Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen

What happened with the action movies today? Look here, you have it all. It is fast. It is fun. It has a memorable tune to accompany the action. It has remarkable characters, who by no means are deep or Shakespere type guys, they are just cool. It has one-liners. It has a smoking-hot looking girl. A little bit of nudity here and there. Couple of funny lines can be heard. Very colorful villain and his goons. It has that feeling of adventure. It is a quintessential action movie. For that reason it is so predictable and clichéd, but here, is it really a downfall? Can we get more of these, please? I am sick of a bloody messes and greedy mood in todays action movies. Can you take it a little easier, Kitano? Or is it a thing of the past, meaning that will never get this style back again? Yes, sure. Not recommended at all......

It shows lives of gangs who had retired. The theme was serious. It looks hard for conventional gangs to live in the current society because their rule isn't gonna fly anymore. The more clear the society becomes, the more unnecessary the dirty force and the connections are. It reminded me the beginning of 'God father.' If scams try to target seniors of retired gangs, they must be beat up by gangs in return! It showed us funnily that an eye for an eye. But, on the other hand I found the lost things like the duties and humanity. A clean society that there're no gray area created many evil spilits don't have their own philosophies and reasons.

I am big fan of Takeshi Kitano for years, even if he is directing or acting, "Ryuzo and Seven Henchmen" is his latest offering as director, and of course i wanted to see the newest movie of my favorite Japanese director. After two fantastic Yakuza movies "Outrage" and "Beyond Outrage", Takeshi is back to Comedy style, we must know that Takeshi is originally a comedian so it is nothing strange. I love his comedies, "Getting Any" was really funny movie to me, so really wanted to see this one. "Ryuzo and Seven Henchmen" have some funny and nice moments whitout a doubt, Tatsuya Fuji as main protagonist Ryuzo was the nicest moment in whole movie, he is just incredible in his role, even in some moments his acting remind me on legendary Toshiro Mifune, other Ryuzo henchmens were also okay but not on the level of acting like Tatsuya Fuji. There were some really funny moments in this movie, but generally this is the one of the weakest Takeshi's movies, but if you are a fan of his cinema and Japanese cinema in general, i suggest to watch this one.

My grade: 5.5/10

It's a poorly edited film with lots of loose ends and plots that go nowhere. A hit-man character would be better off cut, if not for the scene. There is some more hardcore blackly comedy taste with bit-off limbs and a decapitation where the man's body is inside the box.

It's the popular view to think of the yakuza itself as being cheap looking. I disagree. It's pretty lifelike for an 80's yakuza stuff effect and a lot more enjoyable to me than the video game styled yakuza in 'Sonachine'.

It is too rude!

But I like Yasuda the yakuza more than Takeshi.

Honestly, it feels like 2/3rd of the other reviews did not even see the movie. Nudity? There was none besides the old men baring their chests. Smoking hot girl? There's barely any women in the film. You got the fat wife of the main characters son for 10 minutes total, a couple hostesses in 2 scenes and another old hostess friend of the main character who gets the undress the male main character, but stays fully dressed herself. Violence towards normal people? They barely even attack anyone, being elderly versions of the old honorable yakuza cliché. The only fights are against cartoonishly evil crooks that steal from the elderly. Its not even an action movie. There's a few action scenes, but they mostly exists to poke fun at the old guys or are flashbacks that serve as references to older yakuza flicks. Its just a fun getting the gang back together film like the Korean film 'Sunny' or the American 'Stand Up Guys' but not bad like Stand Up Guys was. It won't change anyone's world but it was consistently funny and would satisfy any lover of yakuza films. For anyone who cares, there's no real gore, it sticks mostly to comedic violence.