Kikoku

Yakuza Demon is probably Takashi Miike most normal movie ever made. No sudden, bizarre $#!+. No necrophilia. No butt sex. Just a normal everyday Yakuza movie. Wowsers! So is it good? Yup. Riki was awesome as usual, the action was bloody and fun and the story was well told but not really anything special. I liked Yakuza Demon but it is far from Miike's best because it doesn't have his signature weird ass crap so blow me.

This movie is a story of a small Yakuza gang who's boss finds himself in trouble after a money dispute with the other bosses in his crime family. After a rival family declares war on them, the boss soon finds himself in jail and under scrutiny. His two remaining underlings decide to advance their fledgling group in the family by destroying the rival society themselves, thus endangering their own outnumbered organization and alienating themselves from it.

This was kind of an average gangster movie from Miike. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing special about it either. It's very similar in feel to "Graveyard of Honor", but without the big message or depressive feel. For straight-to-video, it looks great. The blood and violence is not off-the-charts, but it is there. There are no big shocker parts or bizarre concepts like you might expect from this director.

Look for a surprise alternate ending after the credits.

Those who criticize this as a minor Miike films are missing the point of this film. This film should not be compared to the DEAD OR ALIVE films, ICHI THE KILLER or FUDOH or any of the hyper manga-style Miike film. Instead, KIKOKU draws from Miike's grittier, melancholic, more classic crime dramas like RAINY DOG, LEY LINES and BLUES HARP. In my opinion, Miike does this kind of film as well or better than the ones he best known for. These films are the ones that put Miike in the league with Kinji Fukasaku and possibly above Beat Takeshi -- and not really the manga ones.

I like this kind of film because it is so pure -- so classic in its crime fatalism -- like a great American noir of the late 40s or 50s or a great French gangster flick from the 30s. Like the other films mentioned above, at the heart of this film is an unlikely love story which makes up the eye of the deadly hurricane that is Miike's take on the violent Yakuza underworld. On the surface the plot is very similar to DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA, but while DOR is fast and fun, KIKOKU is the doomed, tragic version of that film. It's a more serious film that should be taken seriously as one of Miike's best -- and one of Riki Takeuchi's best as well.

Yakuza films is a tradition in the japanese crime film history, you can't deal without it. This one directed by Miike Takashi is surprisingly less weird, less crazy than the other movies from this director. I could prefer the old Kinji Fukasaku - or simply the seventies films - because the tone, style, acting, is quite different. However the result is above average. Good, strong performances...Excellent ending. I have always liked this film, bleak, gritty, a good paced action crime yarn. Don't look for something too surprising in terms of story telling, it remains rather predictable. Some poignant scenes, however.

Underrated Yakuza Flick from Miiiiiike!

It might not have the production values or flash bs that some crime movies have but this is so well done. The atmosphere, the acting, the directing, all wonderfully game. If you like gangster flicks or movies from Japan check this one out, it doesn't get enough love!