Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

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Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

D Rahul Raj Jsd Takashi is truly A Master and A Father Of The Extreme Genre. He has the guts to do anything that is the most violent, messed up, sickest things, that will make you squirm like a worm. As for me, I do not find it disturbing at all. I love watching movies like this and I live for this stuff, cause we all know : it's only a movie. The reason I love watching extreme stuff is because it's something new that you don't usually see in an ordinary movie and if you look at it in the positive way like I do, it's actually kind of amazing that all of these visions are brought into a film. My favorite character in this movie, who I believe is one of the most talked-about characters in the extreme genre world till this very day, is Kakihara, played by the Incredible Tadanobu Asano, who is simply perfect and powerful in his performance. He plays a sadistic, cruel, yakuza gangster with a sick twisted slit-mouthed smile, searching for his missing boss. If you are an extreme movie lover and you have never seen this remarkable feature, get ready to be blown away by this ultra violent masterpiece from one of my favorite controversial directors of all time!!!

Scott LeBrun It's easy to see why some people would hold Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer" in high regard. It's an ultra violent comic book come to life, with plenty of hip, high style filmmaking from the director and his crew. It's a powerful experience, but a minimalist one: some viewers are likely to be completely turned off, especially considering the fact that the women here don't fare too well. Still, this is effective audacious entertainment from Miike, a man who clearly believes in the adage of "anything goes". The story is anything but predictable, and dwells on such themes as sadism and masochism. There are tons of deliciously over the top gore gags, of both the practical and digital variety.Tadanobu Asano stars as Kakihara, a mobster who's coldly determined to find out who is responsible for the disappearance of his crime boss, Anjo. You see, Kakihara loves inflicting pain, and having it inflicted upon himself, and nobody could abuse him like his boss did. While this is going on, a young man named Ichi (Nao Omori) is going around ridding the world of bullies; Ichi has a particular hatred for this kind of person. At least, that would seem to be the case.This would have to rate as must viewing for any fan of hardcore action *and* horror, and for anybody who likes to watch movies for the violence. This is a very insane and very brutal film. Miike takes a couple of minutes to ease us into the story, in the meantime dazzling us with a plethora of quick imagery. He gets deeply committed performances out of his well chosen cast. Asano and Omori are both excellent, as are Shin'ya Tsukamoto and the lovely Paulyn Sun. It isn't long until characters in this tale begin to be tortured, and some of this torture is hard to watch indeed.By the time this is over, the overall effect is rather wearying.Seven out of 10.

jelly14555 Most people that watch this will group it among other two-bit slasher and shock films, which is a tragedy. Beyond the gratuitous violence (which is more cartoony than horrific) is an examination of the human condition, or more specifically, the extreme hedonist condition. That much is obvious, but the interest lies in the contrast of Ichi and Kakihara not with each other but with Jijii. His motive in all of this, in manipulating Ichi and obsessing with Kakihara, is revealed during the climax: upon finding Kakihara's body his face twists into a sort of butchery of sadness and happiness. It took me years to realize that in truth he does not feel both but neither; he is nothing, and his obsession with the two men that go to such extremes to feel alive results of his own desperate attempts to be; to learn to be. With both men gone he is left without an escape from his suffocating nothingness and hangs himself. In sum we are given a triad: the sadist, the masochist, and the nihilist. Ichi and Kakihara's existences may have seemed hellish and undesirable, the movie proposes, but Jijii's is far worse.

grantss Ultra-violent, and good. The main reason most people will remember this is for the violence and gore. It's pretty weird and extreme, bordering on gratuitous. However, despite all this, it all feels quite realistic and gritty.Plot is reasonably interesting, filled with a multitude of characters whose story you care about. Maybe too many characters - it dilutes your engagement with any one person.Decent performances all round. Tadanobu Asano steals the show as the over-the-top insane and sadistic, yet ice-cool, Kakihara. Nao Omori is maybe too shy and retiring as Ichi - it wore thin after a while. Not a big problem though.