Outrage: Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano at his finest.

 

After watching Sword of Desperation, I was reminded of another classic from 2010, which, as it turns out, was a pretty solid year for movies. Takeshi Kitano aka Beat Takeshi is a man who needs no introduction. He's a legend, not just in cinema, but also in comedy. One of the things he's been one of the very best at, alongside other legendary film-makers such as Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike, is the Yakuza movie genre. 

The first movie of a peak trilogy, Outrage follows the story of Otomo. Otomo is the head of the Otomo family, a relatively minor family working underneath the chairman of the Sanno-kai clan. In fact, his position is so low that he usually waits outside in the parking lot with the chauffeurs and has information relayed to him by Ikemoto, his immediate boss and the head of the Ikemoto family after the latter has been in the important meetings with the heads of families. 

He is ordered by Ikemoto to provoke Murase, the head of the Murase clan, a rival of the Sanno-kai, into a petty conflict. This is so that Ikemoto's pact with Murase and their partnership isn't called into question by the chairman of the Sanno-kai. Whilst, it goes swimmingly at first, with Otomo cutting the face of Kimura, Murase's second in command and some finger getting cut off, it soon escalates into a full blown war. Murase and Otomo seem to be the only people not manipulating the situation to their benefit with Otomo being rather old-school and having some semblance of honour. Sadly, it is Otomo who finds himself being coerced into doing the dirty jobs and then becoming a scapegoat with him and his family becoming targets. 

Outrage has all of the hallmarks of the Yakuza genre at it's finest, from the last honourable Yakuza being thrown into the deep end of an all out war to the sheer brutality of the clans leadership and physical violence. It's all good stuff and something that's been done a myriad of times. Outrage stills finds ways to make it seem fresh and it's in Kitano's personal style with his dark humour sprinkled in alongside some superb cinematography. 

There's no real fight scenes to speak of, except a very snappy, blink and you'll miss it exchange between Otomo and crooked cop Kataoka. It's a nice little sequence and a lot more realistic than an extended choreographed sequence as Otomo makes very short work of the poor excuse of a boxer. Most of the violence comes in the form of gunshots with some beatdowns thrown in for good measure. A grenade is used at one point, but we only see the aftermath, not the explosion itself. There's a very clever camera cut as Mizuno, Otomo's loyal second in command, jabs a chopstick into the ear of an unfortunate restaurant owner and associate of Murase. You see Mizuno grab the chopstick and plunge it towards the guy before the shot cuts to it being stuck in the guy's ear. That kind of sets the tone for the level of violence in the movie with the camera cutting away from the brutal stuff such as the traditional pinkie cutting. The most brutal scene of all of them is probably the impromptu dentistry that Otomo performs on Murase. Violent stuff with teeth seems to always get me to cringe. 

Takeshi Kitano is the unlikely hero, much as he always has been in life and on-screen. He's almost so anti-charismatic that he becomes the most sympathetic person in the movie. There's just something so uniquely captivating about him that makes him so fun to watch. 

The cast was practically flooded with great actors and stars in their own right. Kippei Shiina was a personal favourite to watch, as he had one of the more honourable and likable roles as Otomo's loyal second-in-command, Mizuno. Jun Kunimura and Tetta Sugimoto are veterans and showcased their talents in the roles of Ikemoto and Ozawa, respectively. Both of them had just the right amount of ambition and slime to get the job done. Renji Ishibashi was incredibly entertaining as Murase to the point where he had me laughing after he showed up wearing the bandages and the full-on metallic dental cage thing. He'd almost be sympathetic if he wasn't a drug dealing Yakuza oyabun. There's also a role for a young Tokio Emoto! 

Overall, Outrage is an entertaining tale that showcases the cut-throat underworld of the Yakuza and organised crime. It demonstrates just how incredibly ruthless the life of crime can be and how betrayal doesn't just come from outside, but also from within. It's a thrilling watch and one that I would highly recommend to any and all avid crime and Yakuza fans.