Outrage [Blu-ray]

Outrage is a hard-hitting Yakuza film from Takeshi kitano. The plot consists of the dealings and double-crossings involving various yakuza families, individuals and authorities. This dialogue-heavy plotting is inter-spersed with a fair dose of brutal action and very little humour. Whilst some reviewers have complained about the plotting I never found the film unengrossing in any way although you do have to concentrate hard on whose plotting what and against whom. The performances are first rate. Kitano himself plays a familiar old school psychotic yakuza similar to his character in Brother. The film is wery nicely photographed and the violence is handled expertly. A read one review where the reviewer criticised the 'pointless violence'. Perhaps this is actually the point. Characters are brutalized and murdered seemingly on a whim within this world. After his creative peak in 2002-2003 with the excellent Dolls and Zatoichi I think this is a fine return to form for the director (one of my favourites). I was bitterly disappointed with Takeshis' which I found self-indulgent and tedious. Outrage is a very good gangster flick and deserves more credit than it seems to have had. It may not have the humour of Sonatine or the heart of Hana-bi but it is very well made and a great addition to the Kitano catalogue. Just don't order the vegetable noodles, there are severed fingers in it!

This is a Japanese gangsta flick from the directorial hand of Takeshi Kitano. It is a full throttle story of the Yakuza and the various families (or crime syndicates) that control the Kanto region. It is full of intrigue and double plotting but the one thing that runs as a vein throughout this film is violence. Good old fashioned, medieval, nasty violence.

The Uber crime Lord is called Mr Chairman and actually does dress like some despotic ruler of a `democratic republic' like say North Korea. Even his servants wear the same white tracksuits - even when they are serving dinner, I think you will find that Debretts classes that as a massive faux pas, but hey these are Japanese Mafiosi types and so probably aren't well read.

He discovers that two of his under lords have made some sort of pact to be `sworn brothers' whilst both serving time in one of Japans 1 star detention facilities. This he does not like and so demands that a sort of insult be done to prove that not all brothers get along. Well one thing leads to another and as face is lost, and a few other bits - like fingers-, the retaliations ramp up. The land and power grabs all come at a price and the fortunes of each change with the rapidity of a guns magazine being emptied.

This is acted, directed and filmed in a stylish and no holds barred way. It just roars along, and keeps the shocks coming. There are some well inventive ways of dealing with your enemies and some brutal violence that made me squirm. The Japanese codes of honour and rampant disrespect to your underlings are heavily in evidence. This is just naked greed meets unfettered ambition in a tsunami of double crosses and violence and I thought it was excellent.

This is not one for the squeamish but all lovers of extreme Asian cinema will find a place for this in their collections. In Japanese with a smidgin of English, this is not that short a film but just flew by for me - highly recommended.

I own only the Japanese DVD (which has English subtitles, but image details can succumb to moire patterning), so these are comments on the movie itself, not the UK release.

What has happened to Takeshi Kitano in the decade since 'Zatoichi', his much-deserved critical and commercial triumph? In that film he successfully counterbalanced seriousness and shocking violence with humour and humanity (as Scorsese also did in 'Goodfellas', say). By contrast, 'Outrage' offers unleavened brutality.

Gone is the stoicism of 'Sonatine', replaced with shouting and sadism. It's as if Kitano's character is the unholy yakuza offspring of Don Logan from 'Sexy Beast' and Nicky Santoro from 'Casino' -- unfortunately, no-one explained to him there are reasons why those characters, however memorable, are only supporting players in their respective movies.

I note that 'Outrage' begins with the Warner Bros logo -- presumably it is an international co-production, as was another below-par Kitano picture, 2000's 'Brother'. (But 'Brother' benefited from a jazzy Joe Hisaishi score at least!)