Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô

Fudoh: The Next Generation is another in a long line of Yakuza films helmed by Takashi Miike. The big difference here is that the principal Yakuza organisation in the film is made up of adolescents and 5-7 year old boys who are just as deadly as their adult rivals.

The reigning Nio Yakuza clan is made up of five different families, one of the five heads is Iwao Fudoh, and his first lieutenant his oldest son, Ryu. When Ryu orders one of the rival Yasha organisations hit men killed, thus triggering a full scale war between the Yasha and Nio clans, Iwao is asked to make up for his sons mistake and he does so by decapitating him and presenting the head as compensation to the Nio clan.

Upon hearing a noise Iwao's youngest son Riki, awakes and goes to investigate - he stumbles upon the grisly sight of his father beheading his older brother. Cut to ten years later, Riki is now in high school and running an organisation of his own made up of fellow students and a group of little boys. His anger over the death of his brother has not faded in the least and he has plans to wipe out the other four families in the Nio clan and become boss.

Fudoh is really a mindblowing spectacle, we are constantly battered with violent and non-PC imagery, beginning with the sight of two five year-old boys coldly assassinating an elderly Yakuza boss. To see young children effortlessly handling 9mm's is somewhat of a shock to our pre-conditioned minds to start with, but when they continue on to calmly blow an old man's brains out you start to get an idea of what is ahead.

The next slaying involves a poisoned cup of coffee and literally bucketloads of blood. Another features Riki's female friend and classmate Mika, who works on the side at a sleazy strip joint performing her unique act which consists of shooting sharpened darts out of a blowpipe inserted in her vagina and bursting balloons on the other side of the room, though this night, in-between balloons, she shoots a dart right through a Nio leaders head - in one ear and out the other - the dart sinks into the wall with a piece of brain tissue still attached.

Everything about Fudoh is so over-the-top and insanely exaggerated that you seem not to notice that the likelihood of a group of children being at war with the Yakuza is highly improbable. Midway through the film we are shown the children's training camp where we see the kids merrily playing soccer with their English teachers head, this serves again to reinforce the sense of unreality that's at play here. Although, all hyperbole aside, Fudoh also explores the dysfunctional relationship between father and son, a bond so broken down by betrayal and murder that as the two males sit opposite each other eating dinner in silence, each one is plotting a way to execute the other.

All in all, if you dig schoolgirl hermaphrodites, friendly giants, lesbian English teachers, vaginal darts and a large helping of blood and black comedy, this a must-see Miike film.

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.

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.

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!

Director Takashi Miike ("Audition", "Dead or Alive I+II") created a dark vengeance-story that deals with a young guy named Riki Fudoh who takes bitter revenge on the Yakuza for killing his brother. Together with some classmates he starts a merciless crusade against the organized crime... However, without being too sensitive, so faint-hearted persons should stay away from the gross scenes of murder! Acid drinks, beheadings and little kids as contract killers... no doubt, "Fudoh" is bloody entertainment in perfection! It is something like teenagers on a killing spree, but fortunately far beyond political correctness and typical Hollywood-clichés - or could anyone imagine Denise Richards using vaginal firearms?!? (A delicious imagination, by the way...)... Miike´s film ran very successfully at various festivals like in Rotterdam/Netherlands, Toronto/Canada or in Germany. It was a No.1 box-office blockbuster in its home country Japan and everyone who likes violent Asian action movies should give it a fair chance! Recommended!