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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 |
 "Cute ending for Yakuza bore-fest"Don't get me wrong, I really like Miike and would recommend Audition or Visitor Q any time but I fell asleep about halfway through this. I've probably watched too many of these "es muy macho" Yakuza films over the last year which has made me very sensitive to the cliche's of this genre. There are two good scenes in this movie that take place in the final 10 minutes, the car bomb and the destruction of the earth but otherwise you would do better to buy a Beat Takeshi film.  "Question your sanity before you say "I liked it.""Ok, I hope you read my review first because I saw some reviews that said this movie was the best thing since receiving oral sex. I will give you the scoop on this movie - the true scoop. This movie truly starts O.K. if you like wild Hong Kong action in the tradition set forth by people like (but not limited too) John Woo and Ang Lee. I thought that this first scene would continue on until the end of the movie (which would have been fine by me had they thrown in a gratuitous sex scene to give you a breather from the action every now and then) but to my disdain it did not. The movie slowed way down. Now I may have missed something in the story line that was interesting, but I don't think that was the case. Some kind of character development does take place, but not enough for me to think that I needed to hit the pause button while I go to the bathroom (for a number 2). I other words you won't miss much if you skip 20 minutes or so during the middle of the movie. The ending - don't worry I won't give it away - was an odd event. I did feel my spine tingle in anticipation of the final action sequence. The action portion of this finale was up there with the best of them. You will have to re evaluate your thoughts on the movie after you see this because the ending had nothing to do with the rest of the movie. If you thought Dusk 'til Dawn took a fast flip flop of plots this ending will leave a spinning feeling in your head for at least an hour. Had this ending been on another movie where the plot had something to do with it, it would have been great. Even though you walk away shaking your head, you also come away with a feeling that the ending was great on some weird level - maybe the primal level where we all find violence and needless destruction interesting and a worth-while cause in life. I am sure the followers of the movie will disagree:  "artsy b-grade yakuza flick"This movie is worth watching. It is. It will not be entirely pleasant, it will not make very much sense, it will leave you debating the merits of vomiting, screaming, or laughing, and questioning whether any of these is a sane response to the montage of the grotesque you just witnissed. Like a car crash, though, you can't turn away. If pure emotional effect is what you want, if confusion and mild psychosis is your ideal net benifit from watching a film, you can't go wrong with this. Takashi Miike makes good on the tradition of artsy, transgressive grade-b movies in a way that would warm the fifty-foot woman's heart.  "Not For the Feint of Heart"The closest thing that I can think of to compare this movie to is a hardcore version of Pulp Fiction minus the confusing storyline. It's got nothing but sex, insane violence and just about anything else offensive that can be contained in a movie. Right from the get-go, the story completely takes the back seat and the movie quickly just becomes nothing but anticipation for the next out-of-this-world scene where the movie takes you somewhere that current American cinema wouldn't DARE. ... Simply put, if you are truly looking for the movie that gives 'till it hurts, then this flick is one of the only ones out there that could satisfy that lust. I'd never think so much insanity could be crammed on such a little disc until now. "well, there's an ending, then there's dead or alive..."other reviews are on the page. read them, come back. go on, then. so. my take is this: in lieu of the scorsese three hour gangster flick, miike chooses a different route, to throw the dogs off his scent. opens with yer cocaine fix of yakuza life; guns, falling clothes-less gals, yes, cocaine, and some other white powdery substance, perhaps flour. you're off balance, but expecting a howitzer to the face for the next hour and twenty. then, you zone out. nothing makes sense. you mistake the bad guy for wayne newton myriad times. they eat a lot. the camera stays put. everything is in earth tones. you prepare a dissertation to the knuckle-node that tells you: 'miike is aces!' then, a girl with cancer and her mother prepare to drive off to the hospital, to her operation paid for with dirty money. cue the asian john lurie to strum the old sad-sack on the viola. before the car door slams, know this: in the next ten minutes, the camera will finally pan; colors will appear, bright ones; cars will fall from the sky; limbs will go missing; men will survive in order to die, just to please you; the world will end. miike wines you, dines you, takes you to meet his folks in a little nook out in northampton, shows you slides of his first loose tooth. then, when you go to hug him goodnight, he rapes you. and- for some reason- you thank him, and start the long trek back to the boonies. |
