Takashi Miike is one of my favorite directors. Being the lord of gore is one of the main reason why I like him and Ichi the Killer is absolutely the epitome symphony of violence Miike ever made. I am into bloody productions: mutilation, torturing, splatter-gore, cutting body parts to pieces, heads rolling and everything that belongs to the category; you can call me eccentric or a psycho but those are my personal references and a part of my real life job. However, the reason why I liked Ichi the Killer and many of Miike’s films is not the gore for the sake of gore, it’s true that I like that element but it’s not enough to make me like a film, there has to be a message and a meaning behind it all.
Ichi the Killer has a dark graphic storyline; it tells the story of Ichi, a psycho killer who split people to halves and sometimes to little pieces through razors in his shoes and Kagihara, the masochist who’s looking for the killer of his gang’s leader who happens to be Ichi. That’s the general plot but there’s much more behind the events and the characters’ development, the hidden meanings and the final reveal of the characters’ relationships was pretty amazing and let’s not forget the mind-boggling ending that keeps your imagination wild. None of this would have been done without the fantastic performances of the charismatic brilliant actor Asano Tadanobu and Omori Nao, who had to play a childish character at one second and a sadist killer at the next moment.
Now let’s talk about violence, the main lead in this film; it was creative and pretty well-made sadist type of violence. People call Miike a “cult” or a “sadist” director and he probably is, the way he shot the explicit gore scenes was truly brilliant with all of those cutting and blood’s splashing everywhere. It makes this film one of the kind if we consider how far he went with bloody scenes, I haven’t seen that anywhere before. What also makes the violence special is that it was entertaining, I found myself laughing at few scenes and no, it’s not because of my sick personality; there were some amazing dark humor moments inserted in this film because Miike can mix gore and comedy so well (think Dead or Alive trilogy).
Watch if:
-You like gory films with a meaningful storyline.
-You like Takashi Miike’s way of making films because this is probably his best work.
-You like bizarre Japanese productions.
Do not watch if:
-This is absolutely NOT for the faint of heart.
-You dislike anything that has to do with gore or you can only handle a little amount of it.
-You dislike over-the-top violence.
-You’re easily disturbed or grossed.
Ichi the Killer is the highest level of cinematically shot violence. It’s without doubt not for everyone, it can be a hit or a miss, some would find it a masterpiece and others would run away from the first few scenes. It’s bloody as hell and I completely loved it.
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This is a great movie if you get in that weird mood where you want to watch one of those strange Japanese horror/gore movies.
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Now this movie is probably well known for the fact is it gory. It is shameless in its cult tropes, including sexual assault, beatings, torture and gory deaths. In fact, when it was first debuted at a film festival, the audience received barf bags with the movie's logo on it as a gimmick. I have no doubts some of those bags were actually used.
Ichi the Killer is dark and twisted. The torture scenes do not leave anything to the imagination in its full graphic imagery. Miike truly outdid himself in this bloody twisted plunge into the yakuza.
But strangely enough, it actually bored me a little bit. When coming into this, if you've seen the trailer for the film, you've pretty much seen all the most horrifying contents of this film - and if you're a gore horror fan this is probably the only reason why you're watching this film. It was disappointing, to a small degree, that the parts of the film that either intrigued audiences to watching or horrified them were already broadcast throughout this film leaving only two or three scenes to truly shock the audience if they've seen the trailer.
That being said, however, the story is intriguing. Although it seems mundane especially at first, the plot line is twisting and surprising at times. I found it enjoyable to go through the story as things began to twist out of proportion, as they didn't make sense before they linked up in unbelievable ways.
Everything about it really keeps the audience captive throughout the movie and I find that's something hard to do in a movie like this. Gore films are usually splatter-horror, disgusting images on the screen to shock the viewer and keep their stomachs twisting with little thought to plot or the plot suffering as an afterthought. Many plot-driven horror films also end up story driven, without much gore or shock-horror within them to make the audience's stomach churn, but Miike truly got the best of both of these aspects into one film.
However, I feel like the storyline became rushed at the end of the movie coming up to the final fight scene and I feel like perhaps they cut some of the script out for timing issues which were a shame. There could have been more to it and things didn't feel quite right when it finally ended. There were also a few loopholes that didn't get closed in the final scenes before the credits which made me hope for a sequel, yet I don't think any plans have been thought up or ever will be.
The acting in this was something special, in my opinion. It must have been hard for the actors to go through these gory scenes without flinching, cringing and such, even with it not being its full content within filming. I can't think how many takes some of the scenes must have taken. Each character is well developed, is completely three dimensional.
Asano Tadanobu and Omori Nao in their respective roles were truly amazing. Each of their characters felt completely real - like these were people who could be living down the street to you or you might pass when walking down to the shops. They truly brought the characters to life in all their sick ways and it was stunning to see.
Overall, I think this is a movie you only really watch once. This movie is a lot for most people and I don't think many people could stomach the thought of watching it again. However, I think this does have a certain rewatch value to it for the gore/slasher horror fans that come across it. It has a certain charm of disgust that chills the soul and sends goosebumps down the spine. It's deliciously wicked in disgusting ways and Miike definitely made a mark in the slasher-horror genre with this. I don't think another movie could ever stand up to the legend this classic has created.
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This review may contain spoilers
This could’ve been yet another quasi-snuff film, instead we get a cult classic
Right, we don’t need yet another key observation regarding the graphic violence, both phiscially and sexually, in the film. But what does need to be brought to attention and be a bigger talking point is how hilarious Ichi The Killer is at times. I’m serious as well. The film blends the tone differently depending on where in the film but in the final scenes, the climax of the film has some brilliant comedic moments. Kaneko’s son booting Ichi on the floor was a legitimate laugh out loud moment. And the actual stand-off between Ichi and Kakihara is very cartoonish. Yet another big laughing moment was Kakihara trying to bring an injured Ichi to his feet, only for Ichi to collapse under the pain once more, much to his disappointment. It’s purposely lacklustre rather than being a big dramatic fight to the death; it’s bold and admirable in that way. Enough about Kakihara and Ichi, what about Jijii’s muscular body? I’m dead.Was this review helpful to you?
