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Fudoh: The New Generation

Fudoh: The New Generation

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What's not to love?
Review: Miike is pretty amazing. Talented, imaginative and frequently pretty sick. His films aren't ALL shockers ("The Bird People in China," for instance, is pretty harmless), but frying brains IS one of the things he does best. This one is probably more shocking than "Dead or Alive" or "Audition," but not as taboo bustin' as "Visitor Q." His movies have style to burn, too.

Enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Glossy, high impact shock flick, nothing else
Review: OK, my thoughts are a bit mixed on this one. One hand, you got a somewhat innovative, crazy action thriller.

You got little kids blowing away yakuza with pistols, a young schoolgirl who kills with darts shot from a tube placed inside her vagina(or is it?) and a big sumo-like tough guy who can crush skulls with kicks. It's pure shock, but it's glossier and more innovative than most.

It's also pure gore and plenty of nudity. From crushed skulls and period blood to mindless sex and stripping. Pretty much the outline for any Japanese shock film. So if that's what you're looking for, you've found a good one.

Now on the other hand, the movie suffers from bad characters, awkward dialogue and situations that really don't make sense. Purely abstract and overly poetic. For example, there's one scene where two little kids blow away a yakuza soldier who's walking with his boss. The kids do him in, run out of ammo and the yakuza boss(who should be checking his underwear for a reminder of the shock he just faced) is just looking at the kids, smiling.

The characters are stereotypical extrmes and they're pretty much all stone-cold bad gus who either laugh at death or just don't care-even when it's right in their face. Cheap stuff.

I didn't like Miike's Audition, but character wise and story wise, that blew this one away. But for a glossy, sadistic shocker, this one's right on.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Yakuza revenge story that falls slightly short of genius
Review: Takashi Miike's brand of "extreme cinema" is now getting art-house accolades thanks to his "Visitor Q" and "The Happiness of the Katakuris" (a remake of the Korean movie "The Quiet Family"). Before going for Village St. Cinema wildness, though, he was a prolific director of yakuza/gangster actioners for Japanese TV. "Fudoh," based on a popular manga of the same name, is one of his first theatrical productions, and while it's full of wild, lurid imagery, it also suffers from a lack of scope that is probably more due to the production constraints imposed upon Miike than any real flaws in the movie itself.

The story isn't complicated: the young scion to a yakuza family takes revenge against a rival family by employing his schoolchums, all of whom have murderous specialities. Miike makes this more than just a gore-and-geek-fest, though; he actually takes the time to make each character stand out and be unique. One of the best is a hermaphrodite (!) who performs in a nightclub by shooting darts at balloons in a way that cannot be described in a family publication. She's seen as a fully rounded character, not just a piece of set dressing. But the movie ends so abruptly and so obviously in search of a sequel (which was made, avoid it at all costs) that it short-circuits all of the power it was building up. Worth seeing if you're a fan of oddball Asian cinema; worth a look if you're curious about Miike's origins as a filmmaker.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Yakuza revenge story that falls slightly short of genius
Review: Takashi Miike's brand of "extreme cinema" is now getting art-house accolades thanks to his "Visitor Q" and "The Happiness of the Katakuris" (a remake of the Korean movie "The Quiet Family"). Before going for Village St. Cinema wildness, though, he was a prolific director of yakuza/gangster actioners for Japanese TV. "Fudoh," based on a popular manga of the same name, is one of his first theatrical productions, and while it's full of wild, lurid imagery, it also suffers from a lack of scope that is probably more due to the production constraints imposed upon Miike than any real flaws in the movie itself.

The story isn't complicated: the young scion to a yakuza family takes revenge against a rival family by employing his schoolchums, all of whom have murderous specialities. Miike makes this more than just a gore-and-geek-fest, though; he actually takes the time to make each character stand out and be unique. One of the best is a hermaphrodite (!) who performs in a nightclub by shooting darts at balloons in a way that cannot be described in a family publication. She's seen as a fully rounded character, not just a piece of set dressing. But the movie ends so abruptly and so obviously in search of a sequel (which was made, avoid it at all costs) that it short-circuits all of the power it was building up. Worth seeing if you're a fan of oddball Asian cinema; worth a look if you're curious about Miike's origins as a filmmaker.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Revenge Film with Distrubing Moments in Miike Style...
Review: Takeshi Miike is a cinematic visionary who has directed over 50 films and among these most memorable are Audition (2000) and Ichi the Killer (2001). Miike's films often bring the audience into a dark and disturbing world of crime and psychologically distressing themes. In Audition Miike depicts a love story that turns into a carnival of mutilation and degradation in which the audience still can connect with the mutilator. In Ichi the Killer the audience can be forced into a shockingly violent world of crime, but there is a deep sense for the understanding of the characters despite the violence. Miike's absurd fondness for the disturbed and dark shines through in his films, yet each film he directs has a unique touch and offers a new experience. In short, Miike who seems to do nothing but work as he releases film after film, reinvents himself in each film with his own characteristic touch, and each accomplishment leaves a new mark of Miike.

Fudoh: The Next Generation is no exception to Miike's style as it takes on a yakuza revenge story where the young Riki Fudoh (Shosuke Tanihara) is severely traumatized by witnessing the murder of his brother as his father decapitates him in order to please the bosses of the other yakuza families. Riki promises himself to seek revenge on those who ordered the killing of his brother. Ten years later when Riki is in high school he has organized himself with well-trained six-year-old assassins with guns and stun-guns, two lethal high school girls, and a gigantic high school boy that can crush anything with his hands. Riki begins to take on the yakuza killing them off one by one in Miike style, which means that each killing offers a new disturbing experience. The question is can Riki make it, or will he also be a victim for the violence that he breeds around himself. Fudoh: The Next Generation offers an interesting cinematic experience as it offers notions in regards to social learning and violence.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Revenge Film with Distrubing Moments in Miike Style...
Review: Takeshi Miike is a cinematic visionary who has directed over 50 films and among these most memorable are Audition (2000) and Ichi the Killer (2001). Miike's films often bring the audience into a dark and disturbing world of crime and psychologically distressing themes. In Audition Miike depicts a love story that turns into a carnival of mutilation and degradation in which the audience still can connect with the mutilator. In Ichi the Killer the audience can be forced into a shockingly violent world of crime, but there is a deep sense for the understanding of the characters despite the violence. Miike's absurd fondness for the disturbed and dark shines through in his films, yet each film he directs has a unique touch and offers a new experience. In short, Miike who seems to do nothing but work as he releases film after film, reinvents himself in each film with his own characteristic touch, and each accomplishment leaves a new mark of Miike.

Fudoh: The Next Generation is no exception to Miike's style as it takes on a yakuza revenge story where the young Riki Fudoh (Shosuke Tanihara) is severely traumatized by witnessing the murder of his brother as his father decapitates him in order to please the bosses of the other yakuza families. Riki promises himself to seek revenge on those who ordered the killing of his brother. Ten years later when Riki is in high school he has organized himself with well-trained six-year-old assassins with guns and stun-guns, two lethal high school girls, and a gigantic high school boy that can crush anything with his hands. Riki begins to take on the yakuza killing them off one by one in Miike style, which means that each killing offers a new disturbing experience. The question is can Riki make it, or will he also be a victim for the violence that he breeds around himself. Fudoh: The Next Generation offers an interesting cinematic experience as it offers notions in regards to social learning and violence.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Class-A B-Movie
Review: The Hitoshi Tanimura comic on which this film is based must have passed me by, but it shares a publisher with Legend of the Overfiend and is a similarly exploitative sex-and-violence tale set in a Japanese school. But this time the invaders are Japanese gangsters, our messiah is the son of the local boss, and the demons are all too human.

The original Japanese title implies that the whole story is a rewrite of Japan's civil war, but screenwriter Toshiyuki (Onibi: The Fire Within) Morioka paints a very modern drama of murder and mayhem. The eponymous Riki Fudo (played with startling presence by Shosuke Tanihara) is traumatised by the death of his elder brother, and swears revenge on his murderous father.

Gathering his own cohorts about him, Fudo fights a war on two fronts, against both his sworn enemies in Kyushu and his own Dad. Bird People in China director Takashi Miike takes this raw stuff of straight-to-video bargain bins and turns it into a big-screen revenge tragedy worthy of John Woo. Father and son face each other over dinner, each framed by the flames of a Buddhist hell; a blood-red Moon shines on midnight meeting; there is the glint of sharp knives and the flash of even sharper suits.

The influence of this 1996 film is already extensive - it opens with an explosive restroom shoot-out that makes Kite's (1998) seem like a pale imitation, and Shark-Skin Man & Peach-Hip Girl's (1998) seem all the funnier. Exceedingly violent, Fudo never ceases to amaze with its sick originality - highlights include assault with kimchi, a new meaning to the phrase 'dropping acid' and a schoolgirl stripper with an eye-popping party trick. Boasting both the malicious inventiveness of Evil Dead and the honour-among-thieves of Goodfellas, this is one film which (trust me) can't fail to surprise you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not as bad as a stick in the eye but it comes close
Review: The plot of "Fudoh: The New Generation" goes some thing like this. Father kills son. 10 years later younger son takes revenge using a gang made primarily of pre-teens. Now that you know what the movie is about you don't need to watch it. This has to be the worst movies I have ever seen. It is even worse then Starship Troopers II. There is no character development the plot line is about as good as a porn movie. Im not saying this because of all the nudity but rather it is just unbelievably lame.

With the exception of the first action scene the action sequences are slightly worse then what you would find in an average American TV show but they try to cover this up with massive amounts of blood. Which brings me to the one thing this movie does have, shock value. This movie is filled with situations that are intended to shock the viewers, but in most cases just made me giggle at its absurdity. Here are just a few of the situations:

A crime lord drinks a poison which seems to make all his blood shoot from his neck and mouth(lots of blood here).

Another crime lord is shot by a six-year-old kid (meant to be shocking but hey who really cares?).

Yet another crime lord is killed when a stripper shoots a dart through his head with a blowgun. The "shocking part" is that she uses something other then her mouth to blow the dart."

Oh yeah and what movie would be complete without a hermaphrodite sex scene?

In conclusion I can't believe I spent an hour and 40-min watching this. So pleas do yourself a favor and don't watch it or if you do watch it rent it so you wont be out so much money.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Wildly inventive but ultimately disappointing....
Review: Tokyo Shock couldn't have picked up a better title to unleash on unwitting American viewers. "Fudoh: The New Generation" is in turn shocking, bizarrly hilarious, crude, and extremely violent. But "Fudoh" is always unpredictable and genuinely original. The film concerns a teenageer who just happens to be the inheritor of a very powerful Japanese crime syndicate, and he must continue the family business. Soon he assembles a motley crue to do his dirty work (assassinations and other odd jobs). It truly is a kick to see a pretty young teenage girl (complete with sailor suit) equipped with an uzi and mercilessly spraying ammo into some hapless foe, with blood splattering. Maybe more shocking is the small children in Fudoh's clan, who certainly do their part in the killings. In fact, "Fudoh" breaks many Western taboos with ease and flair. Sexuality is presented in a very open (and sometimes graphic) manner. And the violence is very graphic and intense, and very savage. The Japanese are very liberal when it comes to sex and violence on the screen, and this lack of sugar coating will most definitely shock and repulse many viewers. It does help that the film has a comic book style that doesn't really take itself seriously (much like Tokyo Shock's other gore outing "Story Of Ricky"), but "Fudoh" has some stronger (and more adult) scenes of sexual depravity. Once again, the film is played for shock value, and it really can't be taken too seriously. And possibly that is where the film fails. The eccentric plot and outrageous ideas soon become monotanous, and the impact begins to fade. Also a major problem is the pace of the film. The pace is very frustrating because for every mind-blowing set piece we are treated to (which are quite short), we are expected to trudge through long periods where nothing truly amazing happens. Sure, in better films, we would care about the plot and eagerly await new twists, but the film's outrageous plot is also its undoing: from the get-go, the viewer passes the plot off as a mere springboard for astonishing, drawn out set pieces (like a John Woo or Yuen Woo Ping film), and is ultimately disappointed at the film's insistance for us to care about the unfolding events. Maybe I'm wrong, but with a company by the name of "Tokyo Shock", and which proudly promises shocks, one would expect more. It's not that the film isn't shocking, but it is just uneven and can be quite a let down. Case in point: towards the end, the rival gangs confront each other, and I was really hoping for a no-holds-barred all out gore fest of an ending, with crazy stunts and bizarre ideas that I only got a taste of in the earlier scenes. Not so. The ending is a total letdown (in my opinion), and the confrontation is abruptly ended without any bloodshed, and the credits roll. Still though, "Fudoh: The New Generation" is worth a look, at least to be exposed to something truly different. But the end product can only be sized up as a sometimes fascinating, but more often disappointing and even boring film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good film - Bad DVD
Review: Watching this DVD is like watching a video tape :
there is only the movie with no removable subtitles
There is absolutely nothing else on this DVD (there is no menu!!)

It's really a shame for a DVD (above all for this price)


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