ICHI THE KILLER is considered by many to be Takashi Miike's tour-de-force, no mean feat considering the Japanese genre director has in excess of 70 credits to his name. The beginning - a truly perverse scene where the title of the film rises from a pool of the titular character's semen - kicks the film off and conceptualizes its OTT nature, which is holds throughout the relatively lengthy 129 minute duration. The plot itself does not really circulate around Ichi - he is more an addition, and does not hold great relevance until almost half way into the film. When the boss of a Yakuza clan goes missing and is believed dead, his underlings - led by the masochistic Karihara - set out to look for him. Karihara tortures and massacres his way through the Japanese yakuza members until, eventually, his own gang disowns him, forcing Karihara to gather a group of renegades and set out on a private vendetta. Karihara's only obstacle, however, is Ichi - an infantile killer controlled by an ex-cop intent on taking the gangs down.
ICHI THE KILLER is very interesting for a number of reasons and there are certain points in the film that are delightfully fun and others that are quite repulsive. The comedy is black as the Ace of Spades and will only amuse those who have an affinity for stuff like this. Not for the weak of stomach, some of the violence is over the top but it is overrated and not much more severe than some recent Hollywood fare such as HOSTEL and KILL BILL VOLUME 1. Overall a great movie - very enjoyable, with some of the gore set pieces deliriously over the top.
ICHI THE KILLER is very interesting for a number of reasons and there are certain points in the film that are delightfully fun and others that are quite repulsive. The comedy is black as the Ace of Spades and will only amuse those who have an affinity for stuff like this. Not for the weak of stomach, some of the violence is over the top but it is overrated and not much more severe than some recent Hollywood fare such as HOSTEL and KILL BILL VOLUME 1. Overall a great movie - very enjoyable, with some of the gore set pieces deliriously over the top.
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