A masked serial killer gets more than they bargained for when they target high-flying lawyer Akira Ninomiya (Kazuya Kamenashi). The attorney may look like a soulless bloodsucker in an expensive suit, but get this ¡ª he¡¯s actually a murderous psychopath!

¡°I¡¯m gonna kill that freak,¡± Akira vows, after first encountering his axe-wielding antagonist in a parking lot. He means it, too: We¡¯ve already seen him dispatch a car-crash victim with a piece of broken glass, unleashing a geyser of blood that signals the schlock credentials of Takashi Miike¡¯s ¡°Lumberjack the Monster.¡±

This adaptation of Mayusuke Kurai¡¯s 2019 novel promises a supervillain showdown to rival ¡°Sadako vs. Kayako¡± or Elon Musk¡¯s cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg. But after an energetic opening act, the movie seems to decide that what its audience really wants is talking ¡ª lots and lots of talking.