Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô

Another knock-out by Takashi Miike!!! This one is a doozy... Pre-teen assassins, a chick that can shoot darts out of her p***y, hermaphrodite hit men (hitwomen?), and more bullets and blood than you can shake a samurai sword at. FUDOH is action packed and grabs you from the very first scene. If you are into extreme Asian action, then this should be right up your alley. If your idea of extreme action is Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal, then you have no idea what you're in for. If you haven't already, also check out ICHI THE KILLER - another Miike masterpiece, both are incredible. I really can't say which film I like better. - Highly recommended 9 1/2 out of 10.

Fudoh: The New Generation was Takashi Miike's first cross-over success in the West (whether in America or just on the festival circuit I can't say), and it's no wonder- it's the perfect calling card, a work of ferocious energy and sincerity with comedy and drama, extreme violence and heart, kitsch and the bizarre. A lot of things that one would expect to find in the given Miike yakuza can be found here in spades: a blood battle involving brothers, the corrupt old incumbent yakuza, the vicious and surreal thugs out to get their just deserts, and of course in style with carefully composed shots and startlingly edited scenes of action, with deliberate scenes of dialog and actors staring at one another. It shouldn't work, but it does, and to a point that had me laughing, gasping, and sure that even if things worked out "alright" (and alright in the sense of a bloody tale of twisted revenge) it would leave a lasting impression, long after seeing nearly a couple dozen other Miike films.

It's emotional core, for one thing, is exceptional for a Miike film, which helps in springing out the demented comedy, as unlikely as that is. A yakuza kills one of his sons to pay a debt to a gangster- a debt which he crazily relishes as he plants his son's head on the table and laughs maniacally- leaving the living son completely bewildered but swearing on his late brother's honor. Cut to ten years later, as the father barely acknowledges he ever had another son, and Riki Fudoh is now gathering up a small army of outcast teens like him (one girl who can shoot out darts from her privates, little kids with handguns, a big huge lummox who killed his parents, and a hermaphrodite, cause, why the hell not) to get payback by killing off as many yakuza as possible. Crazy? It just might work, after the vicious, grotesque deaths of four council members (the car scene especially is vintage Miike).

You don't have to be completely queued to the artistic aesthetic Miike had with Gozu, or always have a smile on your face ala Katakuris, but Fudoh marks its place in the upper-level of the director's oeuvre by allowing for the low-budget cast to shine through. This goes for scenes that could, by any other director, be deemed unnecessary or even just cruel (i.e. the death of one of the girls by the hands of the North Korean killer Fudoh Sr hires to kill his son, and the hermaphrodite sex scene). In Miike's hands, he treats them like it SHOULD be considered art, not simply exploitation of genre or going for dopey extremes with exit wounds and vaginas. And it is, for those who want it, a success as a comedy, one that allows you to laugh your head off at the kinds of things that would give the squeamish nightmares for weeks. And for those looking for a work that goes even further than Hamlet, here it is!

And, of course, where would a great Miike flick be without a sneering Riki Takeuchi? It's a lot of fun and a truly substantial dramatic effort too, and it's not a bad place to go if you're just getting into the director's elephantine body of very contemporary work.

For the most part Takeshi Miike's movies have been getting weirder and weirder, so if you've already experienced the likes of 'Ichi The Killer' and 'Visitor Q' his earlier movies (e.g. 'Rainy Dog') might seem a bit tame and too "normal". Not so 'Fudoh: The New Generation'! Eight years old, which is a lifetime in Miike's world (60 movies since 1991!), it's still as outrageous as ever. This was the movie that started Miike's reputation as being one of the most wildest and inventive directors in the world. The bare bones of the plot makes it sound like countless other yakuza movies, but Miike continually shocks and subverts his audience. This is one movie you just have to see to believe! Shosuke Tanihara plays Riki Fudoh, teenage son of crime boss Iwao Fudoh (Tôru Minegishi). Fudoh senior sacrificed Riki's older brother Ryu when Riki was a child. Now that Riki is older he plans an audacious plan of revenge, using his own gang of child assassins and sexy schoolgirls, one of whom dispatches her victims via a blow gun she fires from her vagina. 'Fudoh' will have you giggling insanely throughout. Just how does Miike get away with it?! It's also one of the most entertaining and exciting action movies I've ever seen, up there with Miller's 'Mad Max 2', Hill's 'The Driver', Peckinpah's 'The Getaway', Rodriguez's 'El Mariachi' and Ishii's 'The Black Angel'. Most Hollywood action movies these days send me to sleep. I tried watching 'The Fast And The Furious' the other night for example and gave up after becoming bored to tears. Tarantino's mind blowing 'Kill Bill: Vol 1' is the one recent notable exception. Is it any wonder that it was heavily inspired by asian cinema both old and new, including the work of Takashi Miike? I think not. If you enjoyed 'Kill Bill: Vol 1' check out Miike's 'Fudoh' and 'Ichi' and 'Dead Or Alive' trilogy, and Kinji Fukasaku's amazing 'Battle Royale', and you'll immediately see the energy and black humour that Tarantino is currently drawing upon. 'Fudoh: The New Generation' is an instant classic. Fans of action, crime, or exploitation movies will eat it up!

I haven't seen this director's work before. This is my initiation. He sure works with a heavy hand. No subtlety here. Heads roll and blood splatters frequently and often at the hands of small children. Decapitation is particularly repulsive. It's gang warfare and anything goes. It's an eye for an eye. Rural gangs run riot in Kyushu and Kobe plotting to gain control of the illicit drug trade and urging North Korea to involve itself in war with America. It's all about human beings with the worst intentions.

You might call some night club scenes almost comic releief except for the fact that the women entertainers who shoot metal darts from their genital area are amazingly accurate and a man's brains can be seen hanging on a dart after it penetrates his head. Both shocking and tasteless. An hermaphrodite reveals "her" bulge to a surprised woman and then has sex with her. At least this kind of sex is something original. I suppose originality is this director's strongest point and his actors do a great job in all scenes which are literally over the top.

The young Riki Fudoh is particularly charismatic in his mission to curtail his father's cruel and murderous activity.

If savage assassinations with copious blood are what you like this violent film will probably satisfy you although you may not sleep well afterward. On the other hand the killing scenes are so exaggerated and so over the top one might find them almost laughable. I imagine the actors had an hilarious time with the filming of Fudoh.

Now that I am initiated...is it my kind of film? No sir, not for me!

If you thought when Sonny Corleone was "hit" it was over the top, after you see this movie, you will realize that the GodFather barely scraped the bottom. This movie pumps you up then pumps you full of lead. If transvestite "lesbian" schoolgirl assassins that use their "nether regions" to blow your brains out (you gotta see this to believe it!) are not the kick in the head needed to grab the attention of even the most jaded fans of crime movies, there is more than enough "conventional" violence for the traditionalists.

If this movie doesn't get your heart started, you had better take your seeing eye dog to the vet!

Wow! This is movie making.