Okay, so I've heard a lot about Takashi Miike's movies before I watched this, even have Ichi The Killer in my watchlist but as fate would have it this is my introduction to his filmmaking and wow it is certainly fun!
I guess this is the closest you can come to the zaniness and fun of the Yakuza video game series because I haven't seen it replicated anywhere else. The movie also uses the same type of reverence towards the Yakuza, almost mythologising them and poking fun at them the same time. The style is super energetic and iconic, changing between both animated and live action shots- the actors act as if they're all part of an anime or manga, so it's super camp and overdramatic, which is something that I truly love (which might irritate others though). The humour is also fun, sometimes crass but nevertheless it's good fun! I guess a close sibling to this movie in both style and execution is the movie Kamikaze Girls (which is just fantastic). Also I just kinda love it when a director known for a particularly serious type of filmmaking just lets loose and does something fun!
So in the movie we follow a policeman that is awful at his job, gets fired but somehow recruited to be an undercover agent to infiltrate the Yakuza to dismantle their drug organisation- this is all done in a very fun matter that you'll laugh at. And along the way you get to meet all of these eccentric characters from the Yakuza underworld which all bring their quirky flair to the story.
The movie can have some tone problems, sometimes it can get really serious and dark after being super silly- however for me it's not a big problem really, I kinda like it when there's loads of emotions and moods and especially for this movie it all sort of fits together. Developing the idea of tone... the effects and stuff can get really really really gory, but it's never tasteless, it's just very surprising to see after it being so silly and I appreciate it being left-field despite it being so high-budget so it definitely has its quirks!
One problem for me was that the movie was perhaps a bit too long, I felt it a bit hard to watch the last 40 minutes- I understand why Takashi would have it all in the movie plot-wise but it could've been done more effectively. Also maybe it was because of the subtitles but some scenes I just didn't understand the chronology of, like it felt that some of it felt a bit haphazardly especially in the beginning. Same for how it handles the characters relationships to each other like I didn't understand the depth of Reiji and Papillon's relationship (and it's supposed to be super deep according to Yakuza standards) so that could've used a little bit more development- same with Reiji's relationship to Junna, it felt a bit weird and forced.
For all of its flaws I still enjoyed my time with it, as I said, I appreciate cheesiness and camp as long as it keeps me entertained, that's all I ask for and this movie does it in spades. Can't wait to see the sequels because apparently this is the first in a trilogy! I hope the other parts are just as fun and manage to be even better than the first one!
