{"id":6024,"date":"2015-10-24T08:06:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T07:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6024"},"modified":"2016-04-04T02:21:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T01:21:18","slug":"yakuza-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/10\/24\/yakuza-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakuza Apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"yakuza<\/a>
Yakuza Apocalypse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nSeen at LFF 2015<\/a><\/b>

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease Date:<\/B> 6 January 2016

\nDistributor:<\/B> Manga Entertainment

\nDirector:<\/B> Takashi Miike

\nWriter:<\/B> Yoshitaka Yamaguchi

\nCast:<\/B> Yayan Ruhian, Hayato Ichihara, Riri Furankî

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Gokudou daisensou<\/i>

\nJapan 2015

\n125 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The ludicrously prolific Takashi Miike (as I write this, IMDB lists 99 credits as director since his debut in 1991) seems to work in different modes. There\u2019s the high-end classy work he did for Jeremy Thomas (13 Assassins<\/i><\/a>, Hara Kiri <\/i>); there are the extraordinary cult films he made his name with in the West (Audition<\/i>, Visitor Q<\/i>, Ichi the Killer<\/i>); and there are a whole lot of other films he seems to have tossed of in short order that work on a \u2018throw it against the wall and see if it\u2019ll stick\u2019 principle. Yakuza Apocalypse<\/i> is very much a third mode film. <\/p>\n

‘Unkillable’ yakuza boss Kamiura is in fact a vampire, who manages to infect loyal underling Kageyama with his condition after being decapitated by assassins. Kageyama in turn infects some of the common populace and soon the world is out of whack: if everyone<\/i> is a yakuza vampire, then where do Kamiura\u2019s old gang get their status from? Soon a Kappa demon turns up and the conviction grows that some kind of apocalypse is in the offing. A female yakuza has steaming milk issuing from her ears, with which she tries to cultivate a new crop of \u2018decent civilians\u2019. The end of days arrives in the shape of a frog-headed martial arts master who looks like a sports team mascot with a bulging hypnotic eyeball. A Kageyama\/Frog smackdown ensues. The world ends. <\/p>\n

Trying to describe the plot of this effort is a thankless task. There\u2019s stuff in here from spaghetti Westerns and Road Runner cartoons. There\u2019s a lot of informative and\/or baffling dialogue (\u2018Yakuza blood tastes bad and has no nutrition\u2019). There are nice ideas that go nowhere, and wacky bits of business that occasionally pay off (love that frog). There\u2019s an almost philosophical thread about what defines a yakuza. (Kageyama\u2019s skin is too sensitive to allow for the requisite tattoos, the dearth of \u2018decent civilians\u2019 makes the old gang question their place in the world.) But much of this gets forgotten as the chaos mounts. It\u2019s not boring, but it is frustrating, all a bit scrappy and makeshift and half-baked. There are the desired moments of weirdness that Miike fans would expect, but here they just don\u2019t add up to much. Ah well, there\u2019ll be another one along any minute\u2026<\/p>\n

Mark Stafford<\/I><\/B><\/p>\n

This review is part of our LFF 2015<\/a> coverage.<\/div>\n

Watch the trailer:<\/B><\/p>\n