Review: Violent Cop.

That Man, Being Violent, also known as Violent Cop is a neo-noir crime thriller directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano in his directorial debut. Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, and Hakuryu also appear in additional roles.

The film revolves around detective Azuma (Kitano) a notorious, violent cop, who investigates the yakuza's drug operations with his partner Kikuchi (Ashikawa), which escalates to Azuma's sister Akari (Kawakami) being kidnapped and Azuma fired from the police force.

Violent Cop has this odd aura of realism throughout it. Much like Boiling Point and unlike films like Hana-bi or Kikujiro, and it's one of my favorite things about this film. It doesn't have much drama, or flashiness, it's rarely upbeat and only a handful of comedic moments appear in the film. It feels kinda like watching a reenactment in a crime documentary.

It feels really detached in a way, the emotional kind of detachment, if that makes sense. The muted colors, extreme violence, and heavy film grain, along with a lack of music for a majority of the movie makes it feel so emotionless. It's downright uncomfortable at times and really feels like a breath of fresh air out of the sea of action movies I've seen where violence is merely a source of entertainment.

And ironically don't like the violence in this film, it's hard to watch and my main example is halfway through the movie where Azuma slaps a man for a whole two minutes uninterrupted. No music, barely any dialogue, it's just Kitano slapping a man over and over and I really wanted to skip it.

And it's like this a couple more times as the film progresses, slow minute long moments filled with tons of blood, it's kinda brutal in my opinion. I don't know if it's from how the blood is shown, or the sound design, but throughout this film it really felt like I watched Kitano himself beat up the actors he's working with than a portrayal of violence in a movie. It's a thing I've always enjoyed about his movies, the way he portrays killing and violence in general (excluding Zatoichi) is, again, a sorta reminder for me. A reminder that, "Hey, stuff like this shouldn't be entertaining," it's always been an afterthought for me.

Despite this, it's still a fitting portrayal in this movie. This movie, in my interpretation, is just, the cycle of crime and violence. An ouroburous or a hydra of crime where no matter who dies, or what happens, it'll still persist. The guy in charge could die and he'll just be replaced by the second in command, then that guys second in command, then the next over and over. "Revenge means nothing", that's the message I received in this film.

Around half an hour in the movie is a moment I find my personal favorite, it's when Azuma and Kikuchi are chasing this one guy down in a police car to a jazzy soundtrack. It had a very different vibe to it. I'm unsure if it's intentional but this was one of the few moments of the film that didn't feel so grim, it felt sorta buddy cop to an extent.

I did enjoy the chemistry between Kitano and Ashikawa, the way they settled into the roles of the tough guy Dirty Harry "play by my own rules" cop and the rookie partner who's still new to the world felt kinda generic but still felt natural, I enjoyed it even after Kikuchi faded into the background further on into the film.

Other than that, I don't see much else to talk about. I'm not sure what it is but this film was just, so much better than Boiling Point. They're very close in the way they were made and are sorta a coin toss away from turning into one another.

I personally recommend this film to fans of crime thrillers, Kitano's films, and people into gritty crime films that don't make the violence a point of entertainment.

That's all for now, Love and Peace!