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YAKUZA
WEAPON
DVD. Bounty Films
 I
can’t quite decide if Yakuza Weapon actually
represents a significant drop in quality of the recent batch of
self-consciously delirious Japanese splatter movies, or if it’s
simply a case of the overkill finally getting to me. But I found
this to be by far the least engaging and entertaining of the movies
that have encompassed Deadball,
Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver
and others.
It certainly doesn’t lack energy – a superdriven version
of old gang war movies, it stars Tak Sakaguchi as Shozo Iwaki,
the estranged son of a gang boss who returns to Japan after working
as a mercenary in South America to avenge his father’s death
and bring down Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi), who has taken over and
has scorned the chivalrous code of the Yakuza. After an epic battle,
both are left barely alive and are reconstructed, Six
Million Dollar Man (and Machine Girl)
style – with Shozo having a machine gun arm and rocket launcher
leg and Kurawaki become an atomic penised machine!
There is no knocking the madness of the film – there are
moments of sheer insanity and epic violence, which include a naked
girl who is also a deadly weapon. But it starts to feel rather
contrived. It’s notable that most Sushi Typhoon films are
made not for domestic audiences but instead for the US and European
cult crowds, and there are definite signs of the filmmakers going
through the motions – throwing in everything including the
kitchen sink in a rather cynical way to please their pre-conceived
notions of what the audience wants. The result is a film that
is decent eye candy, but doesn’t have the impact of those
earlier films, simply because it seems to be trying a bit too
hard.
Still, if you want non-top action, crass comedy and excess all
areas, Yakuza Weapon delivers. But so do other,
more genuinely lunatic films.
The Blu-ray features plenty of extras – part 1 of Toki’s
Wedding (part 2 being on Deadball),
short films related to the main feature, documentaries and more.
DAVID FLINT
BUY
IT NOW (UK)
BUY
IT NOW (USA)
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