The REEL Addict 

By Allan Tong of Holy Grails

Best known as the director of Ichi the Killer, Takashi Miike turns his bloody hand to the American western with this bizarre, bloody and richly uneven action flick.

Miike fan and co-producer Quentin Tarantino delivers a hilarious cameo to deliver the prologue. In a poncho, QT says something about the Heike and Genji clans clashing at the legendary Battle of Dannoura in 1185. From there on, it’s all about a mysterious gunslinger (Hideaki Ito) who crosses these clans as they hunt for hidden treasure in a remote western town (rural Japan subbing for Nevada). Our sharpshooter offers his skills to the clan that will cough up the most dough.

There isn’t much of a story here, and many viewers will probably tune out after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the dialogue is delivered in heavily-accented English which doesn’t help to clarify the drama. What we’re left with is a stylish mix of movie genres that movie scholars will recognize: samurai films, horror, spaghetti westerns that Miike grew up watching. Clint Eastwood’s THE MAN WITH NO NAME and Akira Kurosawa’s samurais cast long shadows over Miike’s story and the director makes no effort to hide them. In fact, Miike is liberal with the violence and unsparing in his deaths, whether with a sword in the skull or an arrow into the chest. In Miike’s amoral universe, everyone gets it bloody in the end.

What barely holds the film together are some dazzling action sequences and superb cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita that turns the hills of Yamagata prefecture into an acid trip of distorted angles and deep, pastel colours. Overalo, Miike fans won’t be disappointed with the two hours of stylish sword- and gun-play. Others will go numb and tired with the relentless action and lose track of what’s going on.

The DVD is handsomely package in a steel case that sports at least three different covers. The “Making of” featurette is a cut above the typical with extensive footage of the cast and crew shooting on location on a fake American set in rural Japan countryside. We see the action sequences stripped of special effects and digital retouching, while the mutual backslapping is kept to a minimum. Six minutes of outtakes are fun to see, but not essential.

Film: 2 REELs out of 5
DVD: 3 REELS out of 5