Fantastic Fest ’15 Review: YAKUZA APOCALYPSE

Takashi Miike is an acquired taste, as we all know.  The man has directed 98 projects ranging from tv to feature films, making an average of 3 projects s a year.  That is, in a word, insane.  The word insane often follows Miike’s name when referring to his work, which more often than not banks very heavily on the bizarre and/or graphic.  Some Miike films are less out there than others, and not many in the past 10 years have done anything for me because of that.  Yakuza Apocalypse is a return to “form” if there is such a thing, a kitchen sink of yakuza, vampires, Kung-fu, and animal-human hybrids.  Naturally it’s a mess.

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRgmTg6nbA0″]

Boss Kamiura is the most unstoppable mob boss alive…because he’s undead.  Being a vampire and an underworld leader is a powerful mix, but it turns out not unstoppable.  A vampire hunter and a badass enforcer (The Raid‘s Yayan Ruhian) dispatch him.  Kamiura’s right hand Kagayama (Hayato Ichihara) is turned after being bitten by Kamiura’s severed head, and his reign is challenged by the assassin’s powerful syndicate.  The syndicate’s leader decides to take matters into his own hands…he’s in a large frog outfit, has hypnotic eyes, needs help taking the stairs, and is insanely awesome.

First thing first: Yakuza Apocalypse is by all means not a good movie.  At over two hours, 3/4 of which is unengaging and mostly boring, there are only a handful of scenes that somehow made the film worth watching.  Most notable is the final 20 minutes or so once the frog shows up.  He’s the best part of the whole thing and had me laughing AND impressed by the agility in the suit in equal portions.  I wish there had been more time devoted to him, because the rest of the movie is a complete waste of time.  If the mob and vampires in a comedy sounds like a good concept, John Landis’ Innocent Blood is much better.  But see Yakuza Apocalypse; I DO completely recommend skipping ahead until you see a frog walking on screen and watch from there.  No context necessary, it’s a charming portion of a lousy movie and is highly enjoyable.