Review: Takashi Miike's Deadly Outlaw: Rekka

Deadly Outlaw: Rekka is a 2002 yakuza thriller directed by Takashi Miike and stars one of his long time collaborators, Riki Takeuchi, and is notable for featuring the legendary Sonny Chiba in a supporting role.

The film revolves around Arata Kunisada, a hot blooded half-korean yakuza, who plots his revenge against the yakuza group that killed his beloved boss and father figure in an assassination.

If I were to compare this to another one of his later films, I think I would liken it to First Love, as it's a lot more toned down and focuses less on action and more of spending time with the characters featured.

In contrast to the usual format I've experienced, the intense Miike insanity pops off right in the first 5 minutes with a very all over the place murder of the boss while Satori Part 1 plays in the background.

It jumps from the murder, to Kunisada, to the murder, to Kunisada, and from the murder and back to Kunisada repeatedly and it kinda makes it seem like the film is gonna pick keep this weird slow-mo filled energy throughout, but it immediately dies off for the majority of the film.

Once they get the funeral for the boss over with, the film jumps from an angry and revenge filled Kunisada, to him and his brother partying hard and making love to their partners who are as energetic as the two yakuza themselves.

I would like praise Takeuchi's performance as Kunisada, he was born for this role along with the many other yakuza roles he plays throughout his career. He has a very intimidating presence to him, which is accompanied by frequent comments from other yakuza hyping him up as some insane trigger-happy lunatic, which he did live up to near the end of the film.

The soundtrack is incredible too, it's entirely comprised of Satori by the Flower Travelling Band, which is a great album and it's unhinged feeling to the tracks perfectly accompanies the equally as crazy scenes.

There are also some amazing shots throughout this film, the cinematography is one of this film's greatest strengths, as at times it feels like a different genre or director depending on the shot.

I would also like to point out, in contrast to his other films at the time, is not as gory which makes this so much better for a beginner Miike watcher. It's not a gorefest like his horror films yet it still maintains the level of violence standard to this era of his career.

Other than that, there isn't too much for me to talk about. It's a relatively normal crime thriller, do I think it's one of Miike's best films? Not really, did I enjoy it? Only near the end if I'm being honest as it has a crazy final showdown.

I'm sure this film is great for other people, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

If you like crime thrillers, Riki Takeuchi, or just yakuza films I would recommend this film. I would also recommend it if you're getting into Miike's filmography as it's not as crazy as his other films.

That's all for now, Love and Peace!