Review VIII
Ichi the Killer (2001)
If you are an avid horror movie fan, you've most definitely heard of Miike Takashi. While he's done family-friendly films like Ninja Kids!!! (Nintama Rantarô in Japanese) and Yatterman (Japanese title being Yattâman), Miike Takashi is known for his controversial horror films, most notably his film adaptation of Koroshiya 1, or, as it's known in English, Ichi the Killer.
The film revolves around Kakihara (portrayed by Asano Tadanobu), a sadomasochist yakuza, and his search for his crime boss, Anjo. While Anjo is brutally murdered at the beginning of the film, Kakihara believes him to be alive as Jijii (Tsukamoto Shin'ya) tells him he is, though he knows full well Anjo is dead. Enter Ichi (Ōmori Nao), a homicidal yet very confused man, who is ordered to kill Kakihara and his yakuza gang, and you end up with a violent-infused gore fest.
The film was gory, that's for sure. While it doesn't meet the standards of Dead Alive, aka Braindead, I found myself flinching a lot more. The gore was not zombie gore - it was humans-being-stabbed-and-sliced-in-half gore which means you could imagine yourself in the shoes of the character being tortured. And trust me, there is a lot of torturing going on. The film deals with sadomasochism so it's only expected. Nonetheless, while it did make me flinch, this film was still made eleven years ago, so the effects can be kind of outdated. For example, and this isn't really a spoiler since it only emphasises Ichi's homicidal capabilities, when Ichi kills a random pimp who is beating up on a prostitute he takes a fancy to, he slices him in half. While the zoom up on the face was alright, you can tell the movie isn't very recent because of the effects. I was also disappointed since it lacked in the blood department (I'm really nitpicking now) in that scene, but at least when the carotid artery and jugular vein were sliced, it was messy. The plot isn't really anything amazing; you really only follow Kakihara around, watching him crave finding Ichi to finally punish him as Anjo used to, and follow Ichi around as he's fed lies from Jijii and throwing people's guts around. As I'm sure you've guessed, the reason you'd watch this film is for the gore. I never read the manga, so I'm not sure if the plot of the film follows the manga exactly (I know Anjo is killed in the manga right at the beginning), but I'm assuming it's similar to the film. While some elements of the plot are interesting, others are left unexplained, and it's left a bit too obscure for my liking.
I'd give the film a six point eight on ten. The plot was weak, and it focused a bit too much on the aspect of sadomasochism to keep the story going. Still, while the gore and special effects were cheesy at times, they could at least give you a good laugh, or make you flinch at how gross it was. Worth a look if you like horror/gore films.
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