The Execution Game (Japan, 1979)
directed by Tôru Murakawa
Cool but quirky Hitman Narumi (Yûsaku Matsuda) is back in the final part of the trilogy, much more weary and tired of it all, but drawn back in anyway. He's kidnapped and given an assignment, untrusting and unsure of what it's all about, having a history of double crosses.
He still has a knack for pissing off anyone who tries to get close to him, especially women, but this time he's fallen in love with a nightclub singer. That doesn't usually end well in a hard boiled movie, and he finds out she was ALSO kidnapped by these guys, forcing him to do this job.
Director Tôru Murakawa's trilogy of these films may follow a specific formula in their presentation, but this is a character who has grown throughout that trilogy, no longer falling asleep at a strippers stage or carelessly surrounding himself with party girls that he can't pay the bill for... life has worn him down... the booze, the women, the killing...
