Tokyo Rampage (1998) Poster

(1998)

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6/10
Stylish but Pointless Violence
claudio_carvalho5 October 2012
The psychopath Arano (Kôji Chihara) arrives in Tokyo with a bag full of knives with the intention of killing Yakuza. He gets close to the smalltime gangster Kamijo (Onimaru), who was assigned by the old Yakuza Boss (Akaji Maro) to kill the gangster Matsunaga (Tetta Sugimoto), but he is not a killer.

When Arano kill two American drug dealers, Kamijo steals the boom box with drugs. But the young prostitute Alice (Rin Ozawa) convinces Arano to rob the drugs and travel with her to Fiji. When she disappears with the drugs, Arano begins his rampage against Yakuza.

"Poruno Sutâ", a.k.a. "Tokyo Rampage", is a stylish Japanese movie with pointless violence of the Japanese youth. The nihilist and alienated lead character has a confused motivation for his crime spree – Yakuza is not needed – but any development of the reason of his behavior. The graphic violence is very well choreographed and the special effects work. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available
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8/10
Horrifically Entertaining Blockbuster with Cool Name
Philip1999008 April 2014
Tokyo Rampage aka Pornostar is an intensely suspenseful horror film revolving around murder and betrayal within modern day Yakuza. The film starts off with a brief interaction between two unsuspecting characters leading to the backdrop the entire film is developed around. As the film progresses the characters slowly become more nihilistic and violent. Murder becomes more and more unsuspecting and brutal leading to a climax of gargantuan bloodshed. The dramatic elements are well developed centering around a theme of violent nihilism with dark and perverse antiheroes. It is surely a classic of extreme Asian cinema and while being as brutal as it is complete, the most disturbing elements of the film are its intense and frank comparison to modern day youth. It ends with a triumphant bang which can only be described as everything the film promises to be. There are no stones left unturned in this classic murderous film which I feel can only be described as the Asian version of Scarface. Bloody and violent, twisted, and perverse, it is obvious that if you are as fanatical about Asian Cinema as I am you will have zero difficulty adding this to your must watch list.
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Above average Japanese yakuza-movie (*Minor Spoilers below*)
chrisdeutsch19 April 2000
Warning: Spoilers
The story is about this weird guy (I think his name is Arano) arriving in Shibuya, Tokyo, who dislikes useless elements, thus eliminating them. He never quite defines the term useless (in fact he hardly talks at all), but yakuza (Japanese Mafia) seem to fit in there pretty clearly.

Funny though how the yakuza admire him for his courage rather than hate him for his gangster-killing.

The film starts out rather well. The first scene in which the main character is introduced is great (watch it on a big screen and turn up the volume). The character is truly unique, not completely cool (he acts rather clumsy falling down again and again trying to learn how to skate), but definitely cold. The actor fits just perfectly, at least as far as the facial expression is concerned. But somehow the film slows down towards the end, not that it got boring, the first half was just somewhat better.

Still, it's a good movie. I have yet to find out what the title has to do with the story.
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6/10
Interesting...
algemeen32127 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Still don't get why it's title "pornostar". The talking female characters seemed all wishing for a "love" trip to Fiji. Does the director tries to hint us they are drug addicts somehow? That girl in bed seemed not able to understand the guy was on the phone and the other girl seemed quite sincere when talking about selling the acid but ended up using it herself...(i disagree she was a prostitute like suggested in an earlier post by someone) The stabbing scene in the garage was indeed very brutal. Interesting to note that he pulled out the yellow envelop in 1 piece :) The message from the filmmaker was very clear and i enjoyed it.
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4/10
Very slow symbolic film
urabutln29 January 2003
This film is very slow, it's about a disillusioned youth that prowls around killing Yakuza. There isn't really a plot, just critisism of the society that Japanese youth grows up in. There is strong symbolism in the film, but I found it quite hard to understand all the time.

I think there are films who deal with this subject better, never the less the film is worth seeing.
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