Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

chaos-rampant Seemingly modeled after DEAD OR ALIVE, starting off with a stylistical hodge podge of slow-mo gunfights and paranoid posturing and sizzling in the finale with a fair share of comic-book outrageousness, Rekka succeeds as a movie not for being ultraviolent or particularly graphic (it is neither by Miike standards - although still violent enough to raise a public outcry if it was the work of a mainstream American director), not because yakuza underlings get shot full of holes or Riki Takeuchi scowls like a bulldog as he shoots rocket launchers in the middle of crowded streets (DOA homage anyone?), not for the sound and fury, but for the moments in between. In that respect, Rekka is antithetical to DOA. Whereas DOA dragged through a drab and lifeless middle act to arrive at an exciting conclusion, Rekka sustains itself through moments of quietude and intimacy. In between the outbursts of violence, Miike gives us life as lived. Takeuchi's friend giving him advice on his hair dye. The glances between Takeuchi and his Korean girlfriend. The dingy eateries, night clubs and neon-lit streets - Miike prowling Fukasaku's stampin' grounds half a century after the patriarch of the yakuza film first pictured a different kind of postwar Japan.In the end, Rekka works so well as a movie because Miike restrains the child within him eager to shock and impress and embraces the dramatist who observes the small moments of life. The plot is mostly forgettable, something about the son of a yakuza boss going on a spree to avenge the death of his father while a gangland conspiracy festers behind and a war between the different fractions is about to break out, and Takeuchi in the leading role scowls a little too much for my liking. But overall, this is as good a yakuza flick as I've seen from Miike, violent, funny, occasionally beautiful, imaginatively conceived but hastily executed (as with most Miike films), a thoroughbred Miike flick bearing all his trademarks, one aimed at both the heart and the gut. Not a masterpiece of any kind but a worthwhile movie.

spanky6666 Those of you that are used to American-style movies, don't watch this because you're probably going to be bored. People, like me, who are used to weird Japanese movie-styles will mildly enjoy this movie. The editing is very strange, sometimes you get the impression that your DVD has skipped, the sound is also weird in some places, I can't explain exactly what's wrong with it but watch this film and you'll know what I mean.I recently watched "Imprint". That's an episode in the "Masters Of Horror"-series directed by Takashi Miike. THAT's what I call a strong and violent film. It was awesome!Don't expect too much and you will be entertained. But not as much as you expected. A decent watch. Nothing to keep.

zetes Miike makes another yakuza picture. It's not especially groundbreaking, and it's certainly not one of Miike's deeper films, but it is extremely entertaining. That's mostly because of the main character, Kunisada (Miike regular Riki Takeuchi), who is the most psychopathic character in Japanese movies since Tatsuya Nakadai's evil samurai in Sword of Doom. Kunisada's mob boss, his surrogate father, is ambushed and murdered (though not before nearly strangling his assailant to death; the hit-man only lives because he cuts the dead man's hands off as they clench around his windpipe). Simultaneously, Kunisada, almost as if through a psychic bond, breaks out of jail and starts to go against the rival gang. The only problem is that the boss's death isn't necessarily a bad thing from his own gang's perspective. They and their rival gang try desperately to make a truce. Unfortunately for everyone, except for a small handful of loyal comrades, Kunisada won't stop until everyone around him is dead. The film suffers from Miike's major flaw as a filmmaker: a lack of coherency. There seem to be dozens of named characters, and it becomes very difficult to sort out who everyone is. I had to watch key scenes a second time to piece it all together (though I had most of it straight by the end of the film). But, even if you never quite figure it out, Miike's patented break-neck action sequences are so outrageously done that the film is more than worth watching. Watch out when Kunisada finds a rocket launcher!

cbdunn I just watch an import dvd of this a few hours ago. I don't know what it is about Takashi Miike's direction that is so amusing and interesting. He takes the usual cliche riddled Yakuza story and turns it into something out of the ordinary. If you have seen Dead Or Alive and/or Ichi The Killer, you will know what I am talking about. +++++++++++++SPOILER ALERT+++++++++++++++++SPOILER ALERT++++++++++++++ The film opens with a Yakuza Boss being eliminated by a couple of thugs. We find out that this is the father of cool ass kicker Riki Takeuchi. Now Takeuchi aka Kunisada is out for his own justice against the opposing Yakuza clans. There is double cross after triple cross. The great Sonny Chiba has a cameo as one of the yakuza bosses. The film does drag for about 35 minutes. However, the script is interesting enough as well as the characters themselves. The final twenty minutes have to bee seen to be believed. Takeuchi and his "Connected" brother are a two man army as they obliterate their opponents with grenade launchers. I still don't understand the ending!??? +++++++SPOILER ALERT+++++++++++++++++++SPOILER ALERT++++++++++++++++++ At the end we see the Yakuza bosses talking about the deaths of Kunisada and his "connected" brother. Then ( something out of Star Wars!?) a hologram image of Kunisada's dead father appears and says "Rock N' Roll"!!!!???? HUH? Anyway, this being a Takashi Miike and Riki Takeuchi film, I am a little bit more biased in Miike's sense of film making and I give this an eight out ten. Very cool and violent.