Though Takashi Miike's name is featured prominently on the box, his contribution is listed as "supervision," which I assume means that he was paid for his name to feature prominently on the box. Plot-wise we seem to be in familiar territory - a politically motivated assassination, revenge, angry young men - but as the viewer soon discovers this movie is about as far from Miike's style as possible: tepid, lifeless, static. Instead of getting on with the business of revenge, the protagonists spend most of their time just sort of...lying around, talking, and being generally dull. Needless to say there is no narrative drive. (Though this did lead to one unintentionally hilarious moment, where the main characters all ate ice cream and rode on roller-coasters, having just killed a man in the previous scene.) Gore fans will be grossly disappointed, too: only one head explosion, and that from a sawed-off shotgun that sounded suspiciously like a pop-gun. The shelves are full of more interesting Japanese action flicks - though beware, as this very movie spawned two sequels. Do yourself a favor and get a flick where Miike was really behind the wheel.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Dead End Run
(2003)
Weird.
28 October 2005
But good weird or bad weird? I'm leaning towards the former, if only because the rote yakuza film I was expecting turned out to be anything but, and I do like surprises.
Avant-garde might be the best way of describing what happens here: three "stories," each concerning two people, a (possible) death, and the relationship formed between those people in that moment. Beyond that, things just get...weird. In one segment, for instance, a recently killed woman animates herself in a very horror movie fashion, and then goes on to do a long, strange, song/dance piece with her killer.
The first and second sequences are closely linked in terms of content and style, whereas the third follows a much more conventional cops-and-crook set up, which seems a bit disappointing - except that it may or may not represent a thematic resolution of the first two. You be the judge.
Reminiscent, vaguely, of David Lynch, though with lower production values. Long stretches of silence, heavy on atmosphere; one of the most stunning shots of steam you'll ever see. Not a great movie by any means, but certainly an interesting one.
Avant-garde might be the best way of describing what happens here: three "stories," each concerning two people, a (possible) death, and the relationship formed between those people in that moment. Beyond that, things just get...weird. In one segment, for instance, a recently killed woman animates herself in a very horror movie fashion, and then goes on to do a long, strange, song/dance piece with her killer.
The first and second sequences are closely linked in terms of content and style, whereas the third follows a much more conventional cops-and-crook set up, which seems a bit disappointing - except that it may or may not represent a thematic resolution of the first two. You be the judge.
Reminiscent, vaguely, of David Lynch, though with lower production values. Long stretches of silence, heavy on atmosphere; one of the most stunning shots of steam you'll ever see. Not a great movie by any means, but certainly an interesting one.
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