Review of Ichi the Killer (2001) by Alonso A — 08 Oct 2016

Ichi The Killer is a seriously weird movie. It has something of a serious storyline, concerning a brutal henchman searching for the kidnapped employer to which he is fiercely loyal. But then we have bizarre editing, sadomasochism, gallons of artificial blood, a character who switches between languages for no discernible reason and an eponymous murderer who spends most of the film hiding under a blanket, playing video games and whimpering.

Some of it is admittedly pretty hilarious, and I think the movie wanted to be very tongue-in-cheek, but it goes on for far too long, and the closer it gets to the end the slower it progressively gets.

By the times it's over it's nearly impossible to still care about what is going on. The Japanese have produced plenty of gory but somewhat amusing movies, and among them, Ichi doesn't do much to stand out.