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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Delicious DVD for ‘Deadly Outlaw’

Following the death of boss Sanada (Yuya Uchida, “Black Rain”), Kunisada (Riki Takeuchi, “Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha”), “born with the blood of wild beasts coursing through his veins … kindred of the wolves … his gaze set upon Hell,” seeks revenge against the gangs who ordered the hit.

Pursued by two hit men (Ry?suke Miki, “Sotohiro” and Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, “Gonin 2”), Kunisada finds himself both the hunter and the hunted as cross and double cross lead to murder and mayhem. The plot of “Deadly Outlaw: Rekka,” newly released on DVD, is typical Japanese Yakuza fair. At least it would be if directed by anyone but Takashi Miike.

“Deadly Outlaw” is the only movie wherein audiences can see Wayne Newton impale someone with a crowbar and drag the squirming body across concrete. All right, all right, it isn’t exactly Wayne Newton. Honestly, though, just try and argue that Riki Takeuchi doesn’t look like Wayne Newton.

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As a regular for the prolific Miike, Takeuchi (“Dead or Alive,” “Fudoh: The Next Generation”) has proven time and again his ability as a dramatic actor. In “Deadly Outlaw,” however, he shows his penchant for overacting. Takeuchi doesn’t just chew the scenery in this film; he feasts on it. Al Pacino would look at this guy and say he’s overdoing it.

Yet Takeuchi’s exaggerated facial expressions and nearly endless sneering for the camera work well, helping to anchor this highly stylized, and fictionalized, true story (the original Japanese title translates into, “Noboru And?’s True Outlaw Stories: Raging Fire”) in a real world filtered through Miike’s fantastical mind.

“It’s the true record of the spirit of the Yakuza we depict in the film,” Miike says in the DVD’s special features interview. “Some of it is distorted, but none of it is completely untrue.”

I would guess most of it is untrue. But it sure is entertaining!

Say what you will about Takashi Miike, but the man knows how to make a montage. After a brief opening narration by Tetsuro Tanba, the film instantly kicks into high gear with a masterful series of shots depicting the assassination that sparks Kunisada’s rage. The scene, set to Joe Yamanaka’s whaling vocals and Uchida’s guitar-driven metal, pulses with energy, oozes creativity and sets a visceral standard the rest of the movie can barely keep up with.

In fact, the film’s musical score, a cross between early Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, is comprised entirely of music by the Flower Travellin Band (formed in the ’70s by Uchida and Yamanaka).

Miike’s creativity shines through in every aspect of the film.

“It was originally written as a drama,” Miike says. “I got the feeling that if I just looked at the script and fleshed it out … it wouldn’t have been a very interesting movie.”

He’s probably right. It’s obvious the original script by Shigenori Takechi didn’t have policeman Asai (Masaru Shiga, “Don O Totta Otoko”) introducing himself and his intentions to a club owner by strapping on a guitar and singing them.

One scene in particular has a man getting shot in the head, his blood splattering over the camera lens. Rather than cut away, the camera remains fixed, allowing us to watch a conversation through the dripping red hue.

Clocking in at a mere 96 minutes, “Deadly Outlaw: Rekka” is chock-full of imaginative camerawork and playful violence.

“I don’t think my films are particularly violent,” Miike says. “I think real life is fraught with a lot more violence.”

When one character, having been shot eight times prior to gripping the throat of his assailant, is shot again in the back and the head before dying, his grip remains tightly locked until his hands are cut off at the wrists (waiting hours to relinquish their grip). I’d have to say Miike is only half right.

Grade: A/B

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