"Manga Killer gone wrong"

Ichi the Killer – Takashi Miike – 2001

I had seen on forums hundreds of people suggesting this film as one of the most messed up, violent gorefest ever….. And they were right!

The film is based on the Manga series which definitely explains a lot. The story is a convoluted tale of a missing Yakuza boss and 300 million yen, the hunt for ‘Ichi’ the supposed killer and Kakihara a sadomasochistic chief henchman trying to further his status and find his abusive boss.

The story can be so confusing, especially for the first hour but I must admit when the story starts to unravel it does become interesting and enjoyable (if you can say that) at times. I really tried to see the positives of this film especially with Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) who was truly mesmerising and psychotic.

The gore and abuse scenes were so over the top that it become almost comedic and B movie level. Some of the awful CGI really threw me out of being involved in the story but did add to the whole over the top Manga style. However some of the mental abuse and rape scene were so invasive it become unbearable to watch and unnecessary.

It wasn’t until after the film delving further into the story that I realised that this film had and is still banned in several countries such as Norway and Germany.

I’m still in two minds about this film, on one hand when the story was easy to follow it became so interesting, yet on the other hand being so confused and witnessing some of the most grotesque scenes in cinema history really churned my stomach. And I don’t get creped out by cinema gore.

Also the poster is so misleading, This is NOT ICHI!

5/10 🍿