Outrage (2011)

Absolutely Fantastic

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A great Yakuza film, has some teaching points about how the Yakuza functions. The heirarchy and loyalty is a huge deal in the Yakuza, which is clear here. Overall a gore fest (when it's revenge time) with good acting, an easy storyline and great cinematography.

The screenplay concerns a struggle for power amongst Tokyo's Yakuza clans . As the boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate . Ôtomo (Beat Takeshi , apart from himself, Takeshi Kitano cast no other actor that has been in one of his films before, as per the producer's suggestion) now a free man seek to live his life away from the Yakuza world but during his imprisonment, things have changed . The Sanno family – who destroyed Ôtomo's family – has become too powerful and the old-guard members felt that the young leaders are risking the whole business because of their extreme greed . One wrong move and it's all out war .The great Japanese director Beat Takeshi returns to the big screen with ¨Outrage¨ dealing with a genre that gave him international recognition and made him one of the best Asian filmmakers , and being Takeshi Kitano's first gangster film in ten years , after Brother (2000) . It is an exciting picture displaying suspense , tension , and interesting gangsters war , though sometimes difficult to follow . There is also a cruel depiction of Yakuza life in the 21st century . The story opens with a striking wide shot of a large group of gangsters dressed in black as their leaders meet , these guys have sworn allegiance to their bosses, but it means little once the bullets start flying . Cold and violent film with a confuse plot , twisted intrigue , grisly killings , thrills , chilling events and colorful images . His stunning long takes can resemble intricate paintings while his characters enjoy little respite from the ruthlessness of the real world . However , it results to be a little bit boring , including with no sense dialogs and some embarrassing situations adding brutal murders . Following a string of unconventional , commercially unappealing films, Takeshi Kitano engineered this film specifically as commercially appealing, going back to the genre which brought him the most success, and going as far as imagining the death scenes first and writing a story around them later .The motion picture was professionally directed by Takeshi Kitano in his peculiar style , being his first film shot in 2.35:1 format . Since his 1989 directorial debut, Kitano has written, directed, edited or starred in almost a film per year without losing the momentum of his originality and heightened artistic sensibility. The extraordinary success of 1997's Hana Bi confirmed Kitano's place as a leading figure of international cinema , here offered remarkable visions of violence and beauty . Among its numerous awards, "Hana-bi" or ¨Fireworks¨ won Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion and was named Best Non-European Film by the European Film Academy . In 2000 Kitano made Brother (2000), his first film shot outside of Japan. Originally a comedy star on Japanese television, Takeshi Kitano , aka Beat Takeshi , rose to international fame as a director of Yakuza dramas during the 1990s . "Brother", like other Kitano-directed films such as his debut "Violent Cop" , ¨Boiling Point¨ (1990) and ¨Sonatine¨ (1993), centered around Yakuza (gangster) characters. The filmmaker contrasted the violence and action of those films with comedy or tenderness in films like Ano Natsu, Ichiban Shizukana Umi (1991) (US title: "A Scene at the Sea"), Minnâ-Yatteruka! (1994) (US title: "Getting Any?"), Kizzu ritân (1996) (US title: "Kids Return") and Kikujiro (1999). For the first time in six years, Kitano remained strictly behind the camera on Dolls (2002), his tenth film as a writer-director . His last film is this ¨Outrage¨ that most closely resembles 2000's Brother in tone, but it outdoes that picture by remaining unpredictable with constant betrayals , getting a considerable success .

"Outrage" doesn't aspire to Olympian numinal storytelling but in fact is a great yarn of retribution, counter-retribution, double- and triple- crossing, and criminal intrigue lending itself to considerable contemplation. On display here is a really profound emotional range, from poised Japanese restraint to some of the most boorish, angry, testosterone-fueled behavior even lensed, with violence in spades though mostly befalling characters that have been developed such that the spatter is never gratuitous nor comic-book. "Outrage" is meticulously cinematographed, and lensmen that use the screen and light the scene as well as is on view here will never be common. What especially appeals here is a perception that while many western films tantamount to "Outrage" have very powerful men doing very rotten things set in motion by a gesture or a muttering, "Outrage" has lions that roar, get enraged and curse and beat their chests, and it is actually refreshing to see tyrants behaving badly in plain view instead of their badness being inferred. Kitano has the makings of a franchise here, and this is a fine effort.

I give this high points for the multiple murders that occur every few minutes without fail, ranging from semi-beheading using a car and a rope, to stabbing in the kidney. Most, however, are performed with automatic weapons and there is creative use of Kensington Gore, with blood spouting out of head wounds, etc. No woman gets killed on screen, however: we only view their bloody corpses for a few juicy moments. Indeed, there is no real role for a woman, and only one or two brief spoken lines. In the world of yakuza, women just don't count. Perhaps Japanese women should get hold of automatic weapons and barge in. The cast is led by Takeshi Kitano, who has an inimitable face, and who dares to film himself with all his facial tics, too. He also wrote and directed this slice of gory mayhem from the Japanese underworld. He does not hold back from showing a corrupt cop, who regularly meets the gangsters and picks up bags of cash. This picture mainly consists of men shouting at each other, issuing threats and launching vicious punches, all interspersed with the above-mentioned murders. Great fun for those with the taste for it, in other words.