Film Review: Outrage

The cycle of vengeance and violence never really ends, in the world of Beat Takeshi's OUTRAGE.

I love gangster films, I will not lie, especially Japanese Yakuza films. Add Beat Takeshi into the mix? Irresistible.

This Yakuza-driven films begins by dropping you - the viewer - right in the middle of gangster-life, at the beginning of vengeance's end. And thought the early first act, you might be expecting to see flashbacks, or explanations of where these hooligans came from, and that would be a mistake, because that journey never happens. Whatever the genesis is, it is no longer relevant, as the camera brings you thru the world of treachery and deceit, as subtle as a hurricane wreaking havoc on whatever is in it's path, with nary a whisper of warning.

And in the end, there are somethings even worse than the Yakuza.

Beat Takeshi revels in bloodshed, particularly of genre outings like this, and for this particular film, he surprisingly showed restraint, IMHO. Less cascading of blood horror, than the notion of violence that brings on the shivers up and down your neck. Nice one, this.

The story unravels in a single chronological ride, and you feel like you're sitting silently at the backseat, hand on the door-handle, ever ready to open and plunge into the roadside, but whatever is happening in front of you, makes you curios enough to want to see it thru to the end.


There is something about watching a DVD movie in the comfort of your own home, than in a darkened cinema with fellow viewers. If this was the latter, in the early days of me relishing in art house flicks - where endings were ambiguous and no morals needed to be told in your face - I would have relished OUTRAGE.

But fear not, there IS actually a moral to this movie, was warped and bleak as the possibilities of it being true, might haunt you, and the DVD was a fine way to spend my Wednesday afternoon.

While the story is interesting enough to warrant a viewing, "cinematically" it is pedestrian, and I am personally glad I decided to wait out purchasing the DVD when I first saw it, until the 50%-Off special which prompted me to bring the item to the cashiers without missing a beat.

"Do you know you're dealing with the Yakuza?"

Enjoy,
Andy TOYSREVIL