Violent Cop (1989) is Kitano's directing debut as Kinji Fukasaku didn't direct this for some reason and gave the job to Takeshi Kitano, a comedian back then. The result is among the greatest modern Japanese films but it is not Kitano's masterpiece, although this is still very great film. The world in which his films' characters live is ugly, crude and violent, and once the violence is let loose, NO ONE is safe. This is the strongest element in this master's films as they are realistic, thought-provoking and cinematically stunning at the same time. His films are way too difficult for many to understand, because to understand this hard cinema (and Asian cinema in general), the viewer has to be able to see inside the film and interpret it.
The themes in Violent Cop are very pessimistic, as this ends very sadly and there is no sign of better tomorrow, but it is our own fault, and maybe the dead characters are happier now that they've got away from this selfish and violent planet they were born to. The end scene at the garage is marvelous and reminds me of Takashi Ishii's masterful Gonin (also co-starring Kitano), and the theme is the same in these films: Man is such a primitive that it doesn't understand to quit until it's too late, and eventually the only solution is death. Kitano's character in Violent Cop doesn't want bad things to happen or anyone to get killed. He just wants to maintain justice and he uses any methods imaginable to get that goal. He is not too merciful for criminals, but he is willing to sacrifice himself in order to save others or stop some crime lords career of killings and destruction. The film (and other Kitano films) definitely NOT praise violence, they only depict it as realistically and challengingly as possible, and for them who think "yeah! kill that bastard!" the film shows their ugly mirror image..
Takeshi Kitano's cinema is among the most beautiful and unmatchable I've seen, and I love his art very much. Violent Cop is the bleakest of his films, and his forthcoming masterpieces, like Sonatine and Hana-Bi, have some outstandingly beautiful and stunning cinematic elements, that give some positivism to those films, even though they do not end any happier than Violent Cop. Kitano's films are very challenging as they contain strong scenes of violence which is very off putting and sudden and there are no warnings when someone will be hit by an angry bullet launched by other human being. Violent Cop was followed by very different Boiling Point and heart stopping Sonatine, and these three films are considered as Kitano's crime trilogy and I appreciate this "trilogy" as highly as his other work, both as an actor and director.
9/10
The themes in Violent Cop are very pessimistic, as this ends very sadly and there is no sign of better tomorrow, but it is our own fault, and maybe the dead characters are happier now that they've got away from this selfish and violent planet they were born to. The end scene at the garage is marvelous and reminds me of Takashi Ishii's masterful Gonin (also co-starring Kitano), and the theme is the same in these films: Man is such a primitive that it doesn't understand to quit until it's too late, and eventually the only solution is death. Kitano's character in Violent Cop doesn't want bad things to happen or anyone to get killed. He just wants to maintain justice and he uses any methods imaginable to get that goal. He is not too merciful for criminals, but he is willing to sacrifice himself in order to save others or stop some crime lords career of killings and destruction. The film (and other Kitano films) definitely NOT praise violence, they only depict it as realistically and challengingly as possible, and for them who think "yeah! kill that bastard!" the film shows their ugly mirror image..
Takeshi Kitano's cinema is among the most beautiful and unmatchable I've seen, and I love his art very much. Violent Cop is the bleakest of his films, and his forthcoming masterpieces, like Sonatine and Hana-Bi, have some outstandingly beautiful and stunning cinematic elements, that give some positivism to those films, even though they do not end any happier than Violent Cop. Kitano's films are very challenging as they contain strong scenes of violence which is very off putting and sudden and there are no warnings when someone will be hit by an angry bullet launched by other human being. Violent Cop was followed by very different Boiling Point and heart stopping Sonatine, and these three films are considered as Kitano's crime trilogy and I appreciate this "trilogy" as highly as his other work, both as an actor and director.
9/10