Review of Ichi the Killer (2001) by Arun B — 25 Oct 2008

Dammit. I have to review this now, huh? Well, all right: I liked this. Kind of a lot. And that is probably more of a self-indictment than anything, because I think in order TO like this, it has to strike some sort of ideological impulse.

This scares me, because this is one sick, twisted motherfucker of a movie. It doesn't even really work that well as a story: it's a hodgepodge, with each successive scene more or less forming something coherent, but overall just functioning to emphasize how really, really fucked up the two main characters are.

And you KNOW your characters are fucked up when your sadomasochistic sociopath antagonist marvels about your hero, "Wow, you are truly demented!" (Seriously, this is like a 2+ hour parade of freaky psychosexual perversions.

) So, uh, why did I like this? For one, it's undeniably badass. It has an excess of badass. Second, Takashi Miike (of Audition fame, a film I didn't like nearly as much, but one that presented me with a similar moral dilemma) is a skillful and stylish director.

Third, well ... I think it's probably best not to probe any deeper into this one. If a combination of gruesome torture, sadomasochism, self-mutilation, rape, and an excess of blood and gore is "your thing," this is definitely the movie for you.

I, er, guess it was for me, too. As they say, I did not know that about myself.