I love Takeshi Kitano. There I go, outing myself again (in a cinematic sense at least). Seriously, I could watch this guy all day - even in that dross JOHNNY MNEMONIC. If he didn't exist, you'd have to invent him. He looks perfect - like some eternally world-weary tough guy... with his constantly frowning face and slight limp, you really get the idea the world tried to chew him up but he was just too hard to swallow so it spat him out. And here in VIOLENT COP it's just perfect.
Takeshi plays Azuma; an old-school, hard-boiled cop. He's undiplomatic, tactless, rude, and liable to try and solve problems with his fists. Within the first five minutes of the film we see his methods in action as he deals with a local juvenile delinquent - he just walks into the kids house, bluffs past a concerned mother and proceeds to beat the hell out of the kid. He leaves with a promise to come back if the kid doesn't turn himself in, convincing you that he might not be a nice guy, but he sure gets results.
Azuma, being one of the older cops in a precinct filling up with young hotshots who want to make their names busting mobsters, is a loner. Suddenly dumped with a green-about-the-gills rookie for a partner, Azuma pulls out all the stops to prove how his "methods" and desire to remain a solo cop are correct. He takes advantage of the youngster, bumming money off him and embarrassing him in public, and openly planting evidence as they try to break up a local drugs ring. When a whiff of massive police corruption rears its head, you already know this is going to end badly, considering Azuma's rough brand of justice could never be bought off.
He does have a redeeming side though, in his care for his younger sister, recently released from a hospital and living in a childlike state of obliviousness. He plays the caring big brother to the hilt - right down to roughing up some guy he finds in bed with her one afternoon (I challenge anyone not to laugh as he clouts her randy suitor into his clothes, down the stairs, up the street and right to the bus-stop). Another great sequence features Azuma's take on solving a domestic abuse case - he beats the aggrieved girl's boyfriend up in the stationhouse corridor, telling him he should respect her more between kicks. As you can imagine, his commander hates his behaviour, and several scenes revolve around his less-than-clean methods.
While the first half is quite humorous in a dark way, things become blacker and more nihilistic when Azuma's sister is kidnapped by the local drug pushers. Almost like a ship losing its anchor, he goes right over into the shadows and stops slapping people about and starts shooting them, all leading up to a desperately grim conclusion, with a cynical twist that is at once sickening and almost completely expected.
VIOLENT COP is an unflinching movie, it does not shy away from showing the audience some pretty grim scenes, and sometimes while the repeated cloutings he gives the scum of the city are amusing, they often continue into a more sadistic vein. By the end, this demon in Azuma comes full circle and once unleashed cannot be put back in its bottle. The movie is unsettling, and it creeps up on you suddenly, stopping any laughter in its tracks. It's a dark movie, broken up by moments of tranquillity and humour despite the harsh reality it takes place in.
While VIOLENT COP might not be everyone's cup of tea, it certainly is a great, hard-boiled crime movie. Just don't be too shocked when it takes its inevitable trip into bleak seriousness. This movie is called WARNING - THIS MAN IS WILD in some parts of the world, and in this case, they really are not kidding.
Takeshi plays Azuma; an old-school, hard-boiled cop. He's undiplomatic, tactless, rude, and liable to try and solve problems with his fists. Within the first five minutes of the film we see his methods in action as he deals with a local juvenile delinquent - he just walks into the kids house, bluffs past a concerned mother and proceeds to beat the hell out of the kid. He leaves with a promise to come back if the kid doesn't turn himself in, convincing you that he might not be a nice guy, but he sure gets results.
Azuma, being one of the older cops in a precinct filling up with young hotshots who want to make their names busting mobsters, is a loner. Suddenly dumped with a green-about-the-gills rookie for a partner, Azuma pulls out all the stops to prove how his "methods" and desire to remain a solo cop are correct. He takes advantage of the youngster, bumming money off him and embarrassing him in public, and openly planting evidence as they try to break up a local drugs ring. When a whiff of massive police corruption rears its head, you already know this is going to end badly, considering Azuma's rough brand of justice could never be bought off.
He does have a redeeming side though, in his care for his younger sister, recently released from a hospital and living in a childlike state of obliviousness. He plays the caring big brother to the hilt - right down to roughing up some guy he finds in bed with her one afternoon (I challenge anyone not to laugh as he clouts her randy suitor into his clothes, down the stairs, up the street and right to the bus-stop). Another great sequence features Azuma's take on solving a domestic abuse case - he beats the aggrieved girl's boyfriend up in the stationhouse corridor, telling him he should respect her more between kicks. As you can imagine, his commander hates his behaviour, and several scenes revolve around his less-than-clean methods.
While the first half is quite humorous in a dark way, things become blacker and more nihilistic when Azuma's sister is kidnapped by the local drug pushers. Almost like a ship losing its anchor, he goes right over into the shadows and stops slapping people about and starts shooting them, all leading up to a desperately grim conclusion, with a cynical twist that is at once sickening and almost completely expected.
VIOLENT COP is an unflinching movie, it does not shy away from showing the audience some pretty grim scenes, and sometimes while the repeated cloutings he gives the scum of the city are amusing, they often continue into a more sadistic vein. By the end, this demon in Azuma comes full circle and once unleashed cannot be put back in its bottle. The movie is unsettling, and it creeps up on you suddenly, stopping any laughter in its tracks. It's a dark movie, broken up by moments of tranquillity and humour despite the harsh reality it takes place in.
While VIOLENT COP might not be everyone's cup of tea, it certainly is a great, hard-boiled crime movie. Just don't be too shocked when it takes its inevitable trip into bleak seriousness. This movie is called WARNING - THIS MAN IS WILD in some parts of the world, and in this case, they really are not kidding.