trunk and shifted it into the vent of the building, only to later drag it out and place it in his mother’s coffin. He thought that the unknown body would be cremated along with his mother’s body, and that would wipe out all the evidence. Later, Mr. Senba, the head of the Senba Syndicate, arrives to convey his condolences to Kudo and to talk business with him. He gives him the example of a desert lizard that keeps hopping on one foot and then the other to escape the desert heat under its feet until it eventually dies. He told Kudo that he could get out of this desert by going to Zenmyoji.
What Was The Secret Of The Temple Vault?
Senba tells Kudo that the temple vault in Zenmyoji consisted of billions of dollars that the business tycoons had donated to the temple. The donations were not for a noble cause but to turn their black money into white. The priests happily launder the money under the guise of a noble cause. Senba then goes on to tell Kudo that they had embarked on a mission, and getting the money out of the vault was entrusted to a kid, Oda, who had eventually tricked them. He was asking for Kudo’s help so that he could get his hands on the money.
Why Was Yazaki On The Search For Oda?
Yazaki, the officer of internal affairs, is married to the daughter of an underworld boss, Uematsu. He is after the money in the vault and uses Yazaki to get his hands on the cash. Yazaki had seen a video in which Oda was trying to open the vault, but he did not have the idea that it would not open without both the key card that he had and Yazaki’s fingerprint. Yazaki then approached the Senba clan to get rid of Oda and get the key card to the vault. When Oda learned that the vault had a double locking system, he tricked Yazaki into getting his fingerprints on his wedding day. Later, he called Yazaki and challenged him openly, saying that he would now get his hands on the cash. Oda was being hunted down by both Senba and Yazaki, and finally, when Yazaki managed to find his hiding place, he shot him. After being shot, when Oda was staggering on the road, Kudo hit him with his car. This brings out the fact that Oda was already shot before Kudo hit him with his car.
What Does Kudo Do To Save His Daughter?
Yazaki notices from a distance as Kudo takes away Oda’s body after thinking that he has killed the boy. He frantically pursues Kudo to get Oda’s body, as he has the key card and his fingerprints now match the lock of the vault. He kidnaps Kudo’s daughter to blackmail him into getting Oda’s body back. Meanwhile, Kudo learns at his office that the boy he had run over was Oda Hajime, and he was also in the side business of drugs. He tells one of his colleagues, Kugayama, about the incident and asks him to help him. When they are removing Oda’s body from the incinerator, they find bullet holes in his body and realize that he had been shot before being run over. Later, Yazaki kills Kugayama to ensure that he has tied up any loose ends.
Kudo gets hold of one of Oda’s accomplices and gets to know the way Oda’s fingerprint and the key card could open the vault. Before Kudo goes to hand Yazaki Oda’s body, he cuts out Oda’s thumb so that he can access the vault later. He is also instructed by Senba to take safety measures, as Yazaki would try to kill him. He sets up a hidden bomb in Oda’s dead body, hands it over to Yazaki, and gets back his daughter. When Yazaki’s car explodes, Kudo thinks that he has died, and then he goes to the vault. He manages to open the double lock with the card and Oda’s thumb.
What Happens In The End?
When Kudo is attempting to sweep out the money, Yazaki turns up! They get into a fight and try killing each other. Yazaki tries gunning down Kudo, but he somehow manages to overpower Yazaki and kill him. Just when he thinks that he has won, Senba tries killing him, knocking him unconscious as he says that both the desert lizards could not survive the heat! After Senba leaves with the money, Kudo regains his senses and sees Yazaki lying dead beside him. He is happy that he has at least managed to get out of the trap, alive. As he is ready to leave, Yazaki is again seen to resurrect and chase after Kudo’s car.
There is a mid-credit scene in which we see Oda escaping from Senba. When he gets hold of Oda, he pleads not to kill him and tells him that he will repay his money. It brings to light the possibility that Oda had not done anything on his own but was used by Senba to get the money in the vault. Senba was also successful in using Kudo, and after that, he didn’t even hesitate to try to kill him. In the fight for money, some innocent lives are lost, which is usually the case in the majority of feuds, even in reality!
Final Words
In the last scene, both Yazaki and Kudo laugh maniacally as they realize that they have gotten themselves into such an addiction that they could never rid themselves of it! No matter how many times Yazaki tries to be killed, he resurrects and tries to get his hands on the money. This brings to light the fact that his immense greed for money would not even let him die in peace. Even Kudo’s greed had gotten him into murky waters, and he was unable to find a way out of it. Full of suspense and thrills, the film Hard Days is a hardcore action film. The twists in the film have ensured that the audience is kept glued to their seats throughout!
