Variety’s review calls ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’ Review: Takashi Miike’s Loose Remake is a Complete Nonstarter after the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it played in the Special Presentations program.
Writer Siddhant Adlakha for Variety wrote that Takashi Miike’s loose remake borrows the broad strokes of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film but “never fully gets going,” calling the movie a stop-start, overstuffed follow-up that struggles to cohere.
The Variety review describes the film as 108 minutes long and names Shun Oguri and Lily James among the leads, summarizing the plot as a Yakuza-centric investigation that fragments into multiple unresolved subplots.
TIFF’s festival page lists Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo as Takashi Miike’s latest and confirms the film’s presence at the festival, situating the premiere in Toronto’s Special Presentations strand where it was reviewed on Sept. 15, 2026.
Variety notes that the screenplay is by Daisuke Tengan and that the production credits include Neon and Nippon TV; the review highlights Lily James’s performance as an American agent and Shun Oguri’s turn as the troubled detective Yabuki.
Across the piece, the phrase ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’ Review: Takashi Miike’s Loose Remake is a Complete Nonstarter is used to capture the review’s verdict: the film contains provocative images and moments but lacks the narrative drive and spiritual throughline found in previous Bad Lieutenant incarnations.
For readers tracking the release, TIFF’s materials and Variety’s review together establish the core details: the film premiered at Toronto and is receiving mixed-to-negative critical attention at its festival launch.
Sources
- Variety — full review, cast, runtime, and critical assessment of the film’s coherence.
- Toronto International Film Festival — festival listing and premiere placement in the Special Presentations program.
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