So the premise is simple: Allen saw a 1964 Japanese spy movie called "Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi" ("International Secret Police: Key of Keys", then decided to dub over it in English for comedy purposes. So the premise now becomes that the lead James Bond style Interpol Agent Tatsuya Mihashi, is now trying to track down a secret egg salad recipe. If you love quick and witty one liners and absurdist, sometimes purile, sometimes surreal humour, then this is a great film, and very well done. There are those memorable lines that the lead character uses when in a punch up (initially towards a black assassin)l "Roman dogs", "Russian Swine","Spartan pigs" etc. But they are simply the most memorable (because they are repeated) and most quoted lines. The moment where Bond meets a prostitute and exclaims "Mother!" and the following moments ( i won't spoil it) are very funny indeed and had me howling. And i was engaged all the way through the film. It also made me want to see the original, as the movie was well shot, stylistic and there were also some beautiful actresses in the movie. If you are a fan of Woody Allen, badly dubbed Japanese movies, or James Bond spy movies, then you owe it to yourself to see this film once in your life. The most amazing thing is that this has not been done more often; after all, what bad movie or movie without subtitles could be improved or recreated by redoing the dialogue? The fun feels adlibbed, quick-witted and clever and genuinely like everyone was enjoying themselves, and that to me, makes it more endearing. For those who say 'this is possibly Allen's film', I say poppycock. I certainly enjoyed this film a lot more that most of Allen's efforts of the last 10 years which have mostly been disappointing and unengaging in my humble opinion. Ignore the more intellectual reviews and film academic critic types, and have a chuckle, and enjoy Woody having fun. Check it out!
