Review of Ichi the Killer (2001) by Guillermo P — 09 Sep 2008

It is interesting that most reviews of "Ichi" dwell so heavily upon the violence depicted in the film. To me this is reminiscent of Tarrantino's work (particularly "Pulp Fiction"). Much of the violence depicted within Miike's "Ichi" is actually implied, meaning that as a director, he will set the scene up and proceed to show you something, only to cleverly cut away, leaving your mind to fill in the details. I had read many reviews before viewing "Ichi the Killer" which proclaimed this film to be exceedingly gory and unnecessarily violent. After viewing the film, I found both positions to be false. The gore is no more than many mainstream American releases, and the violence, although unsettling at some points was on par with what you may expect from the average Kung-Fu movie. If anything, I was surprised by the absurdly comic value of some scenes within the film. Make no mistake, this is a movie made for adults but I found nothing in this film which would necessitate any further caveat.

Technically I would rate this as a beautiful film, with points going for both style and substance. The soundtrack for the film was very good, as was the depiction of the locales. The world depicted in the film consisted of a strange dichotomy of fluorescent lighting contrasted with rich shadows. As far as editing is concerned, the film moved at a pace which is reflected in the frantic nature of the storyline. The plot, a morality play about the use of evil to fight evil, is a bit obtuse for the average American movie goer, but as it has been stated before, if you posses any depth in regards to philosophy you should find this an provocative film.

Overall, "Ichi the Killer" is a very good film. It is unfortunate that many cannot see through the violence and enjoy the film on the level that the director intended.