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Dead or Alive (Unrated Director's Cut) Actor: Sho Aikawa Director: Takashi Miike Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 105 minutes Studio: Kino International Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-10-05 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com The director of Dead or Alive, Takashi Miike, made his name on the international scene with Audition, a chilling psychological thriller that builds from a quiet start towards a prolonged torture sequence almost too unbearable to watch. But such deliberate pacing isn't typical of Miike, whose movies often assault the viewer with an onslaught of slam-bang action that makes John Woo look like Eric Rohmer. Dead or Alive, his most successful cops-vs-yakuza thriller to date, kicks off with six nonstop minutes of machine gun-paced violence, sex, and slaughter, all set to a pounding heavy-metal beat. Thereafter things calm down a little, though not much. Given Miike's penchant for murky, livid-toned visuals and skewed camera angles, it's not always too easy to work out exactly who's doing what to whom, but the general outline's clear enough. The Tokyo underworld is being torn apart by a turf war between the yakuza gangs and the invading Chinese triads. Ambitious yakuza member Ryuichi (Riki Takeuchi) isn't above playing both sides off against each other in his bid for power, while police detective Jojima (Sho Aikawa), himself none too scrupulous in his methods, is out to destroy the gangs. Into this conventional plot framework Miike piles enough warped characters and bizarre, twisted happenings to fuel half-a-dozen Tarantino movies, while cheerfully borrowing--and inflating--key moments from such hard-boiled gangster-noirs as The Big Heat and Kiss Me Deadly. One character deep-fries his own hand, a stripper is drowned in a paddling-pool filled with her own excrement, and the literally apocalyptic finale, the showdown to end all showdowns, will leave you gasping. The appallingly prolific Miike, who regularly makes about five movies a year, has since directed two sequels--the first only three months after the original. --Philip Kemp |
 "Wannabe Takeshi Kitano"I thought Takashi Miike was the bomb after watching AUDITION and FUDOH. However, this effort seemed like regurgitated Tarantino and parody of his better works. Kitano seems like a strong influence but Miike lacks the poetic filmaking style in such works as SONATINE, FIREWORKS. Dead or Alive was a big disappointment.  "My first Takashi Miike film!"First off, I'm hooked. If this is any indication as to what a Takashi Miike film is like then I can't wait to see more. Intense characters, gay sex, female nudity, an enema, lots of drugs, bloody shoot outs, a man in a chicken suit and what might be the most unexpected ending of all time. All served up by a guy whose directed 62 films in 13 years! From what I could gather a small group of thugs wage war on the bigger drug cartels in an attempt to take over the drugs imported from Taiwan. Two cops get caught in the middle and it's murder, death, kill all over the joint until one of the cops is killed and the one remaining cop has something happen to him towards the end that really pisses him off. You've got to see it for yourself. It's insane. My only complaint would be the middle of the movie starts to drag a little. There should have been at least one more action scene to keep the energy flowing. Other than that I loved it and can't wait to see part 2.  "Very cool"Takashi Miike has made a lot of movies. "Prolific" does not even begin to describe the massive output of this energetic director. Therefore, it is not surprising that his films are hit and miss. Dead or Alive is Miike at his uninhibited best. From the very first frame, the movie practically sparks and sizzles, threatening to jump off the screen and assault you physically. Eventually, the film settles down to a slow, ominous burn as the conflict between the two protagonists builds to one of the most outrageous finales in the history of cinema. I know that is a sweeping statement, but see for yourself. Like all of Miike's best films, Dead or Alive is filled with intriguing images, powerful allegory, and extremely bizarre behavior of every sort. Other cool Miike flicks: Vistor Q, Ichi the Killer, Audition, Fudoh, Young Thugs series. "great film Dead or Alive"The film's middle, lacking the flash of the beginning and end might seem to drag a bit in comparison, but Miike populates the film with lurid details that keep it interesting. In one scene, Jojima, looking for clues, is talking to one of his underworld connections, who is busily trying to sexually excite a dog for a bestiality photo shoot. In another, Jojima grills a thug sporting a ludicrously large afro. As Miike gleefully undercuts taboos of polite society, a second theme rises to the fore - the discrimination of non-Japanese Asians living in Japan. At one point, the afro-ed thug argues that Ryuichi is a hero among all non-Japanese working in the underworld because he's willing to take all the societal alienation and estrangement and force it down the throats of the Japanese yakuza. Aside from the dizzying, genre-bending cinematic exploits, the film's sharp and intelligent dissecting of Japanese society makes Dead or Alive a truly fascinating, memorable film.  ""oh shxt""I just finished watching the movie and I must say that I haven't had a movie that actually made me say, "oh shxt" outloud so many times by myself. Although, I must say it's probably my least favorite Miike movie I've seen so far, it definately was a great movie. It does get rather slow, but that does make you appreciate the parts that jump out at you a lot more. Loved the ending. lol. |
