Yakuza Apocalypse

At moments during this film, fans will marvel at Miike's nonchalant excellence... at others, they will either be scratching their heads wondering WTF they're watching, or taking it at face value and enjoying it for what it is.

But what is this film? For me, it was a satire of the absurdities that go on in Japanese comics and, for the most part, I quite enjoyed it. Come on, there's that kick-arse villain from The Raid, a cool Yakuza lead and Bruce Lee in a frog costume - what's not to enjoy?

I have to admit, I really didn't understand why the kid went after the female Yakuza and not the Priest-type dude, who quickly got relegated to a sub-par, may as well forget he exists villain, but most won't likely understand ANY of this film, so it's difficult to recommend it to the anyone I don't personally know as digging this kind of off-beat weirdness.

If you give it a go, I hope that you laugh as hard as I did at the frog's karate chop, which earned the film and extra star simply because I haven't laughed so hard for a long time.

This really is pretty much as love it/hate it as they come... only, the "love" is always going to be replaced by the lesser word of "enjoy".

Considering the low budget that most Japanese films are made with, this was a textbook over the top Miike film. He's not going to be remaking classics like Koroshiya Ichi or Rainy Dog. I hope he gets back into that mode. But that's how it is when a director becomes a cult hero.

This is really just a movie about the sociology of living in a small coastal Japanese town. There's all the main components for small time organized crime to exist and flourish. Things turnabout, people get killed, things get sorted out.

I'm a real fan of Ninkyo eiga, the chivalrous yakuza films. I believe the heart of this film is Ninkyo. The outside is all otaku jack-off material, and the wrapper is whatever the heck Tarantino did to make Miike quit making awesome films like Ichi the Killer, Rainy Dog, and Deadly Outlaw Rekka, which is everything that this movie just couldn't provide for people who aren't a huge fan of Miike to begin with.

If you don't like this movie, then watch Deadly Outlaw Rekka, Yakuza Demon, and Rainy Dog. These are the movies that are not childish in any way.

This movie is from Takashi Miike so its on the weird side. That said, if you like slow paced Japan style logic and if you like action; this movie delivers in the most pure form. Combining the crazy and absurd.

• " Like Sukiyaki Western, but not a western and way better! "

Story 9/10 Action:8/10 Romance: 7/10 (there is) Acting:10/10 Cinematography:10/10

The story line is insane but also good if you think about it. If you think there are gaps, you need to let go and just take it and move on. There are mysteries in life too and these gaps were put there purposefully. Thats the difference.

Fights are well fought, and the final fight is the essence of fighting: brutal. Its a stupid fight but isn't all fighting meant to be stupid. You can argue, but fights don't decide whose right, just whose left.

Visual aspect is whats most surprising. I watched Full HD. Selected scenes are portrayed in such a cheap way, its almost nostalgic. Reminded me of watching stuff like Power Rangers or Teletubbies. And still it was good.

As usual, Takashi Miike – director of "Audition", "Ichi the Killer" and the "Dead or alive" trilogy – throws things at the wall to see what sticks.

In that case, we have the ninja with the frog costume, the knitting circle/blood farm underground and the always excellent Yayan Ruhian of "The Raid" fame. That's enough for me.

The vampire story pales a bit by comparison, but still keeps the story together. It tells you something about a movie when the yakuza-vampire angle is the grounding part.

Miike melds genres in this yakuza/vampire flick. This is certainly crazy, but I don't think it's one of Miike's better films. Hayato Ichihara stars as a yakuza henchman who sees his boss decapitated in front of him. The boss has a secret: he's a vampire. And before his head dies, he bites Ichihara on the neck and imparts his powers to him. With those powers (and the power to create more vampires), he looks for vengeance for his boss. Simple enough set-up, but there's a ton of other stuff packed into the film. A lot of that stuff is fun - particularly the late-film appearance of a giant green frog monster who kicks all kinds of butt - but none of it is very coherent. It feels like just weird stuff for the sake of weirdness. Still, there's enough here worth seeing that I'd recommend seeing it, particularly if you're a fan of Miike or just cult cinema. Yayan Ruhian, who starred in The Raid and its sequel, also stars (he also briefly appears in The Force Awakens, but at least here he gets to fight).