Rating: 
Summary: Great movie...
Review: In modern day American cinema I feel as though big budget Hollywood is more concerned with cheesy, overpaid acting and special effects. Though Dead or Alive has its share of special effects, the camera work and acting is a throw back to movies such as Citizen Kane. While I would not place this movie in the same company as The Godfather or Citizen Kane, this movie does have its moments. In my opinion, Miike knows how to make a movie the right way, with skillful cutting and effective camera work. Even if you see this movie for its camera work alone you can appreciate it. Though this movie has its gruesome parts, aside from a woman getting killed in her own excrement, there's nothing we haven't seen already. Do not let this stop you from seeing this movie if you are at all interested in it. From the music, to the camera work, to the gruesome depiction of gang war, this movie reminds me of an Asian Scarface. Though this movie has a completely different point, if you liked Scarface, you should watch this movie. My favorite part of this movie is how Miike was able to switch from scenes of family and reality to scenes of gore and crime effortlessly, reminding the viewer that those are just as much a part of the world we live in. The scene in which the main character has a meal with his partner and his 5 yr old son is one that stuck out in my head due to the incredibly subtle and realistic acting and lack of cuts made by the camera. It is simple scenes like this that has become a lost art in Hollywood. Though this movie was superbly done, it is for a mature audience and does contain scenes of gruesome violence. Those scenes are no worse than the brain dinner in Hannibal or the shower scene in Scarface. Watch this movie for its fine acting and direction.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie...
Review: In modern day American cinema I feel as though big budget Hollywood is more concerned with cheesy, overpaid acting and special effects. Though Dead or Alive has its share of special effects, the camera work and acting is a throw back to movies such as Citizen Kane. While I would not place this movie in the same company as The Godfather or Citizen Kane, this movie does have its moments. In my opinion, Miike knows how to make a movie the right way, with skillful cutting and effective camera work. Even if you see this movie for its camera work alone you can appreciate it. Though this movie has its gruesome parts, aside from a woman getting killed in her own excrement, there's nothing we haven't seen already. Do not let this stop you from seeing this movie if you are at all interested in it. From the music, to the camera work, to the gruesome depiction of gang war, this movie reminds me of an Asian Scarface. Though this movie has a completely different point, if you liked Scarface, you should watch this movie. My favorite part of this movie is how Miike was able to switch from scenes of family and reality to scenes of gore and crime effortlessly, reminding the viewer that those are just as much a part of the world we live in. The scene in which the main character has a meal with his partner and his 5 yr old son is one that stuck out in my head due to the incredibly subtle and realistic acting and lack of cuts made by the camera. It is simple scenes like this that has become a lost art in Hollywood. Though this movie was superbly done, it is for a mature audience and does contain scenes of gruesome violence. Those scenes are no worse than the brain dinner in Hannibal or the shower scene in Scarface. Watch this movie for its fine acting and direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Question your sanity before you say "I liked it."
Review: Ok, I hope you read my review first because I saw some reviews that said this movie was the best thing since receiving oral sex. I will give you the scoop on this movie - the true scoop.
This movie truly starts O.K. if you like wild Hong Kong action in the tradition set forth by people like (but not limited too) John Woo and Ang Lee. I thought that this first scene would continue on until the end of the movie (which would have been fine by me had they thrown in a gratuitous sex scene to give you a breather from the action every now and then) but to my disdain it did not. The movie slowed way down.
Now I may have missed something in the story line that was interesting, but I don't think that was the case. Some kind of character development does take place, but not enough for me to think that I needed to hit the pause button while I go to the bathroom (for a number 2). I other words you won't miss much if you skip 20 minutes or so during the middle of the movie. The ending - don't worry I won't give it away - was an odd event. I did feel my spine tingle in anticipation of the final action sequence. The action portion of this finale was up there with the best of them. You will have to re evaluate your thoughts on the movie after you see this because the ending had nothing to do with the rest of the movie. If you thought Dusk 'til Dawn took a fast flip flop of plots this ending will leave a spinning feeling in your head for at least an hour. Had this ending been on another movie where the plot had something to do with it, it would have been great. Even though you walk away shaking your head, you also come away with a feeling that the ending was great on some weird level - maybe the primal level where we all find violence and needless destruction interesting and a worth-while cause in life. I am sure the followers of the movie will disagree:
This movie was an exercise in how to make a great ending suck.
Rating: 
Summary: well, there's an ending, then there's dead or alive...
Review: other reviews are on the page. read them, come back. go on, then. so. my take is this: in lieu of the scorsese three hour gangster flick, miike chooses a different route, to throw the dogs off his scent. opens with yer cocaine fix of yakuza life; guns, falling clothes-less gals, yes, cocaine, and some other white powdery substance, perhaps flour. you're off balance, but expecting a howitzer to the face for the next hour and twenty. then, you zone out. nothing makes sense. you mistake the bad guy for wayne newton myriad times. they eat a lot. the camera stays put. everything is in earth tones. you prepare a dissertation to the knuckle-node that tells you: 'miike is aces!' then, a girl with cancer and her mother prepare to drive off to the hospital, to her operation paid for with dirty money. cue the asian john lurie to strum the old sad-sack on the viola. before the car door slams, know this: in the next ten minutes, the camera will finally pan; colors will appear, bright ones; cars will fall from the sky; limbs will go missing; men will survive in order to die, just to please you; the world will end. miike wines you, dines you, takes you to meet his folks in a little nook out in northampton, shows you slides of his first loose tooth. then, when you go to hug him goodnight, he rapes you. and- for some reason- you thank him, and start the long trek back to the boonies.
Rating:
Summary: Japanese insanity
Review: Since so much has been written about Takashi Miike, it's proven to be a bit of a challenge to view his work without any preconceived notions about it. I actually intended to watch "Audition" first, but the subtitles on the DVD
I bought didn't work, so I wound up with a rented copy of "Dead or Alive" instead. Anyway, so many things have been said about this guy, and his brilliant style, and his penchant for crazed spurts of violence, that I watched this whole movie on the edge of my recliner anticipating the expected carnage. While there was plenty of blood spilled, "Dead or Alive" turned out to be more than the average action flick, with a lot to offer even when not rocketing ahead at the speed of a bullet. Not only is this a great action movie, but it's also a damn fine movie, period.
The opening scene is every bit as visceral and thrilling as the reviews have said, incorporating sex, drugs, rock and roll, and of course lots and lots of nasty violence. Once all that's out of the way, Miike gets down to the actual story, which should be pretty familiar to anyone who's watched a few American cops-and- robbers movies. The movie largely revolves around the
exploits of a ruthless gangster named Ryuichi navigating the complex web of the Tokyo underworld, and a relentless cop, Jojima, determined to bring him down. Both make lots of steely glares and do their share of nasty things throughout the movie, as they deal with a strange combination of professional and family problems. It turns out Jojima needs twenty million
yen to get his daughter an operation, and Ryuichi has a brother who doesn't exactly approve of his career choice. In other words, these guys are both compromised in their respective undertakings, and that fact weighs heavily on everything that happens.
I'll readily admit the plot can get a bit convoluted, but the movie is more notable for its downcast mood and impressive visuals. While occasionally somewhat shallow, Miike's stylish direction helps bring life to his solemn tale of a morally compromised cop and gangster living on the edge. Yes,
this sort of story has been told plenty of times before, but "Dead or Alive" still manages to elevate itself above the plain thanks to its stark characterization and mind-warping ultra-violence. The action sequences are somewhat in the vein of John Woo's, but with more of an absurdist tone; I've never watched a John Woo scene that involved a closeup of noodles being blasted out of a guy's stomach, or a guy accidentally deep-frying his own hand, or a guy in a chicken suit being cut down by machine-gun fire. There have been plenty of cool action set pieces shot throughout film history, but few have left me shaking my head wondering what just happened the way some of the ones here did.
It all comes to a head with the powerhouse conclusion, which epitomizes everything this movie is about: it's chaotic, it's unpredictable, and it's extremely violent. While it's not perfect by any means, it's hard to deny that "Dead or Alive" is one interesting movie. Films pitting cops against gangsters are certainly nothing new, but Miike throws in enough bizarre and surreal elements to mark himself as a director doing something different. If (like me) you're a John Woo enthusiast looking for an alternative to watching "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled" yet again, you could do a lot worse.
Rating:
Summary: A DVD zone APOCALYPSE WOW !
Review: Takashi Miike belongs to this new wave of Japanese directors who appeared in the mid-nineties. Hysterical editings, almost unbearable scenes of torture and sexual perversions, heroes who seem to have jumped out of a comic strip are the main trademarks of the cinema of these directors. Now are they worth the time you'll spend watching their movies ? In the case of DEAD OR ALIVE, the answer is definitively YES. The two main actors, Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa, are surprisingly good and the ten first and last minutes of DEAD OR ALIVE proove that Takashi Miike is a director deserving an international recognition. Anyway, it has given me the wish to see other films of Miike. The KINO DVD offers as extra bonus a 10 minutes interview with the director who's as crazy as his movies and a bunch of trailers of japanese movies. Sound and images average, no more.
Rating:
Summary: Not For the Feint of Heart
Review: The closest thing that I can think of to compare this movie to is a hardcore version of Pulp Fiction minus the confusing storyline. It's got nothing but sex, insane violence and just about anything else offensive that can be contained in a movie. Right from the get-go, the story completely takes the back seat and the movie quickly just becomes nothing but anticipation for the next out-of-this-world scene where the movie takes you somewhere that current American cinema wouldn't DARE. ... Simply put, if you are truly looking for the movie that gives 'till it hurts, then this flick is one of the only ones out there that could satisfy that lust. I'd never think so much insanity could be crammed on such a little disc until now.
Rating:
Summary: Flabbergasting!
Review: The first and last five minutes of DEAD OR ALIVE are truly you-hadda-be-there experiences... and the ending.... well, the ending isn't just over-the-top, it's fall-off-a-cliff-and-no-bottom-to-hit. This overheated crime noir is the brainchild of Takashi Miike, Japan's answer to Ken Russell and Quentin Tarantino rolled into one, a workaholic who in only a decade has something like forty-five films to his name. Here he pits the sneering Riki Takeuchi against the cool-eyed Sho Aikawa (both direct-to-video crime-movie stars in Japan), with the former being a yakuza with ambitions to ace everyone else out and the latter being a vice cop obsessed with squeezing him to pay for his daughters operation. The two ooze through Japan's underworld, where stomachs full of ramen noodles are blown all over the camera lens and you're as likely to die of being drowned in a wading pool of excrement as you are being shotgunned at your birthday party while in a stork suit. What makes Miike more than just an exploitationist is his unusual attention to character and incident. Beyond and above the noise and splatter of his images, there are real people on screen here: Takeuchi's criminal is so hardened that he can't even hear the cries of despair from the younger brother he allegedly did so much of this for, and Aikawa's cop is so estranged from his family, he's almost going through the motions of trying to save them. Then both of them are jarred into action by circumstances, and that leads to the showdown I mentioned above. Which REALLY has to be seen to be believed... or disbelieved. There are two other DOA movies, but interestingly, they have no common elements except a) crime and b) the presence of the two leads. Call them "side-quels," if you will, and here's hoping the rest of them find their way to the USA sooner rather than later...
Rating:
Summary: "If a movie has one great shot, is it worth it??"
Review: This is an intresting question asked by Takashi Miike in the 10 min. interview included in the special features section of this disc. I believe the answer quite possibly is ..yes. But Miike needs not ask that question in regards to this movie. There are quite a few of "those" shots that us cinema geeks live for, (most having to do with really cool looking actors like Sho Aikawa, and Riki Takeuchi flowing towards the camera in slow motion with a group of equally tough and cool compatriots following along)because Takashi has a vision.
An underworld on the edge of implosion, a top cop refusing to help maintain the balance between "good and evil" as he sets out to crush the yakuza and triad gangs. The same cop having to give into the temptation in order to save his dying child then believing he can erase it with the pull of a trigger. A Japanese gangster of Chinese origin trying to destroy both criminal factions so he can profit from a third Taiwanies faction trying to take control. Both sides loosing friends and loved ones in this vicious turf war until all that is left is....well I'm not going to give it away.
Miike creates these very intresting characters with a minimum of exposition, and a maximum of visual interpretation. And what great characters, from the supercool,and tough(Aikawa, Takeuchi)to the twisted, and amoral they all seem to have their moments of cinematic grandure.
The influences jump off the screen from Seijun Suzuki(Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter..) to Ringo Lam and John Woo, to our beloved Tarantino. Like all the great filmakers from the second half of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st century Miike takes,steals, and borrows. Throws it all on a canvas, swirls it mixes it and adds his secret ingrediant..the wratcheting up of the violence, the realistic blending to the absurd.
I think he is taking his place among the best at his craft.
DVD- Quality is crisp and sharp. Although there are not alot of extras here, what is here is good. A trailer gallery is a wonderful highlight and a great tool to search out some of the best Japan and Hong Kong have to offer.
Rating:
Summary: artsy b-grade yakuza flick
Review: This movie is worth watching. It is. It will not be entirely pleasant, it will not make very much sense, it will leave you debating the merits of vomiting, screaming, or laughing, and questioning whether any of these is a sane response to the montage of the grotesque you just witnissed. Like a car crash, though, you can't turn away. If pure emotional effect is what you want, if confusion and mild psychosis is your ideal net benifit from watching a film, you can't go wrong with this. Takashi Miike makes good on the tradition of artsy, transgressive grade-b movies in a way that would warm the fifty-foot woman's heart.
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