The Yakuza Way

The best example of cliche ridden "rules of action cinema" catch all coverage with more cliches thrown in to boot. For example, the Japanese speak English when no one is around to overhear. The token strip joint. The filler footage that doesn't support mood, story or entertainment value. The back story of dead loves lost and revenge owed to pretty much everyone anyone seems to encounter anywhere. This film is so wonderfully god awful, like Dukes of Hazard with Yakuza in LA, I'm lead to believe that York Entertainment may transcend even the likes of Full Moon and Troma for attaining levels of sheer cheese. Too bad York Entertainment didn't see fit to include gore or booty to make up for the deep hurting their product otherwise supplies.

OK - I bought the DVD because it was only 3.99 in the January sales and because it starred Riki Takeuchi. I feel I was robbed - this film is one of the worst I have ever seen. The actors (I use that word advisedly) are dreadful; the dialogue is sparse and stupid and the film is padded out with endless shots of cars driving past and shots of streets from the driver's point of view. The final showdown is laughable as Riki runs out of bullets and the bad cop doesn't shoot Riki (although he has a loaded gun) and just lets Riki run about 20 yards towards him with a sword and impales him on the front gates. I see from this database that the director Shundo Ohkawa went on to make two other films. How does such lack of talent get to make so many movies? Stay well away from this pile of poo.

From the opening to the ending, bad acting, bad directing, bad story. The star of this picture was pretty good, but so much of the cast were acting on the level of school play.

There is a lot of action, but much of it suffers believability, well, as does much of the movie too! My favorite cheap stunt is the man being hit by the car. It starts with a bad guy pulling out his gun, the lead actor hearing it and spinning around while pulling his gun out, somehow a Geo Metro approaching from out of frame at 5 miles per hour 'crashes' in to the bad guy, which of course shatters the windshield.

Nothing says action done wrong more than this film. This film's best use is an example of what not to do for anyone who wants to make their own action movie. I did appreciate the directors leg and foot focus which appears at the establishing shots of any scene with a female in it.

Oh No... Why was this film made? I've seen some bad films in my time, but this is by far the worst!

The acting is terrible, and even though the film is only 1hr 15 mins long they keep reminding you with awful pieces of dialogue about what happened a few minutes ago. There certainly aren't any subliminal messages in this film!

The morality is fantastic - the cops just allow them to get away with murder and drug dealing because its "the Yakuza way"!!

Oh well, I suppose it gave some actors a little work for a while...

If you do watch it (and it's worth a laugh at least!) Check out the shoulder pads on the main character, and the shadow of the sound boom visible after the "yakuza" is given a necklace by his sister. Brilliant!! ....and I thought Robin Hood, Men in Tights was bad!

Seriously . . . why would you really watch this movie? If you aren't a fan of Riki Takeuchi, this movie will make your head spin with it's apparent suckitude. However, as a Riki Takeuchi movie that features him speaking English and shooting up Los Angeles, it's a seriously awesome flick. Basically, it's a terrible 80s-style action movie. The production values, over-the-top action, and ridiculous plot would have been de rigeur in 1986. But being a late-90s movie, it's even sillier. The cheese is laid on thick, but not unintentionally. It's very tongue-in-cheek in a way. Takeuchi's performance is strong, as usual, even given the crappy trappings. He sneers, shows off his coiffed doo, and impales people on katanas - all bases covered. And there's a Chevy Nova SS for no reason! And it's pee-yellow - where else are you going to see that?