陷阱 (1996)

"The third film in the series, The Trap, is an unusual beast. When the film opens our perpetually down-on-his-luck hero is actually on a bit of a roll. Business is booming, he’s got a new girlfriend, Akane has been accepted into college … he’s even upgrading his office equipment. Things couldn’t be better, right? Well, it wouldn’t be noir if things went well for Hama and the story takes a dark turn when a mysterious masked figure arrives in Hama’s office and asks Maiku to follow and find him. Thniking the visit a prank, Hama ignores it. But soon bodies begin to turn up throughout Yokohama and when one of the corpses has Hama’s fingerprints on it he soon finds himself on the run from the police while trying to unravel the mystery …The Trap is simultaneously the darkest and the lightest of the bunch. With its tale of serial killers and mental illness, not to mention some of Hama’s closest friends taking some serious damage, The Trap certainly has the grimmest storyline of the three films. But, on the other hand, it also features a masked villain straight out of low budget serials, a fantastic sequence in which Hama’s mentor – played as always by Jo Shishido – gets to rally the troops, and a little bit of spy gadgetry. The Trap tries to play it both ways and does a surprisingly good job of it. The dark elements ratchet the tension up while the lighter parts keep things hopping along." - Twitch Review