Ichi The Killer (2001) - A Review

Ichi The Killer lives up to its infamously gory and perverse reputation.

Ichi The Killer is a crime drama/horror movie released in Japan in 2001 and stars  Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ōmori, Paulyn Sun, Shinya Tsukamoto, Shun Sugata, Hiroyuki Tanaka, Jun Kunimura, Suzuki Matsuo, and Hiroshi Kobayashi. It was directed by Takashi Miike, and is based on the Ichi The Killer manga series by  Hideo Yamamoto.

Kakihara is one cruel bastard.

 In Ichi The Killer, Tadanobu Asano plays Kakihara, a cruel sadomasochistic enforcer in the Yakuza who is looking for his boss, named Anjo. Kakihara thinks Anjo may have left town with a prostitute and 3 million yen of the gang's money. Desperate to find his boss, Kakihara eventually finds out that Anjo may have been kidnapped by a rival gang. He viciously tortures rival Yakuza gang members to find out where Anjo is. He finds out that Anjo was killed by a man named Ichi, and that he (Kakihara) is a target as well. Kakihara is intrigued by this development.

 Ichi (played by Nao Ōmori) is a very psychologically disturbed man. He is meek and withdrawn, usually. He plays video games all day at the house of Jiji (played by Shinya Tsukamoto), his mysterious caretaker. The thing is, when Ichi becomes sexually aroused, he becomes a killing machine! Ichi thinks of the Yakuza members that he's brutally murdering as the kids who bullied him when he was in school. Things get kind of complicated when Ichi helps a kid, Takeshi (played by Hiroshi Kobayashi), who is being bullied at the apartment complex they live in. Takeshi is the son of Kaneko (played by Hiroyuki Tanaka), a former police officer who now works under Kakihara in the Yakuza. Kakihara has very selfish reasons for finding Anjo, and eventually meeting up with Ichi. Will it be all Kakihara hopes for?

Ichi is seemingly a nice guy. Just don't turn him on.

 Ichi The Killer's reputation preceded itself when I first heard of it in the early 2000s. I heard it was gory, it was violent, and it was perverted. Finally seeing it in 2023... it more than lives up to its reputation! I had a chance of buying the special edition DVD back in the day (it came packaged with a bag of blood), but I just couldn't buy it. I was too worried about what the people in Best Buy (an electronics store) would think of me if I bought that DVD. I have regretted not buying it ever since then, but after watching it, I realize I would not have been ready for it back then! This movie is brutal. There are gallons of blood throughout. There are some disturbing torture scenes (which made me cringe, and cringe in the original use of the word, not the current internet version). I was digging my nails into my arms during some scenes; it was just too brutal. There are rape scenes in this as well, so fair warning!

 Takeshi is the only purely good person in this movie. It is very hard to root for Ichi, as you find out who he is and what drives him. You can kind of root for him when he is in his more docile mode, and he is killing Yakuza members, but Ichi is just too messed up of a person to fully support. Kakihara, on the other hand, is one evil and sadistic gangster. Let's just say, his motives are sexually based as well. He is not above hurting or mutilating a person to get what he wants, including himself! Great performances from both Nao Ōmori and Tadanobu Asano.

Ichi The Killer is brutal. That is not water being poured on his back, by the way.

 There are a lot of violent acts in Ichi The Killer. Ichi is a skilled martial artist, but he does not take very long to kill his victims. He has a hidden blade in the heel of his boot, and when that connects, it's over! The special effects, both practical and CGI, are well done. Apparently one special effect (let's call it "man nectar") was actually the real thing, so... keep that in mind. If you love brutal, bloody, gory violence, this is the movie for you!

 So, should you watch Ichi The Killer? Despite the extreme violence, the perversity, and the hard to root for characters, I would say yes! This movie deals with some very interesting subjects, the acting is excellent, the plot is compelling, and it is never boring. I left a lot out of the movie synopsis, because there are a lot of surprise revelations that will help you understand where everyone is coming from. Once again, this movie is not for children, and viewer discretion is strongly advised. If you're willing to take the plunge, you're in for quite the wild ride! Takashi Miike made another modern classic with this one.

 

The special collector's edition of Ichi The Killer that I passed on buying. Really wish I bought it back then! I'll get the blu-ray, regardless.

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewed by David Williams 

The Untold Story (1993) - A Review

One of the more infamous Category III films. You are not prepared for this one!

 The Untold Story is a crime thriller movie released in Hong Kong in 1993, and stars Anthony Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan, Eric Kei, King Kong Lam, Parkman Wong, Julie Lee Wa-Yuet, and Shing Fui-On. This movie was directed by Herman Yau, and is one of the most infamous Category III  exploitation films ever made.

Anthony Wong plays a MONSTER in this movie.

 In The Untold Story, Anthony Wong plays Wong Chi-hang, an extremely disturbed and determined man who runs The Eight Immortals Restaurant in Macau. He wants to transfer ownership of the restaurant to himself, but his lawyers will not help him without the signature of the previous owner, Cheng Lam. One day, kids find severed limbs on the beach, and the police are called to investigate it. While the cops are goofing off at work, they receive a message from a man seeking help in finding his missing brother...Cheng Lam. They ignore it at first, but after the identity of one of the severed arms is discovered, they become interested in Wong Chi-hang and the restaurant.

 The cops question Wong Chi-hang and Pearl (played by Julie Lee Wa-Yuet), his cashier. Wong is cooperative, and gives the cops fresh pork buns. Pearl is cooperative as well, but a little too cooperative to Wong's liking. The cops voraciously eat the pork buns at the police station, and that night Wong makes Pearl pay for being truthful with the cops in horrific fashion...

The bumbling cops on the case. They provide the comedy in this dark and grim movie.

 The cops put Wong under surveillance, and they catch him getting rid of evidence. They arrest him, but Wong does everything he can to escape the cops and being charged with murder. Basically, the lead officer (played by Danny Lee) gets his team to torture Wong to get him to finally confess. What he confesses to is... absolutely appalling...

 The Untold Story is based on a true story. Knowing that makes this movie that much harder to watch. This movie is brutal. It is definitely a Category III film (Category III films in Hong Kong would be classified as Rated X or NC-17 in America). This is a warning: there is an absolutely brutal rape in this, and some brutal, ruthless killing. This is not a movie to watch when children are around...

 Despite that, there is comedy in this. The bumbling cops are always joking with each other, and they are especially rude to Bo (played by Emily Kwan), the only woman on their team. The jokes are sexual and sexist, so be prepared for that! Their lead officer, Lee is also constantly bringing his dates to work...which is pretty weird. Despite being a womanizer, he is a good detective. Which is a good thing, because Wong is quite the elusive suspect.

The violence is extreme, bordering on offensive.

 Anthony Wong. His performance in this. Incredible. He plays one of the creepiest, sickest, most disturbing bastards I've ever seen in movies. I actually hate him in this! What makes his performance great is that you kind of have a little sympathy for him when he's getting tortured by the police. That's just the sympathetic/empathetic side to me, I guess. Then I remember what he did to get tortured, and my sympathy goes out the window. Anthony Wong is a monster in The Untold Story, plain and simple. He actually won the Best Actor award for his performance in this movie, and I have to say, it is well deserved.

 Should you see The Untold Story? Even though it is a classic Hong Kong movie, I can't fully recommend it. If you like cult classics, exploitation films, horror movies, or just extreme cinema, then you'll love this one. For everyone else, give it a try if you are very curious, but don't say I didn't warn you. You need to see Anthony Wong's performance at the very least. He is amazingly disturbed in this. As for myself, I just had to watch this at least once, after reading about it in a book on Hong Kong cinema. Decades after reading about it, I finally watched it, and I was actually hesitant to see it. Curiosity overpowered me, and you know what they say about curiosity: it killed the cat.

(The cat being my innocent soul in this case.)

 

 

 

 

Reviewed by David Williams

The Crow (1994) - A Review

 

The Crow lives up to the hype, but is also underrated nowadays.

The Crow is superhero action thriller movie released in America in 1994, and is based on the graphic novel/comic by James O'Barr. It stars Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Rochelle Davis, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Tony Todd, Michael Massee, and Jon Polito. The Crow was directed by Alex Proyas, with fight choreography by Jeff Imada and Brandon Lee.

The avenging angel. Brandon Lee rules in this.

In The Crow, Brandon Lee plays Eric Draven, a musician who gets ruthlessly murdered on Devil's Night after walking in on his fiance Shelly getting raped and beaten by a gang. Police Sergeant Albrecht (played by Ernie Hudson) is on the scene of the crime when a little girl, Sarah (played by Rochelle Davis) tells him that Eric Draven and his fiance were her friends and took care of her. Albrecht has to tell her that Eric Draven is dead and Shelly is in really bad shape...

One year later Eric Draven rises from the grave, and goes back to his apartment (where his murder took place). He gets flashbacks of his murder and the torture of his fiance, and vows to seek revenge on the gang that did this to her. Guided by a crow, he discovers that any wounds he sustains heals immediately. He can also see what the crow that is guiding him sees, so he is able to find every gang member involved and kills them in the way that they hurt his fiance.

Sarah and Albrecht are the only ones who Eric Draven trusts. Ernie Hudson is awesome in this, by the way.

The police begin investigating the murders of these gang members, and Albrecht (who got demoted) gets the heat for not immediately finding the culprit. Eric Draven makes himself known to Sarah and later Albrecht, who he explains what's going on with him to. The gang leader, Top Dollar wants this year's Devil's Night to be the biggest one ever, but is also intrigued by the presence of Eric Draven. As things unfold, Eric Draven must finish his quest for revenge and face off with Top Dollar...

First off, The Crow is amazing! I had no expectations, really, about this movie but man, this movie rules. The story, mood, the music, the cinematography, the editing, the acting, and especially the performance of Brandon Lee make this movie a classic. The movie is dark and brooding, yet psychedelic in some scenes. The music is classic early 90s grunge rock (which I am a fan of) and fits the movie; it doesn't feel out of place or inappropriate. The look of the city in this movie, in particular, the architecture, is amazingly gothic. So many cool shots of the buildings in this city. It really is a visual treat. This is definitely a 90s movie, yet it is timeless at the same time.  

Top Dollar and Myca are one brother/sister duo you do not want to mess with.

Brandon Lee is just amazing in this. He plays Eric Draven as a poetic avenger; he shows no mercy to the criminals who killed his fiance, but shows he still cares about Sarah and certain others. He is dark and brooding, yet he has an angelic quality about him. Brandon Lee is charismatic as heck in this. Every time he is on screen, you cannot look away. He is graceful, whether he is walking the rainy, crime ridden streets or mowing down gangsters with powerful weaponry. Lee does get to show off some of his fighting skills, but it was shot in the 90s Hollywood way, so you don't get the full picture of what he can do. Brandon Lee is the man in The Crow, and is the main reason you should watch it. Excellent performance from him.

I first heard of The Crow when I saw the news reports of Brandon Lee's death on set. I was shocked and depressed that this could have happened to Bruce Lee's son. After that, I wanted to see the movie, but I was hesitant about it as well. Turns out, I never would be able to watch it back then. It never came on the TV channels I had, I never seemed to find it at the video rental stores or in retail stores. I couldn't see it in theaters because it was rated R. Finally, in May of 2022, I found it on a streaming site (Pluto TV), and I finally watched it. I loved it. I think I would have loved it back then, too. It is good to know that so many people love this movie, and love Brandon Lee's performance in it.

So yes, you should watch The Crow. It may not be the best movie ever made, but Brandon Lee's performance makes it a must see. The Crow may not be comic accurate, but it is still a good adaptation. It is also a very influential movie, with pro wrestler Sting and even The Punisher, and The Dark Knight Rises taking inspiration from it. Watch The Crow, you won't be disappointed. You will wonder why a rising star had to be taken so soon, though.

The man.

Reviewed by David Williams