Lupin the IIIrd: the Immortal Bloodline is the latest entry into Takeshi Koike’s take on the Lupin franchise with results that I would charitably describe as “mixed.” It is still very much a Koike film so the action set pieces are top-notch as always, with his tendency to drift towards a grittier style of action leading to some excellent kill shots and badass feats of skill from most of the main cast. I was also genuinely surprised by the big reveal at the climax, with Lupin’s wit pulling together the many clues he accumulated throughout the film in order to finally defeat a seemingly unbeatableenemy.
All that said, this is easily the most light on plot and character I’ve seen from a Lupin entry so far. Granted the only Koike Lupin I’ve seen prior to this is Zenigata and the Two Lupins (and thus the other three entries ended up spoiled for me with a 5-minute summary at the beginning of Bloodline), so perhaps viewing this as a final chapter in a marathon session would be more ideal, as opposed to a standalone film that mostly feels like a series of action set pieces; tied together very nicely mind you, but the connecting string isn’t all that interesting. This is also another entry where Fujiko is left on the backburner for pretty much the entire film, so that was another disappointment, and I’m also kinda struggling to think of something legitimately cool or impressive that Lupin himself did aside from the aforementioned big reveal. Still, I didn’t feel like I wasted my time, and the sheer coolness of Koike’s aesthetic kept me glued to the screen, so at the very least I’m more interested in going back a bit further to see how all of this came together.