Takashi Miike's third project for the year (the others ar Nyaight of the Living Cat and Sham) is based on MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura's autobiography. In it two young men in juvenile detention are inspired by a talk aby Asakura to try and compete in an upcoming MMA competition. When they get out they work to make that a reality, but they have to fight gangs, both juvenile and adult to make their dream a reality.
Weakest of the three Miike projects for 2025 isn't bad, but it isn't great. The main problem is the script isn't anything anything we haven't seen before. It kind of spins it's wheels until we get to the fight scenes. The script seems to want to hit every cliche because it's kind of too lazy to give us a detailed plot. Yes, we know the over all arc, but the details are not all here. There was a point where if it wasn't a Miike film and if I didn't like the characters as much as I did I might have walked out.
Ultimately the fight scenes are the reason to see the film. The fight scenes are bone crushing and exciting. They are not ones where anyone walks away unhurt. Blood flows. Bones are broken. Nothing is hidden...
Well, until it is. Somehow a film that let it all hangs out ends on a disappointment. Just as the film grabs us, it ends on an anti-climatic moment. I stared at the screen and groaned. Miike ended it there? A couple seconds earlier or later it would have been fine, but something about that final moment doesn't work.
I don't hate the film, the action really is a reason to see it, but this should have been so much better. Maybe it's unfair because since it''s Miike I'm holding it to a higher standard... but I was disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment