Review of Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) by Alex S — 23 Nov 2008

If you hear "western movie" and automatically think "acclaimed 'punk' director Takashi Miike," then at last a movie has been made for you. For the rest of us, this is a difficult concept to grasp.

Two feuding clans in 19th century Nevada wage war over land for the supposed gold it has and when a wandering gunslinger shows up one day, both sides try to get him involved in their fight for riches and dominance.

Now comes the Miike part: everyone is Japanese (save for Quentin Tarantino, who plays a pivotal role) and speaks in noticeably forced English (to the point where you may very well need captions turned on), the side-switching sheriff refuses to die (despite being shot dozens of times), one clan leader decides he is Henry V, a crank gatling gun surfaces and shreds its victims, one poor soul has his stomach shot open moments before an arrow from a crossbow flies through the gaping wound to kill another person who just happend to be standing behind him and a bunch of other western conventions are not necessarily trampled as they are refined.

Oh, and it is violent, but not uber-Miike violent as you may expect. As hard as this is to believe, there are some dull spots between action (in a Miike movie!) and it the entire thing just sort of stops near the end.

But even these brieft spots of normalcy don't do much to dissuade the overall enjoyment from this film.