It has only been recently that I have been introduced to the plentiful and extremely varied works of Takashi Miike. It started with his slow-paced thriller Audition, and continued with rapid-fire previews of the particularly nasty parts of Ichi The Killer at Lawrence’s apartment. His prolific work (about 45 films) have become the Holy Grail of Japanese film nuts, and with good reason: Miike is one hell of a director.

Of course, for those of us who don’t want to buy outside-region DVD’s to satiate our hunger for movies, we have to wait for some of these overseas beauties to be picked up by an American distributor, keeping our fingers crossed that it will be picked up by someone who knows what they’re doing, and will give the movies the uber-treatment they so richly deserve. Sometimes, we’re given top-shelf presentation (i.e. DreamWorks’ handling of Ringu or American Cinematheque’s bang-up job on Audition), other times the companies simply push the movie out the door with the hopes of gaining the maximum return with almost no investment. Newcomer ArtsMagic is attempting to throw its hat into a very crowded ring with a peculiar catalog ranging from CGI hentai to Miike’s more obscure "straight-to-video" flicks. Their first movie out? None other than the wonderful Full Metal Yakuza.

Full Metal Yakuza starts out interestingly enough: two young men join the yakuza in order to emulate their idol Tosa. Flattered by the gesture, Tosa gives one of the new recruits his wallet to watch over while he goes away to prison for the premeditated murder of a rival yakuza head. Seven years later, the new recruits are attempting to move their way up through the ranks, but Hagane (the guy with Tosa’s wallet) keeps failing miserably, unable to do the simplest of strong arm tasks. He is a failure in the yakuza, he is a failure in the bedroom, and he is a failure in every other aspect of his life. However, he holds onto his intense respect for Tosa, using it in order to push forward. Unfortunately, this devotion backfires when he is gunned down in a bullet-spraying hit against Tosa, who is also killed. Hagane wakes up later, only to realize he is not the same man he was before: he is super-strong, lightning-fast, and hung like a horse. It turns out that the corpses of Tosa and Hagane were sold to a mad scientist with the hopes of creating the perfect cybernetic being. Their bodies both riddled with bullets, the scientist was forced to mix the two men together into one being, combining Hagane’s head with Tosa’s extremities (including the aforementioned huge batch) and prized back-tattoo. After demanding that the scientist fill in the holes in the tattoo with metal engraver, Hagane goes out to find the men who killed Tosa and find out why.

On the surface, FMY is very much a Miike film: blending harrowing action with hyper-gory violence and moments of genuine absurdity. Underneath the visual panache, however, it’s a surprisingly deep film. The main character of Hagane is incredibly likable for being selfless and respectful towards Tosa. His hunt for the killers has nothing to do with avenging himself, but his beloved Tosa, the man he idolized. It’s a quality that very few "comic" characters have, and proves to be an endearing trait for Hagane. Sure, he’s still a very silly character at times, deflecting bullets with shuffling ballet steps or snacking on metal scraps like they’re trail mix, but his underlying respect gives him an extra wrinkle that makes him a great character. There’s also a genuinely sad romantic subplot involving Tosa’s girlfriend and a very confused Hagane (leading to a heart-wrenching revelation on the beach), and some great action. All in all, it’s a solid package that might not be as astonishing as Miike’s other works, but proves to be a million times more entertaining than most of the slop out there.

ArtsMagic’s presentation of FMY, is decent, all things considered. Colors look a little oversaturated at times (particularly fleshtones and foliage) and tend to bleed a little. There’s mild artifacting in the darker spots of the movie (particularly the final warehouse scene), and a few rough spots, but the transfer does all right. Audio is presented in Japanese stereo with little distortion or hiss. Thankfully, ArtsMagic didn’t make me want to cry by including any ridiculous English dubbing: you get Japanese language with optional English subtitles. Extras are plentiful, and include a handful of interviews with Miike, the film’s editor, and lead actor Tsuyoshi Ujiki, audio commentary, filmographies, trailers, and cast bios.

Despite a little weakness in ArtsMagic’s presentation, Full Metal Yakuza is a solid film. An almost-parody of Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop (right down to the film’s tagline), it’s a hell of a good time from start to finish.

UK site: http://www.artsmagic.co.uk/fullmetalyakuza

US site: http://www.artsmagicdvd.com/fullmetalyakuza