Review: Takashi Miike's Izo.

Disclaimer: I do admit I've watered down the language to try and fit this review with the rules of Friendrewind. Nothing to insane I've left out, just swapped a word or two out as a precaution.

Izo is a 2004 surreal jidaigeki horror film directed by the legendary director Takashi Miike and stars Kazuya Nakayama as the titular Izo, with other roles being filled by people like Takeshi Kitano and Bob Sapp.

The film revolves around the titular Izo who, after being executed, comes back as a vengeful undying spirit who travels between the centuries to wipe out everyone in his path regardless of who they are.

Izo is not a film. Not a traditional one at least. It's 2 hours (90 Minutes was my copy's runtime) of chanbara style violence at the hands of one of the most evil protagonists I've ever seen. No one is safe from Izo's blade.

I found Izo to be a fascinating horror "film", it isn't a disgusting film like Miike's other works in the genre nor is it a slow burn. I liken it to more of a 80s slasher film, one of the ones that never really scares you, Izo's the immortal Jason Voorhees/Michael Myers-esque killer and once it picks up it's energy (near immediately) it almost never stops or slows down.

Most of my fascination comes from the film's incomprehensibility. It's a wild film, that takes many twists and turns and leaves no room for explanation about anything. You know nothing about the film from start to end and the only thing you learn is that Izo's one angry as hell ghost.

The "film" jumps back and forth from old Japan to modern Japan nearly every second. Izo will face samurai one minute, then thugs the next, then more samurai, then the yakuza, hell his enemies seem to transcend time just like he does! He fights a swat team in a feudal era and is chased down by samurai in modern Tokyo and it's never explained how either of these two happen.

I found myself drawn to this "film" from the moment I read about it, I mean...a time travelling ghost seeking vengeance? In a "film" by my favorite director? Sign me up! And though I did hesitate due to it being a horror "film" by Miike, which are notoriously disgusting, I pushed it down and watched out of sheer curiosity.

Izo himself is an incredible villain protagonist, he's this force of nature, an unrelenting demon who isn't stopped by blades, bullets, faith, or strength. Nakayama does an incredible job at bringing Izo to life, you can really feel just the sheer anger in his character. Like a mindless zombie hellbent on anger.

He reminds me of Manji from Blade of the Immortal personally, instead of dodging each hit like some super powerful hypergod of dodging or whatever, he takes every hit and pushes on to carry the fight.

And unfortunately, Izo being such a great character brings me to this "film"'s glaring flaw. No one else has any substance to them.

There aren't really characters at all, they're like NPCs in a RPG game akin to Skyrim or Postal, they're one dimensional and whose only purpose is to just be slain by Izo. No one is actually notable, except for the travelling guitar ghost who pops up now and then. He's the only other memorable character in the entire "film".

And, maybe a bit of an insane thing to say, but I think the dialogue holds this "film" down of it's true potential. It's clear this "film", despite the not so deep philosophical moments, wasn't meant to be much more than what it already is, 2 hours of mindless violence. So in my opinion, when this "film" tries to add long winded speeches that boil down to "Izo's a paradox." or "This journey is pointless! End this madness Izo!" it only feels like a poor attempt to give a change of pace to the "film" and let the viewer breath.

But back to the positives, this "film" is heavily carried by it's action. It's not super stylized and flashy except for the occasional moment when Izo lunges 10 feet like a wuxia film, it's fast paced fights reminiscent of 60s-70s chanbara where one slice of a blade and your foe is down. Each fight, despite it being Izo against 10-20 men, is no longer than 2-3 minutes.

And I think it fits with Izo's character, he's very reminiscent of a chanbara protagonist in my opinion. Mysterious, barely talks, and is more skilled with a blade than anyone else he faces.

But all in all, I personally really liked whatever you could call Izo. It's the most I'll dabble in the Miike side of horror and the horror side of Miike.

If you like....honestly I don't know what you would like, but I'd suggest this if you want a surreal film that's just off the walls from start to end.

That's all for now, Love and Peace!