1-Ichi

It's an OK movie. Decent performances, the make-up FX are fine and the story is interesting. It has all the low-budget film limitations (especially bad edition and ambiance).

'Ichi-1' was a no budget movie with no plot or point until the very end, and even that is simply to tie it vaguely to "Ichi the Killer". It would have served more of a purpose as source footage for some flashbacks to Ichi's past in "Ichi the Killer", rather than a full length movie. In other words, if you liked "Ichi The Killer", you really don't need to watch this movie. There are a few slightly humorous parts though - the movie seems to waver between twisted comedy and just plain twisted. It did have the actor who played "ichi" in "Ichi the Killer", and TEAH from City of Lost Souls, which helps counteract the otherwise amateurish feel of the movie - a few good actors helped float the movie even among the rest of the bad actors and the lack of purpose to this movie. I'd say watch it if you have nothing better to do and can get it real cheap, or if you just have a need to watch every Japanese movie at least once, no matter how bad (like me).

Ichi-1 is the prequel to Ichi The Killer. It's not the best movie in the world, but it's a lot better than I thought it would be. It's about Ichi in high school. He gets bullied and that's when he starts to go nuts. It's got some great fight scenes too. It's also of course got a few nasty scenes. The baseball scene was pretty disturbing. The main problem I had with this movie though was the fact that there were no teachers at the school. I can't believe not one teacher stopped any fights at school all those kids had. I didn't see one teacher at all at the school period. I guess all the kids scared them off or something. Ichi-1 is a low budget movie, but much better than most low budget movie I've seen. It's also got a bit of comedy in the movie too. The movie is all in Japanese though, so unless you can speak Japanese you'll have to read the English subtitles. It's worth checking out if you liked Ichi The Killer, but it might disappoint some people. I recommend renting it first.

I give Ichi-1 a 7/10

A good prequel to the GREAT Ichi the killer, only a few bad things such as NO KAKIHARA!!!! which is a shame, even if he just made a small cameo it would have been great. the story is simple and violence OTT (which is a sign of MIIKE ) there doesn't seem to be as much style put into this film as Miike was only the assistant director but there are still signs of him in it.

i wouldn't recommend you see this before Ichi the killer as it may not want you to watch Ichi the killer as much, SO watch it as a prequel and not before.

But If you have seen Ichi the killer and liked it give this film ago as at then you can make your own judgement.

I love this movie. I know it's not perfect and can't really be compared to the great movies that occupy the IMDB top250 list, but it's great fun. It's also disgusting. There are enough face smashing, broken bones and dislocated shoulders for everyone. I really love Teah and the guy who plays the main bad guy.

I don't recommend this to those who hated Ichi the Killer, but I know that that movie has a lot of fans and those fans should see this movie. Just don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

It's not quite as good as Ichi the Killer, but I really like it. I've already watched it 3 times so I guess it has some replay value as well.

4/5