Kensuke Hagane (Tsuyoshi Ujiki) is a beginner in the Yakuza world , he is very fearful and nobody respect him. After the prison release of Tosa (Takeshi Caesar), who is a Yakuza boss and the idol of Hagane, both are killed as a result of a gang problem with Tosa. Both corpses ends in the hands of mad scientific who creates a kind of robot with parts of both corpses. Now Hagane is part machine with some parts of Tosa, he is bullet proof and has an incredible strength. When he escapes from the scientific, he is looking out for revenge with the heart of his boss and idol, literally.
This is the main plot of this unique direct-to-video film and that is full with elements that only a Miike film can have. The storyline is pretty simple and very common in a Yakuza or Mafia film because is just a revenge story but "Full Metal Yakuza" is not a common Yakuza film. Since the main character, Hagane, who is not the usual Yakuza/gangster with the bad-ass attitude, is more like a common guy and he is always afraid. And the sci-fi elements, with all the influence of Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, (Miike said that Verhoeven is one of his biggest influences) are really bizarre and sometimes funny. So the film is like the main character who is part Hagane, part Tosa and part machine; the film is part sci-fi, part Yakuza, part comedy and sometimes is really absurd. And creates bizarre situations like Tosa's girl is in love with Hagane but what she don't know is that Hagane has parts of Tosa, including his penis. Or Hagane eating metal with milk, really bizarre situations like in every other film of Miike.
So i really love this film because is unique and for be released direct-to-video with a very low budget it has a very good response, in part because of the cult success of Miike in the West. But anyway, the direct-to-video industry of Japan don't have the same bad reputation of it Western counterpart. And according to the interview with Miike in the DVD, he likes to make films in this industry due to the creative freedom and the less stringent censorship.
Conclusion: this film is great and unique, not Miike's best but anyway this film works because of it originality. And is hard that you know about this film before watching "Audition" or "Ichi the Killer", so if you watch this film, like in my case,is because you are into Miike so you must know his bizarre style. Takashi Miike is for me the kind of director that when you see a DVD with his name you don't care about anything else, you just want to see more of his films so i really recommend this film to anyone who likes Miike and also to anyone who want to know about him because this is a great start into his work. 9 out of 10
DVD: i have the Region 1 DVD that i think is the only available in the American continent. Is really good, with interviews with the cast and with the crew and anyway is the unique form for watch this film. Also i hope that soon more films of Miike can be release in Mexico and of course with Spanish subtitles.
This is the main plot of this unique direct-to-video film and that is full with elements that only a Miike film can have. The storyline is pretty simple and very common in a Yakuza or Mafia film because is just a revenge story but "Full Metal Yakuza" is not a common Yakuza film. Since the main character, Hagane, who is not the usual Yakuza/gangster with the bad-ass attitude, is more like a common guy and he is always afraid. And the sci-fi elements, with all the influence of Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, (Miike said that Verhoeven is one of his biggest influences) are really bizarre and sometimes funny. So the film is like the main character who is part Hagane, part Tosa and part machine; the film is part sci-fi, part Yakuza, part comedy and sometimes is really absurd. And creates bizarre situations like Tosa's girl is in love with Hagane but what she don't know is that Hagane has parts of Tosa, including his penis. Or Hagane eating metal with milk, really bizarre situations like in every other film of Miike.
So i really love this film because is unique and for be released direct-to-video with a very low budget it has a very good response, in part because of the cult success of Miike in the West. But anyway, the direct-to-video industry of Japan don't have the same bad reputation of it Western counterpart. And according to the interview with Miike in the DVD, he likes to make films in this industry due to the creative freedom and the less stringent censorship.
Conclusion: this film is great and unique, not Miike's best but anyway this film works because of it originality. And is hard that you know about this film before watching "Audition" or "Ichi the Killer", so if you watch this film, like in my case,is because you are into Miike so you must know his bizarre style. Takashi Miike is for me the kind of director that when you see a DVD with his name you don't care about anything else, you just want to see more of his films so i really recommend this film to anyone who likes Miike and also to anyone who want to know about him because this is a great start into his work. 9 out of 10
DVD: i have the Region 1 DVD that i think is the only available in the American continent. Is really good, with interviews with the cast and with the crew and anyway is the unique form for watch this film. Also i hope that soon more films of Miike can be release in Mexico and of course with Spanish subtitles.