Dead or Alive Trilogy Boxed Set (Kino)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Films: B-

 

 

For the last few years, director Takashi Miike has been getting art house circuit attention for his Dead or Alive films.  They are dubbed a trilogy, though none of the films have related narratives or even the same genre every time out.  The few common denominators include the two stars Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa, a focus on Japanese Mafia-organized gangsters (Yakuza), quick editing, and explicit sex & violence.  Each film has its own world.

 

The first film was issued in 1999 and there are those who tried to complement Miike for combining Japanese cinema with Blade Runner, but that had been achieved more or less just three years after the Ridley Scott classic with Michael Cimino’s Year of the Dragon, even if that involved the Chinese Mafia, the Triads.  Both organizations clash in the second film, from 2000.  Yet, both films are different enough.

 

The first has the two leads eventually meeting in a showdown (just like Cimino’s film) in the middle of an industrial nowhere.  The film starts with several murders shown in quick succession, in different places, totally unrelated.  They will eventually connect, but not in the direct Hollywood narrative way one would expect, which the audiences who liked this film seemed to appreciate.  One gang is ruling the streets on behalf of the Yakuza, but some loyalties are about to be challenged, if not outright betrayed, and that builds into its climax in its own unique way.

 

On the way, Miike is playing loose and free with Gangster genre and Japanese style advertising, media, and action cinema.  He also did this trilogy as a tribute to the “V Film” market that is a more violent, cheap, and more successful straight-to-video phenomenon than anything in the U.S., especially for the demographic it goes for.  Miike walking the tightrope between that and the big screen films he addresses.

 

After the unlikely ending of one, and the metaphysical approach he takes on two, he leaves a surprising percentage of the grit behind for the Dead or Alive – Final, which is more explicit about its Blade Runner leanings, but also references Mad Max – Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Godard’s Alphaville (1965), The Matrix, Blade (minus the Horror genre), and related literature.

 

This slows down the editing, but not the blood and gore.  As compared to Quentin Tarantino, which he is compared to, the cultural circumstances are different.  That makes a direct comparison problematic.  However, it is easier when focusing specifically on Tarantino’s Kill Bill, which is even more cinematically literate and has a focus on filmmaking all before what Miike is referencing himself.  Miike is not as successful in what he does if trying to remind us of other cinema is the goal.  His connections are fleeting, while Tarantino’s synergize and synthesize into a tribute to the achievements of cinema unrecognized in its greatness.  Miike can only hope he is in the same league, but plays second fiddle as a result.  It would be interesting to see what Miike could do if he left the “V Film” connection behind and any Fantasy genre leanings behind.

 

There is not doubt Miike is a kinetic filmmaker the way Tarantino and Woo are capable of being, but putting the action up on screen is half the battle won.  The material is vital and though it is serviceable for what he is trying to achieve here, the fact that this series is over shows that even the director acknowledges he has done everything he can do in this hybrid territory.

 

The 1.85 X 1 images on all three DVDs are above average.  The first two films are anamorphically enhanced, but that does not help them much.  Softness can be seen throughout and the anamorphic process may have added some problems.  Dead or Alive – Final is simply letterboxed and looks the most naturalistic as a result.  Even Kino On Video acknowledges they did their best to find the best print possible, but not exactly what they wanted.  Sometimes, colors are very nice in shots on all three DVDs, but other times, they seem muted here and there beyond what the cinematographers intended.

 

All are in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound that is potent yet somewhat compressed stereo without surrounds.  All are in Japanese, except for English sections of Dead or Alive – Final.  All have English subtitle options, but you have to select them or you had better know Japanese.

 

Extras include trailers on all three DVDs, though the first one has over a dozen, and then adds a brief interview with Miike.  The “sequel” DVDs have the same few (five) trailers.  There are nice write ups on Miike in the DVD case for the “sequels” and it should also be noted that the first Dead or Alive is offered here in its Uncut version.

 

The there you have it.  You can also pick up the DVDs individually, but the price is better when you buy all three.  Though it is not for everyone, the Dead or Alive Trilogy is for fans of this kind of material who cannot get enough.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo