Outrage Beyond

I'm refering to the international title of the movie "Beyond Outrage". I do think that the movie is a real good continuation of the first one. Back when I watched it, I didn't know a trilogy would emerge. I don't know what was planned, though I guess certain things might have been set up on purpose. But it's really great how this continues.

Beat Takeshi back again but not really with a vengeance. At least not at first, because he realized he was being used. The first one was quite frantic. I did revisit it, just to remember what had happened. It was a good idea, seeing characters and having them on your radar. A lot of violence and a lot dead people - so not for the faint of hearted ...

Takeshi Kitano's OUTRAGE was one of the best films I saw this year, a top-tier Japanese yakuza flick with all of the hard-hitting violence and dense plotting that you could wish for in a film. This follow-up carries on the same story thus was a welcome addition for me, even though it's not up there with the quality of the first.

The main issue I have with BEYOND OUTRAGE is that the pacing is a lot slower than in the first film so that you're sitting around waiting for the proper plot to kick in, especially during the first half. Plus, a lot of the plot twists and turns are rather unsatisfying, whereas the satisfying material is rushed over quite quickly. Kitano goes out of his way to avoid copying the sort of scenes we had in the first film but as those were my favourite bits I can't help but be a little disappointed.

Still, this is nevertheless compelling filmmaking with top direction and acting. Kitano is a more than welcome return as actor although his acting is more subdued here and he's keen to give the other returning stars more screen time and meat to get their teeth into. There are some fine set-pieces again, the most memorable involving baseball, and as a whole the movie has an air of quality and authenticity that makes it work. BEYOND OUTRAGE feels very much like a classic samurai movie, albeit one in a modern setting.

"Beyond Outrage" is possible more sober and cynical than the first film, exploring further into the bureaucratic side of the struggle between clans. There seems to be no difference in the ways police, yakuza, and politics work in nowadays Japan: honor is for the weak and any chance is good to betray your partner for a promotion. Character development is again minimal, but at least we have a more charismatic cast this time.

Outrage was one of the more conventional Kitano films out there, whereas in previous kitano films the violence was mostly implied, outrage reveled in its graphic tone. However it wasn't all shock value, outrage plot was a political masterpiece, with a yakuza that discarded honor and romantic ideals for cold pragmatism, intelligent, calculating characters looking for their adversaries to take a bait and run with it when up until the end it wasn't clear who was manipulating the events and who would come victorious.

None of the above remains true in the sequel, first of all Beyond Outrage is a tamer film, I'm not sure if it was a stylistic choice, or one that came from budget limitations, but most of the violence is either implied or shown without gore ; that said the film makes up for it with a great use of sound effects, where you will hear and feel every act of violence thanks to it, it is especially true with gun fire which is loud and powerful as it should be.

Now as for the plot, the manipulations and the winner of the struggle are made quite clear from the get-go, this is in part because the script is not as complex as the first one, whereas the original outrage had several layers of deception, here the machinations are simplified and more obvious, characters whose story had run its course in the first one are brought back with a quick dialogue explanation and one relationship in particular is redesigned, but its not very convincing, Even having watched the original, the comeuppance of several characters seems formulaic and not as gratifying as it should have been, lacking the operatic quality previous kitano's entries; the end also comes too soon, leaving the overall endgame hinted at, but not entirely resolved, perhaps in order to make room for a sequel.

So in the end Beyond outrage is a much tamer and straightforward film than its predecessor, it could be viewed as a standalone film since the movie recaps the previous plot in several occasions,the film seems commercially motivated and riding on the success of its predecessor, This now takes the crown as Kitano's most accessible film to date, but that doesn't seem to be an achievement to be proud of.

i'll try to be as short as possible. essentially, this is a good yakuza film, that picks up different angles from where the prequel left off. eg., in the first 'outrage', the focus is on the yakuza discipline, or a romanticized yakuza clan struggling with modern times. on this film though, the focus is on the "macro-level", the interactions with police, politics, other clans and business.

unfortunately, although this seems very promising, it's not as brainy as other flicks, like 'the godfather' perhaps, and doesn't have the psychological depth or intricate plot of, say, the 1st 'infernal affairs'; it's a rather superficial action/yakuza film, but a very enjoyable one.

if you're a kitano fan: it's not avant-garde like 'sonatine', or kind of experimental like 'hanabi' or 'violent cop', or even a different take on the hollywoodian style like 'brother' - it's more a regular kind of movie. but if you liked the 1st 'outrage', like i did, you'll definitely like this one.