Review of Tokyo Gore Police (2008) by Jesse O — 16 Jun 2009

Well this movie certainly lives up to its name. This might possibly be one of the most over the top movies I've seen in years. And that includes both Ichi The Killer and Brain Dead (or Dead Alive, your choice).

My theory on over the top is that if it serves a purpose then it's fine by me. It served a purpose in Ichi The Killer (though it's a shallow purpose at that) and it also served a purpose in Brain Dead.

So there's a method to the madness of both those movies, at least in my opinion. This movie reminds me of the last Rambo movie, where the over the top sort of overshadows everything else that the movie was trying to do.

The problem with Rambo was that there WAS absolutely no purpose for that movie to be as over-the-top as it was, it sort of turned into a joke by the end. The purpose of this movie IS to be over-the-top as possible.

So that's why I'm being as forgiving with this film as I am. This movie is just meant for the gorehounds. If you're looking for a horror movie with an actual story and a reason for all the violence.

Well this is the wrong movie for you. Go watch Audition since there's an actual purpose for everything that goes on in that movie. And both TGP and Audition star Eihi Shiina ironically enough. She seems to like working with these sick and perverted filmmakers (Takashi Miike, I love you and all.

..but some of your movies are quite perverted...not that I mind of course). I can't say whether Yoshihiro Nishimura is a pervert too, since this is his first film I've seen. But it looks to me like this dude has some repressed memories considering some of the scenes that this movie has (granted he was one of 3 writers who wrote this movie, so I can't place "blame" only on him).

I have to say though that the fake tv ads were probably the best part of the movie. They were absolutely hilarious in a fucked up and twisted kind of way. The rest of the movie was still really funny and not because there were jokes but because of how the movie keeps topping itself with each scene and how they find a new way to disgust you.

And some scenes really made me go "what the fuck?!?!?!?!" and it's not often movies do that to me, so thumbs up for that. I'm sure some people will absolutely hate this movie because of the kind of movie that it is and I can't say that I blame them to be honest.

It's not a great movie by any means, even by gore-movie standards. The gore looks kinda corny and cheap, which I guess was the purpose but perhaps with a little higher budget, the gore might've looked better and it would've made the movie not look as corny as it did.

My only REAL major complaint with this movie was that it was way too long. WAY too long for a movie of this genre. There was that scene when one of the cops went to the S&M club (or something) and that scene, while very funny, went on for WAAAY too long and it made the movie drag.

Some other scenes here and there could've been shortened or just cut and the movie's pace would've been much better. That's probably my only real complaint for this movie as I thought this was a solid, entertaining gore movie.

Keep in mind though, this movie is not for everybody. Some of you will hate and some of you will think it's pure genius. So tread carefully and if you REALLY wanna see this movie then prepare yourself for a wild ride.