Deadly Outlaw Rekka Review
Naturally, someone had to volunteer to do a Takashi Miike film, and I’m not afraid to be that guy this time around, since I’m a big fan of Yakuza films, and it’s got Riki Takeuchi in it so awesomeness is to be expected. Still, I prepared myself for the moment by throwing down an Arrogant Bastard Ale before diving in.
Oh, and Cheez-Its. Yeeeeah.
True to crazy fashion, Miike opens the film with the assassination of the head of a Yakuza family, a man who is so badass that even after he’s dead, his killer has to wait hours before the man’s severed hands fall away from his throat. The boss’ son, seen flipping out in the police station while his father is being murdered, is warned early into the film that his family is in the process of negotiating a truce. “Kuni[sada], make sure you don’t pull anything funny… if anything happens, there will be bodies everywhere.” You see, due to his “Korean blood” Kuni is quite the hothead – much like his father was – but with everyone begging him not to cause trouble, you would think he’d listen… right?
Wrong.
The whole concept of the truce – along with this movie – starts to fall apart, and when Kuni and his best are taunted by a rival gang while on a double date, proceeds to smash everyone’s face in with a crowbar. The only thing that soothes the beast inside him is the love interest, who embraces him despite the fact that his eyes were rolled back in his head not thirty seconds before.
Weird is par for the course for Miike.
Before and after that little bout of violence, the film is bogged down with some really slow scenes that I would more or less call a little lazy. They don’t really help to hold the story together, that’s for damn sure. The boys go into hiding with their girls and bullshit for a little while before Kuni’s uncle sends them to work executing the men responsible for his father’s death. The other Yakuza heads decide that Kunisada is too much of a handful to let live, so they put a hit out on him. What follows is the typical Yakuza (or gangster film) formula of “you kill my peoples, I’ll kill yours”, with the only variation being revenge is done Miike style, which you know involves unlikely or just absurd scenarios.
Don't forget to take the lens cap off, dude.
The real payoff for this whole thing is the end, which at this point you shouldn’t expect shit to make any sense. People being murdered with rocket launchers, and the final showdown left me baffled momentarily, till I did the sage-like nod that comes with a Miike viewing . There are just moments that made me laugh out loud, but at the same time exclaim “Ok, that was badass.” Honestly though, if this is your first Takashi Miike film, you are not going to walk away impressed. This is by far one of his weaker films, and the only thing that really stands out are great efforts from Riki Takeuchi and Ken’ichi Endo. You’re much, much better off beginning with Audition or Ichi the Killer.
