FULL METAL YAKUZA Movie- 2 stars DVD- 3 1/2 stars Reviewer - Rod Barnett

FULL METAL YAKUZA tells the story of Kensuke Hagane (Tsuyoshi Ujiki), a
low-level Yakuza member who shows little promise of being an effective
enforcer. He idolizes Tosa, an older more seasoned Yakuza and when his
idol is jailed for the katana murder of a rival gang boss Ken strives to
live up to his potential. Unfortunately Ken doesn't seem to have the
qualities that would make a good criminal and he bids his time until Tosa
is released from prison. But seven years later when Tosa leaves jail his
own gang turns on him and guns him down catching the worshipful Ken in
the crossfire. Assuming he has been killed Ken is shocked to wake up in a
gothic mansion with what appears to be a metallic body. He stumbles out
into the night to try to discover what has happened but rain shorts out
his new body. He is found and recovered by his mysterious benefactor
Genpaku Hiragi. Hiragi is a truly mad scientist who has dreamed of
crediting a Robo-Man! and has finally succeeded with Ken. Using Ken's
head and what was left of Tosa's body he has fashioned this cybernetic
creation. He trains Ken in how to use his new body as well to defend
himself. As you might expect our metallic hero then sets out for revenge
on his old Yakuza friends. Most crime films would end with this bloody
ballet of vengeance but this one goes on for another 40 minutes as Ken
meets Tosa, a girlfriend, develops a relationship with her and comes to
love her. Of course, this sets up her kidnapping by the surviving members
of the gang and a final violent showdown.

The prolific Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike best known in the States
for AUDITION and ICHI THE KILLER directed this film. I've seen AUDITION
and was impressed by it's slow build and horrific climax but this is the
first of Miike's many direct-to-video films I've viewed. FULL METAL YAKUZA
can't seem to decide if it's going to be a serious sci-fi/crime story, ROBOCOP
rip-off, or a jokey camp-fest. It swings unpredictably between these extremes
so often in its first hour that I was exasperated and ready for the film to end.
Maybe it's a cultural thing as I don't usually mind a film whipsawing me
around but FULL METAL YAKUZA just seemed to throw just about anything
up on the screen for effect.

The special effects are sub-par as well with lightening and other
optical effects mostly looking as if they were crudely painted on the
image. As I said, maybe it's a cultural thing but I don't think so since
this is not indicative of what I've seen of Miike's other work. I think
the filmmakers had a half-formed idea and just cobbled things
together giving the finished product a malformed, unfocused feel.

FULL METAL YAKUZA has been given the deluxe treatment on DVD by Arts
Magic. Their disc is a good presentation of the movie but the image shows
the film's low budget off to poor effect with lots of digital smearing
and moiré lines. The image is letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is anamorphically
enhanced. The film is presented in the original Japanese with optional
white English subtitles which I found to be good with only a couple of
questionable word choices. It looks as if the movie may have been shot on
video or something less than good film stock but those questions are left
unanswered by the extras included on the DVD. What is on the DVD are
three video interviews with director Miike, film editor Yasushi Shimamura
and lead actor Tsuyoshi Ujiki. Each of these interviews is interesting
and informative answering some of my questions about the relative poverty
of the production. Also, the film has an optional audio commentary track
by Asian film expert Tom Mes. This track is very good as well and gives a
lot of information about Miike's career and some of this movie's
inspirations even though Mes' delivery is sometimes a little monotone.
The disc also has Filmographies and biographies of the principals as well
as a few trailers for other Arts Magic DVD's.

Dr Gangrene's comments:
For those fans of Robocop and Japanese science fiction films this film could be right up your alley. It's available from Artsmagic dvd at http://www.artsmagicdvd.com

Artsmagic is set to release a raft of movies in the States, including a number of films by Takashi Miike that have never been released outside Japan. Check out their website for all the details and titles.