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2
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
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Full
Metal Yakuza
tells the story of Kensuke "Ken" Hagane (Tsuyoshi
Ujiki), a low-level Yakuza member who shows little promise of
being an effective enforcer. He idolizes Tosa, an older, more
seasoned Yakuza and when his idol is jailed for the kitana murder
of a rival gang boss, Ken strives to live up to his potential.
Unfortunately Ken doesn't seem to have the qualities that would
make a good criminal and he bides his time until Tosa is released
from prison. But seven years later, when Tosa leaves jail, his
own gang turns on him, allowing him to be gunned down and catching
the worshipful Ken in the crossfire. After his assumed murder
Ken is shocked to wake up in a gothic mansion with what appears
to be a metallic body. He stumbles out into the night to try
to discover what has happened but rain shorts out his new body.
He is found and recovered by his mysterious benefactor, Genpaku
Hiragi. Hiragi is a truly mad scientist who has "dreamed
of crediting a Robo-Man!" and has finally succeeded with
Ken. Using Ken's head and what was left of Tosa's body, he's
fashioned a cybernetic creation that he intends to use for some
never-defined purpose. He trains Ken in how to use his new body
as well to defend himself from various attacks. As you might
expect our metallic hero then sets out for revenge on his old
Yakuza friends. Most crime films would end with this bloody
ballet of vengeance but this one goes on for another 40 minutes
as Ken meets Tosa'a girlfriend, develops a relationship with
her and comes to love her. Of course, this sets up her kidnapping
by the surviving members of the gang and a final violent showdown.
The prolific Japanese filmmaker
Takashi Miike, best known in the States for Audition
and Ichi the Killer, directed this
film. I've seen Audition
and was impressed by its slow build and horrific climax but
this is the first of Miike's many direct-to-video films I've
viewed. Overall I was not happy with Full
Metal Yakuza. It can't seem to decide
if it's going to be a serious sci-fi/crime Robocop
rip-off or a jokey, childish camp-fest. It swings unpredictably
between these two extremes so often in its first hour that I
was exasperated and ready for this silly mess to end. Perhaps
it's a cultural thing, as I don't usually mind a film whipsawing
me around, but Full
Metal Yakuza just seemed to be tone deaf,
striving to throw just about anything up on the screen for effect.
Anyone who can repress a belly laugh at the sight of the mad
scientist dressed in a tight black vinyl jumpsuit open to the
navel ranting about his genius is a more sober man than I! By
the time we got to the digitally fogged shots of the oversized
genitalia of the reborn Robo-Man I knew they had no idea which
way to take their story. There are so many reasons I should
have loved this movie. After all — I dug Robocop,
I'm a fan of Japanese crime films, I'm an avowed science fiction
geek and I usually enjoy any film that gives characters the
opportunity to wield samurai swords. But this sucker is just
too inconsistent. I understand that one of the defining touches
of Robocop was its razor sharp
streak of black humor that sprang up at unexpected moments,
but Full
Metal Yakuza's humor is completely sophomoric.
Where Robocop
used biting satire to critique the blind American consumerist
lifestyle, criminal activity at all levels of society and our
obsession with violence, this film's idea of funny is a dick
joke. (Not exactly clever in my humble opinion.) So although
it has lots of things I really like, they're thrown together
so badly that I was only irritated. It feels like the script
needed a rewrite or a strong central idea to pull everything
together but it just isn't there.
Seemingly thrown in for
sick titillation, there's a perverse rape/suicide scene near
the end of the story that is truly repellent and the movie's
nadir. This is not a pleasant film! The special effects are
sub-par as well, with lightening and other optical effects mostly
looking as if they were crudely painted on the image. As I said,
maybe it's a cultural thing, but I don't think so... since the
poor qualities on display here are not indicative of what I've
seen of Miike's work. I think the filmmakers had a half-formed
idea and just cobbled things together giving the finished product
a malformed, unfocused feel. I'm still curious about Miike's
other movies but I think I want to avoid his direct-to-video
stuff in the future.
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| Full
Metal Yakuza
has been given the deluxe treatment on DVD by Artsmagic.
Their disc is a good presentation of the film but the image shows
it's low budget off to poor effect, with lots of digital smearing
and moiré lines. The transfer is letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is
anamorphically enhanced. The film is presented in the original
Japanese with optional white English subtitles which are pretty
good, with only a couple of questionable word choices and awkward
phrases. It looks as if the movie may have been shot on video
or something less than good film stock but those questions are
left unanswered by the extras included on the DVD. What is
on the DVD are separate video interviews with director Miike,
film editor Yasushi Shimamura and lead actor Tsuyoshi Ujiki. Each
of these interviews is interesting and informative, answering
some of my questions about the relative poverty of the production.
Also, the film has an optional audio commentary track by Miike
film expert Tom Mes. This track is very good as well, providing
a lot of information about Miike's career and some of Full
Metal Yakuza's inspirations, even though Mes' delivery
is sometimes a monotone. The disc also has filmographies and biographies
of the principals as well as a few trailers for other Artsmagic
DVDs. It's sad to admit, but if this had been my introduction
to the director's films I doubt I would have cared to seek out
others.
6/25/04 |
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