In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

This week it’s a rip roaring, objection yelling, whip panning hell of a time from veteran director Takashi Miike as the Ace Attorney movie lands in my sites.

Originating in Japan, Ace Attorney is a video game franchise following Phoenix Wright, a young gun, new to the courtroom defence lawyer. He practices law in an exaggerated version of the Japanese legal system, where each 3 day head-to-head trial is filled with surprise turns, more ‘Just One More Thing…‘s than full seasons of Columbo and also ghosts. Where everyone is an extreme caricature and a ridiculous outfit is a prerequisite for entry to the courtroom.

Its basis, the real Japanese legal system, is infamously punitive with a conviction rate sat at 99.8%. A case just ending up in court nearly always means the accused is convicted and punished. This is the shadow under which these games are produced, the theatrical courtrooms, the close calls and crucially, the ability for Phoenix Wright, the player avatar, to win against impossible odds. There is a layer of dark satire baked right into the core of this series, one that makes a film adaption the perfect project for Takashi Miike.

In his 30+ year career, Miike has racked up over 100 IMDb directing credits, most of them films, with at least 2 touted as his 100th feature. He is a step past prolific, with a body of work so deep that you could never hope to see it all and even if you did, he’d have made a whole lot more by the time you caught up. If you’re a horror fan, Audition might be your favourite of his, underground gore? Ichi the Killer, a critics pick might be 13 Assassins it’s certainly one of his best, comedy drama that is nearly almost a mockumentary? Miike has you with The Bird People in China. Simply put, he’s made a lot of really good film. If anything ties it together, it’s probably an undertone of black comedy. Well that and like, beautifully shot unbridled gore, but that’s not part of this thesis, we’ll save talking about it for another time.

I’m not sure whose idea it was to give the film adaption of the decidedly PG rated Ace Attorney franchise to Miike, I don’t know how that conversation went, but he is such a good fit. The ridiculous pageantry of this cartoon courtroom, the CGI ghosts, double crosses and unlikely reveals. It nestles into the canon of his filmography, as versatile as he is. It has that dark undertone, the thought that without Phoenix, these people would be in prison for things they clearly didn’t do. The 100% conviction rates of prosecutors, not badges of honour, but proof of systematic failure. But I don’t think it quite follows through on the potential. It’s a lot of ceremony, a lot of flash, with not nearly enough backing it up under the surface.

The plot of Ace Attorney is a little meandering and generally a bit much, it’s a film dense with plot and flashback, that races though an 18 hour game, summarising it in just over 2. I think it could bear to slow down, to cover one case in detail, rather than the entire thing in passing. The chosen pace is tiring, unrelenting, with no room for rumination, no space for you to try to get ahead of it, something that’s traditionally a prerequisite for crime and punishment as a genre. You never feel you’ve outsmarted the film only to be beaten back by the games signature moon logic, or have that moment where Columbo puts together everything you’ve seen, all the clues, in a way you couldn’t. It’s all moving too fast for that loop, for moments of discovery. Thats also like, the entire point of the games right? You try to outsmart them, you think you have it lined up, only to get taken out of left field by something you couldn’t have expected. It’s a point of tension and failure for this adaption. While the crazy golf aesthetic is captured, the ball coming rolling back to your feet after you made the ‘perfect’ shot isn’t.

I can just see something subtler here and it’s frustrating that it wasn’t made. Part of the reason I highlight Miike’s versatility, is because he can do subtle. He can do the spectacle, theatre, and the rest. Weird shit is his wheelhouse. Yet he’s capable of a more balanced approach.

I think with some work in the script, this could be a film that’s more overt in its critique of the justice system. One that gained some crossover appeal and didn’t just feel like one that while wildly entertaining, is really for people who have played the games. That’s why it’s more whistle stop tour, greatest hits, rather than indictment, meditation or even just genre flick.

Putting aside films that weren’t made, burying the potential. Ace Attorney is a Fun Time. Even if you’re not a fan of the games, it’s worth watching, it’s solid entertainment and if you do like it, Miike has literally 100 other films to watch. He’s a deep well, he contains multitudes. Which is why I want more from this, it’s why it seems like I’m low key slating something while recommending it. I enjoyed Ace Attorney enough that this was the second time I’ve seen it and I set out writing thinking I’d be full of breathless enthusiasm. Only in working through it, did I find threads to pull on, wallpaper to strip back and cracks to renovate.