Yakuza Demon

Description

Honor, betrayal and mind-blowing action as only acclaimed cult director Takashi Miike can bring! Seiji and Yoshifumi are the only members of the Muto branch of the Date Family. The two respect and love their leader, Mr. Muto, like a father and the three share a firm bond. But their fate is sealed when the Family is involved in a conflict. Muto is unable to pay his share of funds for the oncoming battle but tells executives of the Family that he would fight at the front line instead. In the wish to protect Muto, Seiji has him arrested by the police. Ignoring the Family executives' mocks of "Muto escaped to prison", Seiji prepares for the battle and attacks like a demon on behalf of his boss…

Customer Reviews:

A very good Miike film.......2006-10-19

The movies I have seen from Tikeshi Miike are Gozu, Izo, and then Deadly Outlaw was the only one that I liked. After seeing the cover for this I decided to give it a try. This ends up being a very good film and has pretty much the same cast as Deadly Outlaw. I thought it was a better movie overall but not as fun. This movie actually takes itself a lot more serious and doesn't have that great music. But then again, Deadly Outlaw is BY FAR my favorite soundtrack ever so it would be impossible to match that.

The story is about a man who is part of a very small and poor crime family. They are part of the Date family and the boss owe some money. When the boss from the small family go to jail the 2 disciples have to go and take care of business. The star of Deadly Outlaw ends up going a bit crazy but and he is certainly someone you do not want to mess with. When he has the balls to take out a major boss of the Tendo family, war is on.

This movie is nothing too exciting. Some blood, some good shootouts, and good dialogue. I really think Miike does a good job on his "tamer" films. And after reading the awesome film essay that comes as an extra on the DVD, I will have to see Dead Alive next! I agreed way too much with the last words fo the film,"You're too cool".

Also it is interesting to note that this is a straight to video movie, I certainly would have never guessed that.

"They call him Seiji the Ripper.".......2005-12-05

Despite the colorful re-titling there's nothing excessively violent or bizarre going on here like say in GOZU, ICHI THE KILLER or VISITOR Q. Made only a year after DEADLY OUTLAW RIKKA, YAKUZA DEMON is very similar in story; in fact I would say it's a toned down more thoughtful version of the same idea. Which is not a bad thing, in a normal director's hands filming the same idea twice in two years would be a disaster, but with Takashi Miike you end up with two well-made and entertaining films.

The Muto branch of the Date Family is very small. Seiji was raised in an orphanage so he feels like Mr. Muto is his father. Mr. Muto owes the Date Family money so he agrees to personally kill an executive of the rival Tendo Family in payment for his debt. Seiji knows Mr. Muto will be killed so he calls the cops and they arrest him on gun charges.

The Date Family believes Mr. Muto chickened out and called the cops himself. Seiji is angered by this insult and steals the 10 million yen from the rival family. Things escalate and Seiji begins attacking the heads of the Tendo. He has become a "stray dog", a "demon".

Riki Takeuchi is very cool, as usual, but I wish that Renji Ishibashi had had a bigger role.

"Yakuza is not about how many men you have.".......2005-08-30

When Yakuza Demon opens with crime boss, Muto (played with sad elegance by Kaichi Iwaki), flying a model of a Zero near sunrise in a large field, his smile wistful as he works the controls, spinning the toy plane through slanting rays of the rising sun, the viewer is immediately tuned into the kind of doomed honor that will mark this film.

Briefly told: a foot soldier in a very minor, poor Yakuza family runs slightly amuck, protecting the family's boss who has gone crossways with the powers that be. The soldier (played by Yakuza and V-film legend Riki Takeuchi) is nicknamed "Sinji the ripper" and with good reason. Now, both sides are out to destroy this tiny triad. What no one can anticipate, though, is the loyalty and love that bind this tiny family together.

Takashi Miike is an astounding filmmaker. This film has a lonely, abandoned feeling about it - a sad tone - that Miike produces simply with shot composition, lighting, and editing. There is a particular sequence (when Yoshi, the youngest member of the family, goes to meet his girlfriend and must confront apposing gang members alone) that creates a near overwhelming feeling of pathetic doom.

Perhaps Miike is something very rare - a kind of freak, maybe. Like the child that can play a piano at two, or a kid from the cornfields that can swat homers while still in kindergarten; that is to say, a natural.

His work seems effortlessly original. -Mykal Banta

Nice job.......2005-03-15

Seiji (Takeuchi Riki) loves his boss Muto like his own father, so much that when Muto's life is in danger he hides him in jail on a minor charge and pulls off a much mpre cavelier assasination attempt then asked of Muto (Seiji aims for the big boss) of a much stronger (500 to 1 man ratio) yakuza boss in Muto's place to protect his elder from the danger of this job Muto must accomplish to repay an outstanding debt. The syndicate to which Muto's family belong can't take they retalitory heat and they hang Seiji and his family out to dry. Seiji was taken in as an orphean by Muto and he and Yoshifumi (his "brothers") are all that Seiji has in this world to comfort him from the Kikou (the voice through which the dead cry) that haunt his soul. This movie, although shot on a low budget is in my opinion superior to many "theater" Yakuza movies currently offered up in Japan. Takeuchi brillantly plays a truly Sympathtic character that epitmizes the Honor, Brotherhood and Courage that make one a true yakuza brother. I won't give away the movie with a full synopsis (although you will find a "spoiler" on the DVD box), but I will say this movie has less action and more drama than the other yakuza movies offered up by Miike-san. All in all not a bad flic, and the ending is particularly evocative.

Tame for Miike..........2005-01-11

For one of my favorite directors, Takashi Miike, this is a more sane offering. It's a Yakuza brotherhood, betrayal and revenge flick basically. Like many Miike offerings it has sporatic bursts of violence mixed with scenes of serious dialogue and lots of eating here. I appreciated the scenes of the Japanese countryside, nice break from many of his films being shot in and around the Shinjuku district of Tokyo (though I love that too). For fans of his all action, bizarre extravaganzas, this might be a bit slow though I found enough redeeming qualities to enjoy. The last line of the movie is what I'll close with, "You're way cool man."

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