I have recently been lucky enough to obtain a subtitled copy of this little-seen Takashi Miike film, having owned an unsubtitled copy for some time, but not been able to bring myself to watch it and not be able to follow what was going on. Miike made it back in 97, when he had just enjoyed worldwide success with FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATION (1996), and had still been working extensively in the straight-to-video market, for which he had been churning out exploitation films since 1991. The same year as this film was released, RAINY DOG was also released, again to considerable acclaim. Miike then began churning out films for theatrical release at pretty much the same rate as he had previously been making straight-to-video films, though he still made the odd s.t.v. film, just to keep his hand in so to speak (i.e. SILVER (1998)). In the Western market, straight-to-video tends to equal �crap� in most cases, however this is certainly not the case in Japan where many directors start out in this lucrative market before moving on to bigger things. FULL METAL GOKUDO is particularly interesting for two main reasons: i) it�s an excellent film and gives a lot of hints at the directions Miike�s later, better known work would take, and ii) it represents a milestone in Miike�s career as the film that separates Miike�s internationally acclaimed work from his earlier, less important films (excluding FUDOH of course).

The film opens by introducing us to Hagane, a cleaner working for a yakuza family. He is in awe of the head of the family, Tousa, and wants to become a yakuza. Tousa entrusts him with his wallet and leaves the house, on a mission to wipe out some rival yakuza. This he does (in a very bloody sword attack), and is then imprisoned for seven years (a very light sentence, even by Japan�s standards!) Jump forward: Hagane has fulfilled his ambition, but is proving himself pretty hopeless. He can�t even get things right with the opposite sex, being unable to ejaculate when having sex with Naomi, a prostitute he visits regularly. At a very low ebb, he sits in a park wondering what to do. At this point, a gang of punks attack him, taking Tousa�s precious wallet from him. However, they�re so disgusted at his lack of money that they throw it into a fountain, from which Hagane retrieves it. All this is calmly observed by one of his fellow yakuza. Later, he learns that Tousa is to be released from prison. Hagane escorts Tousa to his base, only for the pair of them to be ambushed and mowed down in a hail of bullets.

Hagane later awakens in a strange room, empty except for a bath full of body parts. He wanders out into the night, meets up with the punks who attacked him previously and kicks their asses! However, it then starts to rain and he short circuits before being picked up by the guy who has saved his brain and given him super human powers. This guy is called Hitagu Genpaku, and describes himself as a �self-proclaimed genius scientist�! He finishes his work on Hagane, who learns that most of his physical body is Tousa�s, but the brain and head is his. He also learns that he now has Tousa�s penis, which is apparently huge (we see this several times, but always digitised out). His sustenance is now metal (we see him eating chains and bullets) and he has Tousa�s yakuza tattoo on his back (the damaged parts of this are re-done by the scientist). Apart from being super-humanly strong, he also has one eye capable of infra-red sight and the other capable of x-ray vision. When he is complete he sets out to gain his revenge on the men who killed him (�him� in this case being both Hagane and Tousa), meeting up with Tousa�s ex-girlfriend along the way�

That�s basically all there is to FULL METAL GOKUDO�s storyline � obviously the film owes heavy debts to Paul Verhoeven�s ROBOCOP (1987) and James Cameron�s THE TERMINATOR (1984), and also happily rips off various other films too (most noticeably the Hong-Kong film ROBOTRIX (Jamie Luk, 1991, starring Amy Yip) and Shinya Tsukamoto�s TETSUO films (1989/92)). However, there is so much more to this film that it�s hard to know where to start!

First off, it�s extremely gory, even by Miike�s standards. The fights in the film primarily take the style of chambara films, and gunplay is relegated to fleeting appearances. Limbs are lopped off, heads chopped off, bodies cut in two, etc. One cannot help but think of the LONE WOLF & CUB series of films when watching this type of action, and FULL METAL GOKUDO is one film that manages to compare quite favourably to those seminal chambara masterpieces.

Secondly, there is a lot of (very) black humour in evidence here. Most of Miike�s work has a fair share of this, but here it�s a little sillier than usual, but very funny in places. The mad scientist is a typically bizarre character, dressed in a full leather bodysuit, unzipped to the waist, and a yellow cape. When Hagane tells him that he�s going to seek revenge on the men who murdered him, the prof exclaims �But you�re going to be the champion of justice, remember! You�re a hero!� Later, he is seen losing his temper with a female body that he is working on � �What�s with these fucking legs!� he shouts, �The Peach Ranger has to be cute!�, before jiggling the breasts in a frenzy. Also, although most of the effects in the film are excellent, there is some (intentionally) very silly use of speeded up film. The film often combines humour with violence, as in the great scene in which Hagane lops off a yakuza�s head then drop-kicks it out of the window. We follow it through the sky before it crashes into a room in which a second group of yakuza nervously follow proceedings back in the first room over an open phone line. Ren Osugi also makes a sometimes very funny appearance as a one-armed yakuza.

Thirdly, there are some very nasty moments that could only appear in a Miike film. Particularly noteworthy is a scene involving Tousa�s ex girlfriend. She meets Hagane when he�s feeling very down; having killed most of the yakuza, he has been living as a hermit in a shack on the beach. She appears one day to tend Tousa�s grave, which happens to be nearby to the hut. The only slow part of the film ensues, as Hagane wrestles with his conscience over whether to tell her about what has happened to Tousa and himself, and whether to give in to his desires and have sex with her. Eventually he reveals things to her and she leaves, unable to cope with the reminders of Tousa. Unfortunately she then sets out to get revenge on the remaining yakuza herself. This of course fails miserably and she is captured. What follows is no doubt easily imagined by viewers familiar with Miike�s work, but is still very shocking, especially given the rest of the film�s tone. It�s hard to imagine any other director taking things quite as far as Miike does, and as usual this means that this film isn�t suitable for those easily offended by such things.

There are many hints at Miike�s later work here, though the film probably feels closest in spirit and style to FUDOH, probably due to the close proximity of the two films in Miike�s filmography. ICHI THE KILLER (2001) is probably the other film I was reminded of most often, from the black humour to the style of the fights and violence, to the treatment of women, right down to the cyborg�s armour suit, which was very reminiscent of Ichi�s body armour. One scene in particular reminded me of the tone of ICHI very strongly � Hagane advances towards some yakuza in a weird loping, sideways canter. This is bizarre, surreal and slightly un-nerving all at once, which is exactly how I felt during some scenes in ICHI. The film also has a true Miike-style jaw-dropper ending that is guaranteed to make you go "huh?!"

The film was written by Itaru Era, who has since gone on to write several more of Miike�s films and features some interesting actors, including Koji Tsukamoto (Shinya�s brother, co-star of TOKYO FIST (1995)), the Iron Man himself, Tomoro Taguchi, as well as the afore-mentioned Ren Osugi. Highly recommended if you get the chance to see it; a widescreen Japanese DVD (cat no TKBU-5034) is available, but is not subtitled. No subtitled release has yet become officially available.