The man formerly known as "Beat" Takeshi Kitano has had one of the strangest career arcs in show business. He started as a comedian who did acting on the side, and went on to host "Takeshi's Castle", a whacky gameshow that was successful enough to make him known in the west.
With "Violent Cop", the first movie he directed, Kitano made a brutal break from his comedic persona that was famous among the Japanese by re-creating himself as a Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson type. The script of "Violent Cop", hard as this is to believe now, was originally a comedy. Kitano wanted to break from comedy so badly that he rewrote it and removed all traces of humour.
Kitano has said that he's embarrassed by "Violent Cop" now. He has indeed become one of the world's great directors, with an indelible style, and this debut effort does feel a bit slapdash. What's funny, though, is that Kitano's style as a director is very evident, even this early on. "Violent Cop" features his trademark static camera, minimal dialogue, shots of impassive faces, and sudden bursts of violence.
Even the final scene, a confrontation between Kitano's prolifically violent detective Azuma, and a sociopathic Yakuza hitman who is his underworld equivalent, isn't a fluid shootout scene like it would have been if this movie had been made in Hollywood or Hong Kong. Instead, the gunshots come staccato, and still manage to be surprising, in a way that almost feels ridiculous, and is certainly gratuitous.
It's disappointing, but after rewatching "Violent Cop" just now I've come to the conclusion that I don't like it as much as I thought I did. Kitano's style doesn't fit a thriller, although there was some small amount of tension about Azuma meeting the bad guy at the end. It also seemed to be trying to make some kind of statement at the end about police corruption, but I didn't get the point of it. Was it trying to show that the whole world is corrupt, not just the world of criminals? Or that Azuma really was the good guy after all, despite his violence?
I just didn't find it very convincing. Kitano, and his unmoving camera steals the show, as does all the red stuff splattered in front of it. "Violent Cop" feels like a creative exercise, perhaps a dress rehearsal for the movies that made Kitano famous as a filmmaker, "Hana-bi" and "Sonatine". It's still pretty enjoyable though.
With "Violent Cop", the first movie he directed, Kitano made a brutal break from his comedic persona that was famous among the Japanese by re-creating himself as a Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson type. The script of "Violent Cop", hard as this is to believe now, was originally a comedy. Kitano wanted to break from comedy so badly that he rewrote it and removed all traces of humour.
Kitano has said that he's embarrassed by "Violent Cop" now. He has indeed become one of the world's great directors, with an indelible style, and this debut effort does feel a bit slapdash. What's funny, though, is that Kitano's style as a director is very evident, even this early on. "Violent Cop" features his trademark static camera, minimal dialogue, shots of impassive faces, and sudden bursts of violence.
Even the final scene, a confrontation between Kitano's prolifically violent detective Azuma, and a sociopathic Yakuza hitman who is his underworld equivalent, isn't a fluid shootout scene like it would have been if this movie had been made in Hollywood or Hong Kong. Instead, the gunshots come staccato, and still manage to be surprising, in a way that almost feels ridiculous, and is certainly gratuitous.
It's disappointing, but after rewatching "Violent Cop" just now I've come to the conclusion that I don't like it as much as I thought I did. Kitano's style doesn't fit a thriller, although there was some small amount of tension about Azuma meeting the bad guy at the end. It also seemed to be trying to make some kind of statement at the end about police corruption, but I didn't get the point of it. Was it trying to show that the whole world is corrupt, not just the world of criminals? Or that Azuma really was the good guy after all, despite his violence?
I just didn't find it very convincing. Kitano, and his unmoving camera steals the show, as does all the red stuff splattered in front of it. "Violent Cop" feels like a creative exercise, perhaps a dress rehearsal for the movies that made Kitano famous as a filmmaker, "Hana-bi" and "Sonatine". It's still pretty enjoyable though.