Full Metal Yakuza (1997)

When Takashi Miike first began to blow the minds of western audiences at the dawn of the new millennium with Audition (1999) and several films that immediately became classics amongst cult and genre film fans like Dead or Alive (1999), Visitor Q (2001), Ichi the Killer (2001), The Happiness of the Katakuri's (2001) and Gozu (2003), the excitement of such an original and eccentric filmmaker probably led some to believe that Miike was a newcomer to the world cinema stage when in fact Miike was already an industry veteran by 1999. What's more, Audition was Miike's 31^st film, with Miike's prolific tendencies making themselves apparent early in his directorial career. Like so many directors who entered the field following the video revolution, Miike got his start in the direct-to-video market, or as its known in Japan, “V-Cinema” or “original video”. Not unlike the American DTV market, V-Cinema films were often genre based, as genre films were known to turn a quick profit and the films were shot quickly and for very low budgets. Another parallel with the DTV films from the US, although restrained by the budget, V-Cinema films often allowed directors free reign in terms of creative control which led to some pretty interesting films. One such film being Miike's Full Metal Yakuza, one of Miike's first forays into fantastic genre territory, a completely unhinged fusion of sci-fi, yakuza/crime thriller and comedy.

Hagane, a low level and cowardly yakuza worships Tosa, a veteran gangster about to serve a seven year prison sentence whom inspired Hagane to join the yakuza. Upon his release, Tosa is ambushed after being set-up by members of the crime syndicate he belongs to and in the ensuing shoot-out Hagane is fatally shot while trying to shield Tosa from the bullets. Left for dead, Hagane wakes soon after only to discover that he has been revived by Hiraga, a mad scientist who has rebuilt him by combining metal with the usable bits and pieces from Tosa's body, including his heart. Reluctant at first to live as a half-human cyborg, Hagane soon embraces his nearly invincible robotic powers and with Tosa's dragon tattoo grafted on his back, sets out on a campaign of revenge against those who betrayed him and Tosa.

As if the plot didn't make it obvious enough, clearly the biggest influence going into Full Metal Yakuza (Full Metal gokudô, 極道) is Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987), with its mortal man shot dead then resurrected as a robot/human hybrid premise, however anyone thinking that Full Metal Yakuza is a shallow “homage” or “love letter” film would be sorely mistaken, as Miike takes the familiar set-up into some fairly uncharted, and at times sadistically violent territory. Obviously RoboCop also had a humorous streak, however unlike Verhoeven, Miike doesn't set out to make any sociopolitical statements with Full Metal Yakuza, the humor of the film is a of a purely absurdist nature, for instance Hagane's ridiculous dancing and prancing bullet deflecting technique or the running joke of one of Tosa's larger, lower body parts being grafted onto Hagane. Typical of Miike, the film has a tendency to shift from one mood to another, going from comedy to gangster thriller to hyperviolent splatter, yet it does all three so well. The humor works due to its sheer frivolity and Miike's acknowledgment of how asinine some of it is, the crime elements work due to the backstory of the betrayal of Tosa being rather intriguing and the violence and arterial spray is so over-the-top in spots it easily crosses over into farce territory. Miike even includes a potential love interest for Hagane which, all things considered, should drastically clash with the rest of the film yet incredibly Miike manages to make those moments seem genuine.

While discussing the origins of the film in an interview on the films North American DVD courtesy of Artsmagic, Mikke talks at great length about the freedom V-Cinema offered. For example, Miike hand picked the project himself after being asked what type of film he would be interested in making. Miike also emphasized the difficulties with shooting a direct-to-video feature due to the budget constraints and the fact that the film required a number fairly elaborate effects but assured that it never affected morale as everyone was enjoying their work. Miike also laments the fact that the days of making the types of direct-to-video films from the early to late 90's is more or less over due to the various changes in the Japanese film industry and how many aspiring directors learned the ropes in that environment, working their way up the ladder of various jobs on film sets. A pity, as it means there will be less visionaries trying their hands at outlandish material like Full Metal Yakuza. For Miike fans unfamiliar with his pre-Audition work, Full Metal Yakuza is a must-see film and makes for an even more interesting watch in the sense that it somewhat predicts later Miike films like Ichi the Killer with its comic book splatter and fairly similar (anti) hero as well as Yakuza Apocalypse (2015) which again saw Miike outrageously fusing the yakuza with the fantastique.