Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Yakuza Demon

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Yakuza Demon

    Click image for larger version

Name:	cover.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	15.5 KB
ID:	383281

    Released by: Pathfinder Films
    Released on: 12/28/2004.
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Cast: Riki Takeuchi, Mickey Curtis, Tetsuro Tanba, Kenichi Endo
    Year: 2003

    The Movie:

    Yakuza Demon (a re-titling of the film originally known as Kikoku) once again teams up one of the world's most prolific director, Takashi Miike, with the permanently scowling Riki Takeuchi. Whereas many of their earlier collaborations are known (infamous, you could say) for their over the top violence and insanity, Yakuza Demon is a quieter, more grounded film than those that have come before it from these two.

    The film follows the story of Yakuza gang who find themselves in trouble when it turns out that their boss, Mr. Muto (the omnipresent Tetsuro Tanba), is on the losing end of an argument involving a decent amount of cash with some Yakuza bosses from rival gangs in the area. It seems the other gangs expected Muto to pony up his share of the expenses for a few jobs they'd been planning and he's not really in the position to make that happen right now, and instead tells them that he'll take care of his share by working it off with his men instead. The other gangs don't like this idea so much, so they declare war on him and his family, but his life is saved when he's picked up on some criminal charges and shipped off to prison for two years.

    While he's in the big house, his two second in command gang members, Seiji (Riki Takeuchi) and Yoshifumi, decide to take care of business in his absence and they take the war to the streets and to the homes of the opposing Yakuza gangs who earlier had their sites set on their boss. The fatal flaw in their plan lays in the fact that they are extremely out numbered in terms of manpower and firepower - Seiji is a man possessed though and he's not going to let a little thing like that get in his way.

    Those looking for a big payout in the end the way that the Dead Or Alive films concluded should look elsewhere. This is a very down to Earth, realistic and dare I say it 'quiet' crime film. Yes, the movie does afford Takeuchi to go over the top a few times, spraying bullets at his opponents from the smoking barrel of his Uzi, but most of the carnage occurs out of the camera's view - this isn't a gore fest or a crazy action film the way many expect Miike's movies to be.

    Yakuza Demon moves along at a good pace though - except for a ten to fifteen minute stretch in the middle it never feels overly long or drawn out as sometimes the director's films have a tendency to do. The prevalent Miike themes of honor and loyalty among the Yakuza is once again the central focus of this film as it is in many of his other movies and the story and dialogue do a good job of keeping it interesting. While there is a strange curveball thrown at us (not strange in that it is an unusual thing to happen but strange in that the film in no way alludes to it beforehand) that could have been fleshed out a lot better (I'm not spoiling it by saying it's the love story aspect) the movie is a solid crime story with some good performances from it's leads.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    For a straight to video release, Yakuza Demon looks quite nice. It is obviously low budget (one could probably assume that one of the reasons that a lot of the killing in the film takes place off camera was for financial reasons), but it is shot well and with decent lighting. The end result is a nice looking film and Pathfinder gives it a solid anamorphic widescreen presentation on this release - it's debut for the North American home video market. Colors are, as is the norm with Japanese film, slightly muted but there's next to no print damage and while some minor edge enhancement does show up in a couple of spots, there aren't any compression problems. All in all, the movie looks very good on DVD.

    The Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 sound mix comes with typo free English subtitles that are easy to read and also removable. Dialogue is clean and clear, there aren't any issues with background hiss, and the levels are well balanced. While there could have been a bit more punch from the lower end of the mix, that's a minor complain about an otherwise perfectly fine presentation.

    Extras are limited to a trailer for the feature, some production notes from Miike biographer Thomas Mes, and some brief biographies for the cast and crew members involved in making the film.

    The Final Word:

    Yakuza Demon won't do it for you if you're looking for something as out there as some of his other Yakuza films like Fudoh or Gozu but if you're in the mood for a slightly more traditional gangster tale from the land of the rising sun, it might just fit the bill. Pathfinder's DVD is a little short in the extras department but it looks and sounds quite good.
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X