is a 2021 Japanese

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

thriller

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by , co-written by Kōsuke Nishi and Hiroshi Hayashi, distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

, and stars

Kentaro Sakaguchi is a Japanese actor and model. He debuted as a model in Men's Non-no magazine in 2010, and as an actor under Tristone Entertainment in 2014. He has since starred in television series ''Tokyo Tarareba Musume'' (2017) and ''Signal'' (2018), as w ...

Michiko Kichise is a Japanese actress and model. She received the Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year The Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year is an award given at the Elan d'or Awards The are awards presented annually by the All Nippon Produ ...

, and

Kazuki Kitamura is a Japanese film and television actor who won the award for best supporting actor at the 21st Yokohama Film Festival for '' Minazuki'', ''Kyohansha'' and ''Kanzen-naru shiiku'' as well as the CUT ABOVE Award for Excellence in Film at JAPAN CUTS ...

. The film was released in Japan on April 2, 2021. The film is based on a television series with a same name, which itself is a remake of a South Korean television series with a same name, and continues where the television series left off with a brand new story.

Premise

"In 2021, a limousine taxi driver causes an accident on a highway and a high-level government official dies in the accident. Cold case investigation team, including Kento Saegusa and team leader Misaki Sakurai, have doubts about the case. Meanwhile, in 2009, administrative officers die consecutively in car accidents. The police announce these deaths as accidents. Takeshi Ooyama believes that these deaths were not the product of simple accidents. At 11:23 PM, a walkie-talkie turns on and makes a connection between the future and past. Kento Saegusa and Takeshi Ooyama face the threat of bioterrorism."

Cast

as Kento Saegusa *

as Misaki Sakurai *

as Takeshi Ooyama *Yuichi Kimura as Tsutomu Yamada *Tetsuhiro Ikeda as Shinya Kojima *Kaede Aono as Rika Anzai *Tetta Sugimoto as Munehisa Mitani *Nao as Michiru Koizumi *Tetsushi Tanaka as Satoshi Yamazaki *

Takeshi Kaga , real name , is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'' produced by Fuji TV. Biography Kaga was born on October 12, 1950, i ...

as Shinjiro Itagaki *Tsuyoshi Ihara as Junki Aoki

Production

In January 2020, it was announced that ''

Signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

'' television series would receive a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

, and would direct the film. The film featured a brand new story that was not present in the South Korean television series or any adaptations prior. Cast members from the television series reprised their respective roles for the film. The principal photography took place from January to February 2020. Yuki Hayashi and

Asami Tachibana is a Japanese composer, arranger, pianist and music producer. She has provided the music for several anime series, television dramas and video games. She is best known for composing the soundtrack for ''Darling in the Franxx'', as well as for ...

returned to co-compose the music for the film. South Korean

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

also returned to provide the theme song for the film, titled "

Film Out "Film Out" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BTS for their Japanese-language compilation album, '' BTS, the Best'' (2021). It was released on April 2, 2021, through Universal Music and Big Hit Music, as the lead single from the compi ...

Release

The film was released in Japan on April 2, 2021.

Reception

Critical reception

James Marsh from South China Morning Post gave a mixed review, stating "Existing fans of the television show will doubtless already have their tickets booked for this frantic and fitfully entertaining continuation, but curious parties approaching ''Signal the Movie'' for the first time will be better served seeking out the small screen series first – or even the superior Korean incarnation, both of which are streaming on Netflix." Mark Schilling from The Japan Times praised the action sequences, stating "This cop thriller based on a 2018 Fuji TV series may be gimmicky, but it delivers in the action department."

References

External links

Official movie site
(in Japanese)

at

(in Japanese) *{{IMDb title, tt13529316 2021 drama films 2021 films 2020s science fiction thriller films Films directed by Hajime Hashimoto Films about time travel Japanese science fiction films Japanese crime drama films Japanese crime thriller films Japanese police films 2020s Japanese-language films Films about terrorism in Asia Films based on television series Films set in Tokyo Films set in 2009 Films set in 2010 Films set in 2021 Films scored by Yuki Hayashi Toho films Police detective films Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in fiction ja:シグナル長期未解決事件捜査班#映画