I’m usually a fan of Asian cinema – how their rules are completely out of this world compared to our own. Half of what you will see in Asian cinema seems so innovative, daring and damn right entertaining. But I couldn’t help but think Ichi the Killer was just a mindless, bloody film. Now over the top gore is one of the aspects which makes films like this often thrive, but usually the effects are great and there’s a cool story – both of which are lacking in this feature.
Maybe it just didn’t translate to me very well, but apart from the very basic story – Anzo, a mob boss gets murdered while with a prostitute, and his gang, led by Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) thinks he may still be alive and try and track down what happened to him – it’s just all about sadism and torture. The novelty of this wears off pretty quickly, leaving you to wonder, “what the hell am I watching here.” While Ichi The Killer is a popular Manga series, it just didn’t feel like it worked well into a feature – although you can see why they tried.
The film did have some good performances, with the two leads, Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori – Asano in particular putting in a great performance as the unhinged, sadomasochistic enforcer, Kakihara. But its story (for those unassociated with the Manga series) just didn’t come across very well and it was hard to keep up with it at times as well as forgetting about certain characters along the way.
It’s easy to see why it’s so controversial and renowned among moviegoers world wide and, if you’re a fan of the gore-fests, then Ichi the Killer is a film for you.
Ichi the Killer is a Japanese 2001 film starring Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shin’ya Tsukamoto.
Rating: Simply too over the top at times (4/10).
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