View Larger Image

Ichi the Killer (Unrated Edition) Director: Takashi Miike Number of Items: 1 Format: Color Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 129 minutes Studio: Media Blasters, Inc Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-11-18 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 86 Average rating: 4.0 "Really unusual, wildly enjoyable film!" What a marvelously original, wildly bizarre, really delicious movie! I know nothing of Miike or Asian cinema and simply rented "Ichi" after reading an online review describing it as a 'gore hound's dream' . The film is so unlike anything else I have ever seen that I became fascinated by it and watched it many times, read differing opinions on possible meanings of the cryptic ending here and on the IMDb message boards, and I call it one of my very favorite films today. A simple tale of revenge sought by one gang against another over the death of their leader turns into Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when peopled with characters as incredibly unusual as Kakihara on one side and Ichi on the other . All of the supporting characters are well drawn and interesting and the film flings us many twists and surprises in its rollicking death dance towards a strange and gruesome showdown. I absolutely LOVE the lushly odd small details the film is sequined with: the twin detective's fur dog ears he wears, the gang member hiding duct taped inside a T.V. while white feathers fill the room, the weird teeny apartment the hypnotist and the pimp share with nasty pictures taped to the low red ceiling. "Ichi the Killer" is a psychadelic carnival ride into a very freaky, gory, insane world which I enjoy peeking in the windows of, and if you're a bit odd like me and love originality and all things horrific maybe you will too. Laslonnian "Dissapointing" I love the work of Takashi Miike, he can make any story seem new again with his surrealist style of filmaking. But this was just an overated, incoherent gorefest with the most blatant excuse for mutliple stories and events to come together. Some may say I didn't get it but I don't WANT to get it. Lots of violence that goes nowhere, girls get raped and die in some brutal and sick ways, random scenes that add nothing to the film or plot. Just a whole lot of nothing from a director that has made a few of THE BEST films I have ever seen. The acting is actually done very well from the lead guy Tadanobu Asano and some even better acting from Ichi's right hand man in the film played by Shinya Tsukamoto (who made the excellent films Tetsuo the iron man and Tokyo Fist). But other then the good acting, this falls right on its ass with the rampant violence and gore. Don't believe the hype. "It's really a love story" Prepare yourself for severe emotional scarification. If you can muster the fortitude to watch the unedited versions of Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q all the way through you will be taken to the very limit of the cinematic extreme. Short of a snuff flick a Takashi Miike film is the most sick depraved event you will expirience on you television set (with the exeption of the Olsen twins movies of corse). Ichi the Killer Rules! Be prepared! "ichi is a killer who has down syndrome" First of all, the picture is not ichi, its some other wacko who actually is kinda cool unlike ichi who is aretarded twenty year old who is manipulated into killing gangsters and prostitutes by some other weirdo. This cat comes out with blades that come out of the heel of his special shoes. This definitly gets old. He cuts one guy in half which is about the only thing worth watching at all. All the killings just show blood being splattered around and you really don't get to see anything except the after math which is like a mortal kombat cheesy fatality. Stay away from this one. Your better off checking out dead alive. "Blows Tarantino Outta the Water" Having only seen one Takashi Miike film (FUDOH - THE NEW GENERATION) before this, I was a little apprehensive when reading the back of this DVD. Though I enjoyed FUDOH, it wasn't what I would call a great movie. After reading the synopsis, I expected ICHI to be little more than a PULP FICTION-style thriller. Never a fan of John Woo or filmmakers of that type, I settled in to watch ICHI with slightly lower expectations than FUDOH (which, again, I enjoyed, but did not find great). Boy, was I ever in for a shock. The violence of FUDOH does not even begin to compare with that of ICHI... and FUDOH was one hell of a violent movie! More importantly than that, however, was the fact that beyond its often astounding violence was a great story filled with fascinating characters. Filmed in a super-fast-paced style, ICHI tells the story of ruthless yakuza assassin Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano is absolutely terrifying!), a maniac with a sadistic streak a mile wide and a masochistic streak just as wide, who goes on a rampage to find his boss, who has disappeared with a large sum of money. In his search for the missing ganglord, he quite literally leaves a trail of blood and guts behind him. His outrageously violent methods anger the other members of Japan's organized crime world, to a point that they enlist the help of the mysterious titular character in disposing of the maniac. Ichi remains unseen (or so we think) till well into the film (and his appearance is one of the biggest shocks of all), with only his gruesome handiwork on display till then. It all sounds very ordinary (or at least it did to me), but the beauty of this film (as well, I am led to believe, as Miike's others) is the director's ability to completely pervert the conventions of the crime thriller in order to deliver something that more closely resembles David Cronenberg than John Woo or Quentin Tarantino: this is no hip, tongue-in-cheek gangster comedy. Miike plays for keeps, as evidenced by the frequently disturbing imagery and subject matter. The acting in the film is worthy of mention as well. As stated before, Asano is very effective in the principal role; Shinya Tsukamoto (director of the wonderful TETSUO films) appears as a seemingly cowardly retired yakuza boss with a few schemes of his own; and almost everyone else leaves a very distinct impression (there is one actor in particular, who sounds as though he has some kind of breathing problem, who I will never forget, and I can't remember the character's name). Though often painful to watch (and I mean that in the most literal sense), there is a real and palpable beauty to the proceedings, which is due no doubt in part to the cinematography as well as the great editing. I read a review of this movie somewhere that said it was like one of the ultraviolent movies that Malcolm McDowell is forced to watch in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE as part of his brainwashing. I find that an amusing comparison, and it should let the viewer know what he or she is in for. I agree with the other Amazon reviewer who says that calling this a "splatter" movie is almost an insult; I think this is probably one of the best movies of the past decade, and deserves recognition as more than just a gorefest or crime thriller. Plus I love the ending. I think I could get to be a huge Takashi Miike fan: I've since seen AUDITION, HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, and VISITOR Q, and I have no complaints so far about any of this man's films. Watch this if you can stomach the violence, and see for yourself what a huge talent the amazingly prolific Takashi Miike really is!!!