• Wide Release
• Director: Takashi Miike
• Written by: Ichiro Ryu
• Running Time: 105 minutes
• Language: Japanese
• MPAA Rating: R - Restricted
• Cast: Riki Takeuchi, Sho Aikawa, Renji Ishibashi, Hitoshi Ozawa, Shingo Tsurumi, Kaoru Sugita

Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie, without too much expectations, and then what you see BLOWS YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN SEAT AND LEAVES YOU WITH YOUR JAW DROPPED IN AWE!!!

DEAD OR ALIVE is just such a flick!
I should have known this was going to be one super hoopy cool ride. All the signs were there. There was a cool trailer for this flick on my WILD ZERO DVD, the director was Takashi Miike of Fudoh fame, this alone should have tipped me off, and of course the tagline:

WARNING: This motion picture contains explicit portrayals of violence; sex; violent sex; sexual violence; clowns and violent scenes of violent excess, which are definitely not suitable for all audiences.

But then the movie started...one ..two.. one, two, three, four....

The coolest 10min or so ever put to film!!!!

I couldn't believe my eyes, everything the tagline said came true and more!!! I was so tempted to start the flick over just to confirm what I had just seen, and of course, relive the coolness of it, but I resisted, plenty of time for that after (and yes, I bet I've watched it 50 times since)...

That's noodles coming out there after a shotgun in the back

The longest line of blow snorted in a single shot ever seen!

And plenty of violent scenes of violent excess!

So on with the story. There is this upstart

and his gang who decide take over the Shinjuku underworld and the drug trade from Taiwan. They wage an awesomely brutal assault against the Chinese and Japanese mafia upsetting the delicate balance.
Detective Jojima, on the other hand,

wants to see this balance preserved. Unfortunately, he has his own problems, with his wife and his ill daughter and her expensive medical bills.
The action slows down a pace for the middle of the movie while the story developes, with our two protagonists conflicting with each other as well as their own problems, but it does hold ones attention, at least more so than any episode of 'Law and Order' ever could. Still there is plenty of sex

and violence

But finally the big climactic showdown comes, one that is so far out and over the top it left me jaw dropped and scratching my head.



This movie had to seen again...and again...

However, if you are going to watch this movie, and you are not a wussy, make sure you get the Unrated, Uncut version. If your version has an R-rating then even still it has been cut to the tune of seven (yes SEVEN minutes of cuts just to get an MPAA R-rating) minutes. What will you miss if you just rent this at Blockbuster instead of buyin it? How about this:
-Much of the sodomy in the opening.
-The fat spraying from the fat man as he is shot.
-Jojima and the "porn guy" walking through his apartment misses the part with the woman and the dog.
-The infamous feces-drowning.
-The fellatio of the Yakuza member is completely cut.
-Much of the restaurant shoot-out.
-The ending chase/battle cuts several violent shots.
And you know you just wouldn't want to miss that good stuff!!!!

Want to see a trailer and get a more in depth perpective on this truly amazing movie? Check out the FILMS UNKNOWN CULT & COOL Webisode:

And if you liked this as much as I did, be sure and keep your eye out for more of Takashi Miike's films. They are almost all as extreme and different as this was...