Ichi

Rating: ***

Review by Jim

Plot: Part of Shinjuku's Anjo gang have been slaughtered at the hands of a man only known as Ichi. The boss is gone and so is a ton of money. Kakihara, second-in-command of the Anjo gang leads a bloody investigation to find Ichi...not for revenge, but to find someone who can hurt him as good as his boss did. But in reality Ichi is a crybaby that has severe mental and emotion problems courtesy of his uncle Jiji's hypnosis...problems which result in him getting sexually aroused whenever blood is spilled or someone is raped. Things only get worse from there.

Review: Ichi the Killer is a movie that you'll probably only hear as quiet murmurs on the internet and for good reason. This movie is based on the totally sick hit manga (called Koroshiya Ichi, or Killer #1, but what's in a title translation?) which from what I heard has been banned in some parts of Japan. So needless to say if you're an American and trying to get your hands on a copy of this, it'll prove to be very difficult.

Your options? Either fork over the money to import the unedited, souped-up U.K. DVD or...you don't watch it at all. I found an edited copy at my local Blockbuster and then saw an uncut version (which was in German...ugh, you just can't win sometimes!). Most of Ichi's impact is lost in this crappy edited version, either you see it in its entirety or you don't see it at all.

Roughly twelve minutes of footage has been cut from the film in the Mediablasters DVD. Maybe an official uncut DVD is on its way, but I wouldn't count on it. Any Ichi the Killer DVD that you can find at your rental store or on the internet will be guaranteed to be a U.K. version...meaning a British-dubbing option. I highly recommend you just stick with Japanese dialogue and english subtitles.

The British-dub is just plain silly and not worth your time other than maybe to laugh at it. I've sat through some pretty corny dubbing before, but this one is a contender for the title of "worst dubbing ever." Of course we have a bunch of nobodies with underwhelming deliveries of dialogue, but add onto that an annoying British accent and you can count me out. Do yourself a favor and just listen to it in Japanese, trust me.

Ichi the Killer isn't the goriest film I've ever seen, but I'd definitely have to nominate it for one of the sickest movies ever made. If you think you've seen everything that shock cinema has to offer, take a look at this. Just how sick is this movie? For starters the title is formed from Ichi's jism which creates an...interesting visual effect to say the least.

Then there was Kakihara's "interrogation" which involved him suspending a guy from the ceiling with hooks and pouring hot oil all over his body. Not to be outdone, Ichi splatters everyone in a few rooms leaving in his wake a trail of semen, blood, guts, and body parts.

Those with weak stomaches should stay away from Ichi the Killer, only seasoned vets of over-the-top violence and despicable acts of cinematic cruelty should seek this movie out. Everybody else just leave the room. While Ichi the Killer could be viewed as an entertaining murder-athon, it's actually much deeper than that.

How so, you ask? Ichi brought up an interesting analogy with what we as the audience find stimulating. You see, Ichi gets a hard-on for violence and rape and we can't wait to see how the next gut-churning scene is going to play out. In a sense we're just as turned on by the violence as he is, so getting self-righteous about all the unlikeable characters and what they're doing would be hypocritical.

However, Ichi is in complete denial about his sick cravings and tries not to acknowledge them. It's an interesting psychological analogy. Maybe Ichi is more representative of the audience than we originally thought he was...or maybe I'm reading too much into the subject, your call.

Then there were some of the other subtexts which I also found interesting but might not have been seen by others. In Ichi's world, pain is pleasure and never the other way around. Just about every character's form of pleasure is derived from the suffering of another. Finally there was Ichi's childhood memories, which turned out to be fake.

Whenever he recalls these false memories, he either cries like an infant or pops a boner thinking about the girl getting raped. Maybe it's a comment on how we tend to view our childhood memories as more traumatic than they really were. Ichi is consumed by these memories and since he holds onto them so closely, he can never be free or become anything other than a vengeful killer.

Once again I'd like to say that some people are going to notice these nice, little touches and some aren't. Some are going to find Ichi the Killer like a creative painting while others are going to see it as one big smearing of red. Everybody's bad and even Ichi who at first seems sympathetic, is really just plain pathetic. Ichi the Killer is just so nihilistic, there's really nothing positive to get out of the movie.

So needless to say if you don't dig downbeat movies, avoid this one and you'll be much better off. As a director, Takashi Miike never failed once here at being creative or entertaining (unlike Dead or Alive) and made Ichi the Killer its own unique beast. Ichi is a super hero movie shattered and completely out of control, and it definitely shows.

The camera slows and speeds up just at the right moments, and the film always carries a visual flare even during some of the slow parts. Which brings me to one of Ichi's faults. While the movie was always engaging, there were parts that had me twiddling my thumbs or wishing they'd pick up the pace.

There's only so much questioning and walking around I can stand. Thankfully the interesting cast of characters made up for those lagging moments. Tadanobu Asano was put on the cover and for good reason, he completely dominated this movie. I simply couldn't get enough of his take on Kakihara. Not only did he look the unique part, he gave a very impressive performance.

It's not that Nao Omori was bad as Ichi, it's just Ichi is such a pathetic character it's tough to describe him as anything other than being pathetic and whiny. All the performances were good, and I can't fault any of the casting.

Despite its love-it-or-hate-it nature and some of its other faults, I enjoyed Ichi the Killer. While some people are going to praise Takeshi Miike's creation and others are going to vomit in disgust, I still say that you should experience Ichi the Killer no matter which camp you fall under. In the end Ichi the Killer is a memorable and sick roller coaster with some deeper levels if you read into them.