Outrage MOVIE REVIEW
Posted by Thomas Ma on Friday, June 10, 2011
At least a decade ago, Takeshi Kitano takes on yakuza films to a whole new level with much brutal and violent ambiguity as most or Goodfellas or Godfather would make of it. From gorely and exciting death scenes, ratting out/"interrogating" with the lethal use of torture and severed fingers, other rival gangs to backstabbing other member syndicate.
The story mainly concerns a struggle of power amongst the Yakuza today especially in a recession where businesses had been bad as rival gangs tend to their hostess clubs and casinos.
Sekiuchi, the Chairman operates a huge crime syndicate in the Kanto region issues a stern warning to his two lieutenants, Kato and his right-hand man, Ikemoto played by Jun Kunimura who's head of the Ikemoto family. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring Murase into the drug-trafficking business as he is his sworn brother. But Ikemoto thinks that Sekiuchi "lost his confidence" and asks Otomo (played by Kitano himself) as he is in the Sanmo-kai clan which has a rich history of betrayal and everlasting allegiances - to "shake" down Murase played by Renji Ishibashi, ending it to a feud against on another.
The Sanmo-kai clan also try to shake down a South African embassy which is illegally trafficking drugs amongst the populace and Ishihara played by Ryo Kase plans to use that as an advantage with it threatening the ambassador to have a illegal gambling ring in another location.
That black ambassador speaking Japanese is weird... as it all foreign people speaking Japanese is weird, I often cringed at these moments but I was admit that scene with black ambassador and the cute girl was funny. And like Brother, it shows that foreign directors who use western actors to act in their movie, often falls flat in depictions whether or not they are good actors.
The story mainly concerns a struggle of power amongst the Yakuza today especially in a recession where businesses had been bad as rival gangs tend to their hostess clubs and casinos.
Sekiuchi, the Chairman operates a huge crime syndicate in the Kanto region issues a stern warning to his two lieutenants, Kato and his right-hand man, Ikemoto played by Jun Kunimura who's head of the Ikemoto family. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring Murase into the drug-trafficking business as he is his sworn brother. But Ikemoto thinks that Sekiuchi "lost his confidence" and asks Otomo (played by Kitano himself) as he is in the Sanmo-kai clan which has a rich history of betrayal and everlasting allegiances - to "shake" down Murase played by Renji Ishibashi, ending it to a feud against on another.
The Sanmo-kai clan also try to shake down a South African embassy which is illegally trafficking drugs amongst the populace and Ishihara played by Ryo Kase plans to use that as an advantage with it threatening the ambassador to have a illegal gambling ring in another location.
That black ambassador speaking Japanese is weird... as it all foreign people speaking Japanese is weird, I often cringed at these moments but I was admit that scene with black ambassador and the cute girl was funny. And like Brother, it shows that foreign directors who use western actors to act in their movie, often falls flat in depictions whether or not they are good actors.
This is much of the case of Outrage as it establishes of a "you can't trust anyone" type of feel as rival gangs/syndicates are against one another under the chairmen's nose which all started off when one of the rival gang members encountering their rival gang due to a disguised gang member telling him that he will "pay back 1Mill yen to him at his office" but apparently working for the other side began the feud between two leaders.
Takeshi Kitano returns as he plays a captain of a Yakuza crew, Otomo who is pretty much doing all of the "dirty work" for the syndicate trying to put down Murase and his syndicate to "retirement" to witnessing some great death scenes that he created. It does go into the convention of Goodfellas of the creative death scenes without the montage music, instead Kitano utilizes his main trademark of his typical silent approach of death and torture scenes creating a somber and extravagant atmosphere of Sanmo-kai clan doing all the "business". Since the inevitable terror that is Brother, Kitano's trademarks such as his wide deadpan shots of him sitting in a office, starring at Japanese dudes to endlessly torturing/killing people doesn't not mend for his acting but his deliverance is convincing throughout his years.
The cinematography didn't get plague from Kitano's previous Yakuza film but there are moments where it felt distilled and bland trying to convey a great moment. One of that huge example is the ending and how it was clearly shot and portrayed - the scene before was exciting with death scenes and twists all around but Kitano attempts to add a tad bit of dry humour resulting in a unnecessary scene that plays to the Japanese but it left out many questions of betrayal. Though the convincing argument could be that Kitano's executions works well to compensate his cinematography.
Kitano - whether or not he in the film, can make a fantastic grim and dark atmosphere in a Yakuza underground world of full of corruption and it's nice to even see details (established in other mafia films as well), where you could see the fear of innocent people as it turns violent through a well-narrative plot brimmed with richness. Outrage is a reminder that there's still great Yakuza films out there and since how Brother turned out, it's a redeemable choice that even surprises the audience how remarkable it is.
The cinematography didn't get plague from Kitano's previous Yakuza film but there are moments where it felt distilled and bland trying to convey a great moment. One of that huge example is the ending and how it was clearly shot and portrayed - the scene before was exciting with death scenes and twists all around but Kitano attempts to add a tad bit of dry humour resulting in a unnecessary scene that plays to the Japanese but it left out many questions of betrayal. Though the convincing argument could be that Kitano's executions works well to compensate his cinematography.
Kitano - whether or not he in the film, can make a fantastic grim and dark atmosphere in a Yakuza underground world of full of corruption and it's nice to even see details (established in other mafia films as well), where you could see the fear of innocent people as it turns violent through a well-narrative plot brimmed with richness. Outrage is a reminder that there's still great Yakuza films out there and since how Brother turned out, it's a redeemable choice that even surprises the audience how remarkable it is.
