Tokyo Vice

Michael Mann, who directed the sensational pilot episode of this fact-based, eight-part series about an American reporter (a terrific Ansel Elgort) covering the crime beat in Tokyo, shows you how thrilling action can be when a world-class talent is calling the shots.

Thanks to the crisp writing, powerful acting and gorgeously haunting visuals, “Tokyo Vice” always has us feeling as if we’re on a ride-along with Jake through the entire harrowing and sometimes exhilarating adventure.

After a narratively rocky start held together largely through Michael Mann’s undeniable craftsmanship, the show slowly comes into its own over the next few episodes, becoming richer and more interesting with each one. It’s a program that will demand patience, but that increasingly feels like it will be worth the effort.

Don’t let the stranger-in-a-strange-land story (and Elgort’s presence) put you off Tokyo Vice; it’s as moody and atmospheric as any Mann-led tale you’ll see. Equal parts journalistic procedural, fish-out-of-water story, and Beat Takeshi-esque crime thriller, the first five episodes provided to critics for review set us up for a welcome slice of lurid thrills.

At its best, Tokyo Vice drags the viewer’s arm through the bars, alleys, offices, and homes of the city’s many classes and communities, providing a rounded picture of a place that leaves room for the thrill of exploration and discovery. That’s what good journalism is supposed to do, right? Bring the world to your front door? Tokyo Vice does that, with a sleek, energizing style that keeps us wanting more.

With style, intelligence and mystery to spare, Tokyo Vice is the kind of sprawling crime drama that actually lives up to the label of ‘prestige’ TV.

“Tokyo Vice” feels much different than typical American crime, with action based on calm, firm interactions that exchange secrets, and can be spiked with alternating honor and shame. Everyone is holding their end of a deal, until they decide not to. Aside from making for scenes of uniformly strong performances, it all gives the series an enticing slow burn.

While Mann’s formal artistry is the initial lure of Tokyo Vice, its lasting appeal is its portrait of crime-plagued Tokyo circa 1999, and the efforts of Missouri native Jake (Ansel Elgort) to make his mark as a fledgling reporter for the nation’s leading newspaper.

The machinations of the plot are less important than the people it carries along; and it’s our concern for them — heightened by the feeling that things might go very wrong at any moment — that keeps “Tokyo Vice” suspenseful and, in the bargain, makes us care about the characters all the more.

[Michael Mann] gives the project the shove-off it needs. ... [Ansel Elgort] is utterly plausible as a young man who takes on a seemingly impossible task—penetrating Japanese journalism—with the full expectation of making it happen, of being able, if nothing else, to charm his way to success. ... The women of “Tokyo Vice” could be a series unto themselves.

Bolstered by taut dialogue verging on the hardboiled, a smattering of viciously swift action, and a lead performance from a star more comfortable than we’ve ever seen him, it’s an exceptionally accomplished take on the True Detective/Mare of Easttown mold in vogue as of late.

“Tokyo Vice” assert[s] itself as a significant new entry in the crime-drama canon. ... A beautifully shot and elegantly acted series that can seem at times to power past its writing. The pilot so effectively conjures the disorientation and novelty of a new place that the fish-out-of-water storyline feels somewhat new.

You’ll spend some time wondering exactly what you’re watching, but like a foreigner visiting a new city—or a city like Tokyo—you’ll be rewarded for a bit of patience, an open mind, and a willingness to explore.

It’s immersive and engrossing, if more conventional than you might expect.

There’s still more than enough sizzle to invest in Mann’s latest slow-burn study of criminals and their would-be keepers.

Viewers will be won over by this series’ charms and mysteries, even if it frustrates and falls short in some of the aspects that draw in viewers in the first place, specifically Mann’s involvement and the thinly drawn Adelstein. Still, the series lives up to its namesake city by offering intrigue and quirky surprises in equal parts.

The mechanics of the story in “Tokyo Vice” are familiar from decades’ worth of both Japanese and American gangster films. But they’re treated with sufficient respect and professionalism, and just enough imagination, to make another ticket on this particular Shinjuku carnival ride worth the investment, at least if you’re inclined to enjoy leisurely neo-noir.

[Ansel Elgort] is unremarkable as journalist Jake Adelstein. ... It’s Watanabe and the show’s other Japanese actors — primarily Rinko Kikuchi, Shô Kasamatsu, and Hideaki Itô — whose performances and character backstories are compelling enough to overcome the slightly repetitive dialogue and sometimes workmanlike direction.

Tokyo Vice has some narrative problems as hard to miss as a flashing neon sign, but it's kept watchable by its slick style and strong performances until its story picks up. Once it does, it's pretty engrossing. It just takes longer than it should, and you may have checked out by then.

HBO Max’s “Tokyo Vice” looks gritty and authentic, marinating in its setting physically and culturally. But it’s also a little slow-paced.

While Tokyo Vice takes some time for its characters to break out of their archetypal molds, though, it relishes in creating beautiful spaces.

The Japanese cast is excellent, especially Adelstein's newsroom boss Eimi (Rinko Kikuchi), but Elgort's Adelstein never quite comes into focus himself. There's a lot of energy in the performance but almost no substance. As a result, his Adelstein recedes while the foreground is commanded by the true star here. That's almost — just not quite — enough.

It all feels as dated as Miami Vice’s fashion sense.

The five episodes I’ve seen each still delivered enough intriguing and authentic story beats per episode to keep me consistently engaged, while at the same time making me wish that this latest entry in a long-outmoded genre might find some way to go a little deeper instead of hovering on the surface of something and someplace fascinating.

Tokyo Vice definitely has its moments, including a prolonged yakuza action sequence in which swords ultimately prove more useful than guns. But it’s hard to not come away with the feeling that the show could have been so much more.