Popular reviews

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  Review by Daniel Shillito ★★★½ 8

  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is hands down Jun Fukuda's best movie. ESPY knows its premise is utterly bonkers and just runs with it; part 007, part B-grade exploitation and with a dash of Scanners, it's all exceptional fun. It's a film that fits right at home with old ITC shows like The Protectors due to its gorgeous globe-trotting gentlemen spy aesthetic but with that classic 70s tokusatsu twist. Fantastic direction, incredible music, deliciously camp with just the right amount of head explosions and teleporting nonsense to keep anyone entertained. While I may not love his Godzilla flicks, by-god I will champion ESPY as Fukuda's finest till the day I die.

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  Review by Ed Küpfer ★★★½

  A Japanese secret agency of telekinetic operatives use their powers to try to foil a villainous attempt to start a world war. Look at that poster and read the previous sentence. Aren't you expecting a campy James Bond parody? I sure was. But this movie, mercifully, played it very straight, with very few goofy moments and some stuff right out of the Japanese exploitation playbook, so it was much more interesting.

  My favourite parts were the score and sound design, in particular the sound effect used whenever a hero uses his powers to jam a gun aimed at him, and we see a closeup of the bad guy's finger tugging on the trigger without it budging, and the sound effect is a marble going round a roulette wheel.

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  Review by Pachinko Pop ★★★½

  ESP + Spy = ESPY, psychic spies! Directed by Jun Fukuda (the goofy GODZILLA director), and starring KAMEN RIDER himself Hiroshi Fujioka, with LONE WOLF & CUB’s Tomisaburo Wakayama as the villain... I had to see this.

  What you essentially get is a Fukuda GODZILLA film without the rubber monsters, just the supernatural spy stuff. It’s missing a little bit of the spark that VS MEGALON or VS MECHAGODZILLA have, but I still found it enjoyable. 

  Having your film revolve around unseen powers, and even taking them away from your hero (Fujioka) for part of the story, really helps save on special effects. I would have liked a liiiittle more of the 70s-era effects that I love, but I could tell…

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  Review by His Infernal Majesty

  Lots of violence, including multiple headshots. A race car driver's trusty dog Caesar steals every scene he's in, and is more helpful than most of the protagonists. The evil psychic organization hypnotizes the good psychic organization's sole female recruit and forces her to dance lasciviously at a seedy Turkish night club, while a tall black man in a loincloth licks his lips on stage. He tears off her blouse, exposing her jiggling breasts; a moment that's replayed from multiple angles. She snaps out of the trance, and retaliates by tearing out her attacker's tongue.

  Part James Bond, part exploitation cinema, all gonzo nonsense. Definitely recommended.

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  Review by Daniel Shillito ★★★½ 3

  Give Jun Fukuda a film that doesn't involve major miniature special effects sequences or giant rubber-suited monsters and I'll love it. Who knew? It's well documented that I am not a fan of Jun Fukuda's Godzilla films, The War in Space didn't win me over to him that well either; the man has finally given me something to love however in the form of ESPY.

  Part late 60s James Bond film and part exploitation cinema; shot by the same cinematographer as Akira Kurosawa's Ran and other later productions; starring the original Kamen Rider himself Hiroshi Fujioka and Lone Wolf and Cub star Tomisaburo Wakayama as the villain; ESPY is part run of the mill spy vs spy plot mixed with…

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  Review by D Edward ★★★★½ 2

  This. Is. My. Jam.

  And I am so glad it is. Growing up, I browsed TohoKingdom all the time and they highlighted ESPY on there, screencapping scene throughout the movie. Between that and the groovy poster that could only have been produced in the 1970’s, this has been a long-time dream watch. It did not disappoint.

  The movie mixes espionage with all kinds of action, from explosive shootouts to hand-to-hand to pure Scanners psychic dueling (minus the head explosion). This vaguely feels like that forgettable Leonard Nimoy TV movie Baffled!, except ESPY lives up to its premise. The psychic elements are handled well and are integral to the plot, setting up and paying off one of the bigger dramatic moments in…

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  Review by threepenny ★★★★½ 2

  When Jun Fukuda makes a Godzilla picture, he populates them with bourbon drinking apemen, Oscar Wildean Atlanteans, and amusement park designing cockroaches. When he makes spy pictures, the leads are super cool dudes and stunningly gorgeous babes. ESPY mixes his ultra cool spies with his batshit insane sci-fi, and presto another fantastic Fukuda jam. Why this hasn't been released in the states with a feature packed blu-ray I will never understand. It's James Bond meets Scanners, and his telepathic, telekinetic, teleporting heroes must save the Prime Minister for...reasons. It doesn't really matter. What matters is all of the nonstop cool psychic action. And when that's not enough, don't worry - Caesar the German Shepard will save the day. Fukuda also directed three Konto 55 comedy movies that I would dearly love to see. He was a unique talent.

  List: Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond: Japanese Secret Agents 1965-1974

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  Review by Dr_Mafoony ★★★★

  It’s hard for me to put into words why exactly, but Jun Fukuda basically made the original TENET with this. 

  Going into ESPY I was expecting a more James Bond-type spy adventure in the same vein as Fukuda’s Andy Hoshino films, but this one leans heavy into sci-fi. I probably should’ve guessed this based on the writing credit from Sakyo Komatsu (SUBMERSION OF JAPAN, VIRUS, SAYONARA JUPITER) that there would be a sci-fi edge to this (along with the poster) but I did not expect to see it go so heavy. 

  The story follows a young racing driver Miki who finds that he has some sort of psychic ability during s race. He’s recruited by an organization called ESPY who’s…

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  Review by Corey Donovan

  Apparently I need to watch more absurd spy films. Between this and Modesty Blaise, they absolutely rock. This specifically is a psychic spy film about a peacekeeping organization of psychics versus an evil one. Includes a quadruple sniper assassination on a moving train, a race car/test driver, Miki, risking his life to not kill three pigeons, him talking to his dog, Caesar, about the fear of death, and a cabbie who kinda has some Gaddafi vibes. All of this is in the first twenty minutes. And it keeps going, getting more and more ridiculous. Upping the ante over the potential chaos caused by a villainous psychic played by Tomisaburō Wakayama—who is dripped out like a pimp with a black and…

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  Review by Dave Baxter ★★★★

  In this age of Marvel movies, it was refreshing to watch a film where superpowers were displayed with clever sound effects and editing vs. VFX. ESPY is a fantastically creative action thriller with every kind of -kinesis power on display - psycho, tele, pyro, you name it. This is Scanners meets Sonny Chiba's Street Fighter. It's pretty great.

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  Review by Prinkips ★★★★

  Not gonna lie, the story is so flawed. Starting from Miki's introduction that set him up as the main character of the movie... only for him being used in the beginning as the audience surrogate to get the explanation of what Espy is immediately out of the way. It was so jarring not seeing him for a good chunk of time after they set up the plot lmao
  That said, there is just something so charming about spy movies about this time.
  Also, it helps that the actors were all really charismatic and gave great performances. Plus, some good action sequences and special effects.

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  Review by Thor ★★★½

  May the best team of supernatural spies win! Hiroshi Fujioka was the definition of Japanese cool back in the 70s, and it’s fantastic how he brings this image to the lead role. The entire cast takes their roles seriously no matter how campy it gets, making the film all the better. Some excellent action scenes; I love how Fujioka leaps around with tremendous energy.