Takashi Miike isn't quite as prolific as he used to be at his height
around fifteen years ago. Now, he works to a casual two or three films a year,
rather than his exhausting six or seven on the early Naughties. But, has the
drop in quantity resulted in a upturn in quality?
Miike films have always been up and down in terms of quality, switching
from bigger budget films, like 'Audition' and 'Ichi the Killer' to low-rent,
low quality dross, such as 'Silver' or 'Family'. But this was always Miike's
charm. The switching of budget, writers, cast, styles and genres resulted in a
lot of experimenting, with ideas from the bad benefiting the good.
Now established and of international renown, his films come with
anticipation and expectation - maybe to his films' detriment. He could make a
bad film before, and no one would realise. Now if he does we'll all hear about
it. Recent films, such as '13 Assassins', 'For Love's Sake, 'Hara-kiri' and 'Lessons
of Evil' show a more established director, trusted with bigger budgets and
international film festival screenings. And while these have their moments, they
are not quite as fun and inventive as his earlier works.
'Yakuza Apocalypse' is his latest film to come with a hint of
anticipation as to what might be. With his need to cover each and every genre,
we now see him take on the vampire film, set among the yakuza. Kamiura is a
local yakuza boss, with the respect of those around him. But he has a secret:
he's a yakuza vampire, if there is such a thing. This, however, attracts some
unwanted attention, and he is destroyed by his rivals. Though before his
demise, he bites his loyal lieutenant, Kageyama, transferring his powers unto
him. Seen as a Matrix-style 'The One' , he sets about getting revenge, though
by this point, ordinary civilians have turned into yakuza vampires themselves,
creating a world of chaos where the old, everyday yakuza have no place.
Being a vampire film, this is of course very silly, with moments that
make me largely avoid ever watching films of this ilk, actors tested in their
ability to give the most stupid of performances with a straight face. This does
add a sense of fun to the film and comparisons to his Nineties films 'Fudoh'
and 'Full metal Yakuza' can be made, taking a more zany and comic-book approach
to the yakuza genre. Indeed, 'Yakuza Apocalypse' very much feels like it could
have been a manga, and I'm surprised one hasn't yet been made - to the best of
my knowledge, anyway.
However, the aforementioned films had a bit more edge to them than
'Yakuza Apocalypse'. There's something about the handheld camerawork and straight-to-video
feel of these films that suits the more outlandish style, rather than the big
sets and production values of his more recent films. The kappa and costumed
characters are fun, but feel a bit weird for the sake of being weird, perhaps
over-used to the point where it can become a bit farcical. The final fight
scene between Kageyama and 'The Raid 2's' Yayan Ruhian is unnecessarily
overdrawn, with little real action and suits as a disappointing end, a far cry
from the unexpected and instant conclusion of 'Dead or Alive'.
But if you take away any serious attempts at analysis, this is a fun
film, with a little bit of everything thrown in. The cast is full of known
people, with Hayato Ichihara looking suitably half alive as Kageyama throughout
and appearing-everywhere-now Kiyohiko Shibukawa expressing his full range of
bemused faces.
At his best, Miike's films are easily watchable over and over. His more
recent films, while enjoyable on first viewing, are less repeatable, and so it
will remain to be seen whether 'Yakuza Apocalypse' sits nicely alongside his
extensive catalogue of experiments that, while varying in quality, always create
curiosity.
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