There are three words I could use to describe Takashi Miike's films: outrageous, hyperactive, and at the same time, competent. This film starts off like a music video. There are a few different storylines going on at once and the film cuts between them rapidly. A woman in possession of drugs is thrown from a roof, a man watches a stripper dance. Three different men are killed. One has his stomach blown out by a gunshot wound while the noodles he had eaten turn into yellow blood that flies at the screen. Another is blown apart by a shotgun in a car. The other man is seen having sex with another man in the bathroom when his throat is cut by another man with a knife. If that sounds like an opening eight minutes you will enjoy just go and watch the opening.
While the opening is outrageous and hyperactive, the rest of the film is much more grounded. The film has a compelling and well structured storyline about a Yakuza versus Triad war. It focuses on a cop caught in the middle of the war trying to get money for his ailing daughter's kidney affliction. It also focuses on an outsider, played by Riki Takeuchi trying to provoke the war between the gangs. Still along the way Miike injects his signature perverted and extreme moments. Since this is a Miike film you actually think for a second that he will cross the line and actually show certain obscene things on film, though of course he cuts the camera and only implies what happens offscreen. Such things are why I am intrigued by his films because you know he is going to inject something you have never seen before or even thought was possible on screen. The film never quite lives up to the outrageous hyperactivity of it's beginning and the ending destroys any pathos the rest of the film has. Both the beginning and ending are so memorable because of how over the top they are. You forget how compelling and grounded the rest of the film is, besides the extreme moments.
In a meta moment before the opening both Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi countdown to the start of the film.
Synopsis: A yakuza of Chinese descent and a Japanese cop each wage their own war against the Japanese mafia. But they are destined to meet.
The vignettes in the opening are confusing but they make sense as the film goes on. The men who get killed by Ryuichi (Riki Takeuchi) whose gang is made up of the children of Japanese orphans who lived in China after WW2. Mariko, Hitoshi, Satake, and Hoshiyama. They still consider themselves outsiders and are trying to carve their own path. Meanwhile, Ryuichi's little brother, Toji (Michisuki Kashiwaya) returns from University in America. Detective Jojima (Show Aikawa) is shown at home with his wife and she talks about them needing millions of yen for his daughter's kidney operations. Between Ryuichi's relationship with his brother and his gang, and Jojima's relationship with his daughter that gives both characters enough emotional heft to root for them.
Riki Takeuchi as Ryuichi. One of the coolest looking guys on screen.
Neither Ryuichi or Jojima are without their faults though. Ryuichi kills one member of his gang, Hitoshi, after he takes a lot of their money following the robbery of an armored truck. It should also be noted that they kill a random bystander during this crime as well. When later asked by Toji why he decided to kill Hitoshi he says something like "he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for us as we were for him." Toji becomes aware of who his brother really is after finding out that the money that sent him through college was made by committing crimes. He tells Ryuichi he never wants to see him again after he kills Hitoshi. On the other side of things, Jojima is a corrupt cop who took money from Yakuza boss, Aoki, to help pay for one of his daughter's surgeries. In order to find Ryuichi he gets info from a porn producer, who is getting ready to film a woman having sex with a dog. That is one interesting scene because right when they are getting ready to film, Miike cuts the camera. For a second you might think he may cross the line and show it. I enjoy how Miike always thinks of these outrageous things and flirts with crossing the line. Jojima later needs more money to finance his daughter's operations and arrests many of Aoki's men to "bargain" with him for money.
The middle of the film deals with the moves each character makes to deal with one another. They actually run into each other at one point on the street not knowing who each is. Ryuichi starts working with another Chinese gangster to acquire guns and take out Aoki. Jojima meanwhile finds out who Ryuichi is after the porn producer leads him to a restaurateur who leads him to street criminals who know Ryuichi. While this is going on there are some intimate scenes between Jojima and his partner, Inoue (Susumu Terajima). He calls Inoue on his day off to meet him at the restaurant of the informant's. Inoue brings his son and has a fun moment with his son when he refuses to eat and says "You want to grow up to be big and strong right? Remember why you lost that race in school." These heartfelt moments of levity help keep this film grounded.
Meanwhile Ryuichi tells the lone woman in his gang, Mariko (Mizuho Koga) to spy on Aoki. Unfortunately for her Aoki realizes who she is, as she was the exotic dancer we saw at the beginning at a place that Aoki frequents. She later wakes up in a room, drugged, and in a pool of feces. Aoki says that she has been raped and drugged by multiple times and he proceeds to drown her in the pool. That is another of Miike's outrageous scenes. A scene that actually makes me gag.
The beautiful Mariko with Aoki.
Spoiler Section
After Mariko's murder, Ryuichi plans his revenge. He attacks the nightclub and kills many of Aoki's men. There is one great scene where one of the men accidentally sticks his hand in hot fry oil. This is the first action scene really since the opening and it lives up to the hype. Ryuichi is about to be killed by Chen, the leader of the Chinese triads, before he is killed by Toji, who had followed Ryuichi. Unfortunately, Inoue had an informant at the club and Inoue goes in and is killed by Ryuichi, but not before he fires one shot that kills Toji. Not too long after this Jojima sends Inoue's wife and son out of town for safety. Unfortunately for him though when his family goes to visit him at the station, their car blows up and Jojima's wife and daughter are killed. Such moments give this film a tragic element as it is really the innocents that get killed. Inoue, Toji, and Jojima's wife and son. It should be noted that after the shootout at the club Jojima goes there to find Aoki alive. Aoki celebrates that he will have no other criminals to deal with and says that Jojima can keep the money he lent him. This disgusts Jojima, who shoots Aoki dead. Both times I've seen this movie I never thought that Jojima's family would die. Each time that explosion happened my jaw dropped.
A final showdown occurs between Jojima, Ryuichi and his gang. Jojima tracks them all down when they are preparing to leave the country. One of Ryuichi's friends, Hosiyama blows himself up with a grenade trying to kill Jojima. The car goes flying many feet into the air and lands, and you think Jojima is dead. He however opens the driver's side door and guns down Satake. This leads to a final duel between Jojima and Ryuichi. They both shoot each other in the chest. What happens next is like something out of a video game. Jojima produces a rocket launcher out of nowhere. Ryuichi takes this magic sorcery orb out of his hands and the explosion of each colliding destroys Japan as we see a view from outer space.
Both the opening and the ending are different from the tone and grounded nature of the rest of the film. I'm not sure what Miike was trying to say. My interpretation is that he is saying that none of the more intimate friendships and family matter in a world of violence. People will always be trying to kill each other and sometimes for the most reasonable of motivations and sometimes via the most outrageous methods. Regardless, I like every act of the film for different reasons. The opening for the music video kind of hyperactive and cartoonish violence. The middle for the tragic doom of some of the more innocent characters. The ending for its circus maximus appeal along with the saying that people killing each other is responsible for the most destruction of the world. I do wish the film maybe had one more action scene along the way as the middle part of the film feels like a sandwich that needed an additional topping.
Rating: 8/10
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