DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA (2002)

Yakuza gangbanger Riki Takeuchi gets all bent out of shape when his boss (and father-figure) is assassinated.  He gets even further bent out of shape when his gang starts talking to the rival gang (the ones secretly behind the assassination) about a truce.  He gets even further bent out of shape when he's double-crossed by his own gang and blamed for some murders he didn't commit (...although earlier he did actually murder 3 rival yakuza for talking shit to him).  So now he and his best friend are hellbent on revenge against the traitors in their gang and the people in the rival gang who are responsible for their boss' death.  "Rekka" means “raging fire” in Japanese.

Although there are a few surreal Miike moments (especially towards the end), DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA is a pretty straightforward yakuza film and very enjoyable.  High energy, fantastic editing, awesome soundtrack, great camerawork, quick pace and a impressive cast full of familiar faces including the legendary Renji Ishibashi who gets so upset at one point he throws his toupee at Riki Takeuchi!!!

Highly recommended and worthy of repeat viewings.  Double feature with YAKUZA DEMON.

GOYOKIN (1969)

Set back in the day, Tatsuya Nakadai is a ronin who three years ago witnessed his fellow samurai clan buddies massacring a small fishing village in order to cover up a scheme concerning stolen gold bars.  Naively, he promises to not turn them in if they promise not to massacre any more villages!  Now, three years later, he not only hears that they are planning to do it again, but he meets a young woman who's family was slaughtered in the original massacre.  He sets out to stop the upcoming bloodshed by killing the fook out of everybody in his old clan.

GOYOKIN was an enjoyable enough samurai film, although I can't see myself ever wanting to watch it again.  Tatsuya Nakadai was fine, as were the supporting characters, but at 124 minutes the story just drug on for too long and the final showdown was less than spectacular.

A few entertaining action scenes, Ruriko Asaoka looking absolutely gorgeous, some nice photography, authentic looking sets and one of the most unexplained escapes in movie history: master samurai Tatsuya has been captured (by throwing a net on him...really?!) and then taken into the snow-covered forest, tied up with a ton of ropes around his arms/torso and hung from a tree.  Next the evil samurai inexplicably throws a small knife at him and it sticks in the rope above Tatsuya's head.  He then leaves.  So now Tatsuya begins wiggling around and this somehow makes the rope snap and drops him up to his shoulders(!!!) in a snow packed hole.  Snow is falling in on his head and Tatsuya pulls the rope and catches the little dart/knife thing in his mouth.  Next scene...Tatsuya is jumping out of a tree onto a bad guy!  What the Hell just happened??  He was buried up to his shoulders in snow while being completely bound with ropes and his only salvation was a little dart in his mouth!

Worth a watch for samurai movie fans.