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HONG KONG — Tomorrow’s Joe traces how a slum dog and star pro-boxer come together for their once-in-a-lifetime tryst in the ring. Set in Tokyo during Japan’s frugal post-war years, the film should be all about struggle, ambition and indomitable will. Sure enough, the boxing scenes are circus acts with hi-tech dazzle, but under Fumihiko Sori’s direction, the moves, the handsome production and even handsomer leads are too “clean” to convey either pain or power on a gut level.

Tomorrow’s Joe is the first live-action adaptation of a hit Japanese serial manga that ran from 1968-1973, twice made into anime. The film’s commercial performance was sturdy, while overseas sales should capitalize on having pretty boy Tomohisa Yamashita (who gained Asian popularity with Kurosagi) as Joe.

In a ramen-house in Tokyo’s poorest neighborhood, vagabond Joe Yabuki gets into a brawl with some thugs. Unexpectedly, the scrawny but angel-faced lad wastes them. He catches the eyes of Yoko (Karina), granddaughter and heiress to the Shiraki Consortium, and retired boxer Danpei Tange (Teruyuki Kagawa).

Joe is dispatched to prison for a year. There he meets pro-boxer Toru Rikiishi (Yusuke Iseya, Sukiyaki Western Django), who belongs to Yoko’s sports stable. Yoko arranges an exhibition match for the two. With coaching by Tange, who sends him a postcard everyday teaching him new moves, Joe surprises Rikiishi with a cross counter. The match results in a dramatic draw that spurs both men to stake their lives on a professional square-up once out of jail.

Eriko Shinozaki’s lean screenplay sticks to the film’s five fight scenes, tightening the pace as Joe moves up from instinctual wildcat fisticuffs to tutored jabs and cuts. Any dramatic content in between are dull melodramatic fillers. Keiji Hashimoto’s combative cinematography goes berserk with slo-mos and freeze frames, alternating with swiping camera moves. This mannered approach gives action scenes a fresh visual impact, but is also a blow to the continuity and grace of movement.
Read More:- http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/tomorrow-s-joe-ashita-no-183313