Tokyo MER: The Movie - A Much Bigger Rescue Mission with More at Stake for the Beloved MER Team

I read that there would be a new Japanese movie to be released in certain cinemas this week and found out that it was based on TV series which is available on Disney+. My wife had already watched the full season and recommended me to see it as she loved it. So I immediately began watching the series few days ago and completed on Friday night, just in time before I saw the movie yesterday. All right then, I will get to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The Tokyo Mobile Emergency Room (MER) program initiated by Governor Akatsuka (Yuriko Ishida - Princess Mononoke, Contrail TV series etc) two years before was quite a success despite the reckless behavior of its team leader Kota Kitami (Ryohei Suzuki - Segodon TV series, Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai etc). This was due to the great cooperation among the team members that consisted of Dr. Hina (Ayami Nakajo - Love You as the World Ends TV series, Setoutsumi etc), the anesthesiologist Dr. Fuyuki (Shinya Kote - Shinigami San TV series etc), Nurse Natsume (Nanao - Masquarade Hotel etc), Nurse Minh (Phuongchi), medical engineer Tokumaru (Hayato Sano - Usogui etc) and new joinee Dr. Shiomi (Jesse Lewis). 

Due to the success, the Ministry of Health decided to implement the program in other cities across Japan, starting with Yokohama MER led by Dr. Kamoi (Anne Watanabe - Cube etc). However, Dr. Kamoi had different views with Kitami and their methods were put to the test when a huge fire occurred at the 70 floors building in Yokohama where 193 people were trapped in the penthouse. Under the coordination of Dr. Otowa (Kento Kaku -  From Today, It's My Turn!!: The Movie etc), the two teams had to work together in saving those people.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said above, I watched the series first before I saw this movie in the cinema, and I am really glad that I did cause it gave me understanding of the background plus familiar with the characters. The story was set after the events of the series which I believe would make it challenging for audience who had not seen it before, not only because there was no explanation of the history of Tokyo MER but also the lack of characters introduction. Although, it was not so difficult to understand the whole story since its main focus was a rescue mission with a bit of side political story.

Just like in the series, Tokyo MER team had to race against time to rescue plenty of people in a difficult situation. It was such a joy watching them did their work for most of the film's duration (2 hrs 8 minutes) which was very long compared to the 45-50 minutes in the series' episodes. We got to see more emergency operations and a lot more drama. The director Aya Matsuki who also directed the series really put a lot of the dramatic moments in here which affected audience including me and obviously my wife. Even if we knew how it would turn out in some of the scenes but they still gave the desired emotional impact, especially with the wonderful background music.

A lot of the cast from the series also appeared in this movie including Riisa Naka (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time etc) as Dr. Chiaki Takanawa who had larger role here, Satoshi Hashimoto as Komaba, the head of Crisis Management Center and even Jun Kaname (Fixer TV series etc) as Senju, the Tokyo's fire rescue commander along with few other support characters that you would notice. I think in general they did their work nicely. If you had seen enough Japanese series/movies, you would be accustomed to a bit of over the top scenes which were shown quite a lot but that not a major issue for me.

The movie's strength was on the suspenseful moments during the emergency situation, the intensity of the rescue and the drama involving the characters. The main focus now was on Kota Kitami who had to endure so many challenges especially when he had personal stake. It was so great to see his characterization especially when facing such a difficult ordeal. My wife and I do not have any medical background at all, but we believe the movie makers had done their homework and research in the medical problems. During the closing credits there was a lovely song by Japanese band Greeeen (that sadly I forgotten the title) and we were shown a lot of what I believed to be real life doctors, nurses and health care personnels likely to give appreciation to them. It was great watching them getting the recognition.

Overall this was an entertaining dramatic movie about a Rescue team in Tokyo where we could watch them saving people in emergency situation supported by other people like Fire department or Police department. There were even more humorous scenes in the movie as well. If you like the 2021 series, surely you would love this one. It might have some cheesy moment or overly melodramatic scenes but my wife and I were fine with them and enjoyed the movie. So if you want to give this a try, definitely watch the series first to give you better experience.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars