The Five

I watched Gonin about 3 times by now and still I have to say that it is a great movie even if evaluated under different perspectives. Each character is a profound mixture of different shapes. Out of a certain kind of despair every person in the movie develops its unique behaviour which is a result of their lifes they were living. Gonin includes many interesting themes such as homosexuality, childhood, fear and last but not least what life can make out of every person when it crushes upon you. Lately it appeared to me as if the modern hero has to be an introvert ruthless killer without emotion and basically I have to say that those tendencies are found in Gonin as well - Although it is rather an antihero who is presented in Gonin by the actor Takeshi Kitano in the role of the killer taken into service by the Yakuza-boss. The most remarkable scene as far as I'm concerned is the one where the story of the weird man, having lost his job, comes back home after they had stolen the money from the Yakuza. Gonin is a movie with great suspense and, if watched carefully, with profound and emotional content.

The first Takashi Ishii movie I watched was his excellent rape/revenge thriller 'Freezer', but his reputation as an exciting director with a lot of potential mainly rests on his yakuza movies, of which 'Gonin' is perhaps the best known. This is a really impressive movie, very dark, strange and violent. The bare bones of the plot - a group of guys decide to rob some gangsters, the gangsters vow revenge - is one that we have seen many, many times before in American movies, but Ishii manages to put a fresh spin on it, with unusual characters, and consistently original direction. I was fascinated from beginning to end. The ensemble cast are all excellent, but the most memorable performances are by Naoto Takenaka (who later appeared in 'Freezer', and Tsukamoto's astonishing 'Tokyo Fist'), who plays the unhinged salaryman Ogiwara, and cult figure Beat Takeshi, who plays Kyoya, the ruthless eyepatched hitman. Takeshi steals every scene he is in, and plays one of the nastiest characters of his career, only really topped by the psycho he played in his own 'Boiling Point'. 'Gonin' is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys doomed caper films, a genre that has its fair share of classics from 'Bob Le Flambeur' and 'The Killing' to 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'The Usual Suspects'. Add 'Gonin' to the list of those crime classics. Yes, it's that good!

Unlike a lot of stylized American crime cinema, this was an unrepentantly dark film. Filmed with many shots for dark, dank, rainy streets and warehouses, the cinematography reinforces the bleakness of the situation the characters face. As the Japanese economy busts in the mid 1990's, a group of out of luck businessmen rob a crime boss of a large amount of money. The gangsters send a couple of hit men out to even the score with predictable results. (6 out of 10)

After all you only need three words to describe "Gonin" apt:

DARK

YAKUZA

THRILLER

Got it?!? If you want to know more check out my following review: A very explosive film indeed that seems if director Takashi Ishi had crossed Hollywood examples like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Thing to do in Denver when you´re dead", and added some stylish pictures and typical Asian gun violence to the result. "Gonin" is distinguished by a sinister and hopeless atmosphere as well as the great performances of his main actors. Once more, the appearance of the unique Takeshi Kitano makes the whole film!

Maybe not the greatest movie of Japan´s 1990s cinema, but still a great work and better than 90 % of all those Tarantino rip-off gangster flicks which come from America!!!

An extremely fast paced gangster film with a couple of great elements that rescue it from being ordinary. Takashi Ishii's wonderful neon/fluorescent aesthetic runs throughout the film. Everything is either some kind of oddly-colored light source, an actor, or pitch black. The music is moody and the violence is just erratic and savage enough to be fairly unpredictable. Of course, nobody conveys violence quite like Takeshi Kitano who shows up for the last half of the movie as a hitman creepy enough make Christopher Walken uneasy. The homoerotic tension between the heroes is surprisingly touching by the end and there is one psychotic salaryman that makes an awfully big impression, which I won't risk giving away.