Dead or Alive (1999 film)

Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha
File:Deadoralive.JPG Official Poster
Directed by	Takashi Miike
Written by	Ichiro Ryu
Produced by	Mitsuru Kurosawa
Starring	Riki Takeuchi, Sho Aikawa, Renji Ishibashi
Music by	Kôji Endô
Distributed by	Daiei Motion Picture Co., Tidepoint Pictures LLC
Release date	November 5 1999
Running time	105 min.
Language	Japanese

Dead or Alive or Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha is a 1999 Japanese film, directed by Takashi Miike. It has two sequels: Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000) and Dead or Alive: Final (2002).

Synopsis

The film unfolds in Tokyo, Japan and recounts the story of two people; a Yakuza and a police officer. The officer, Jojima, is an investigator from the Shinjuku district and the Yakuza, Ryuichi, the chief of a band of Chinese criminals. Shinjuku is a dangerous place where the Yakuzas and the Triads are constantly fighting. Ryuichi decides to cause a war between the gangs and soon afterwards encounters Jojima.

The Dead or Alive Series

Template:Spoiler The Dead or Alive films are not connected in any apparent way except by director Takashi Miike and stars and Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa who always play two characters on the opposite side of the law. In the first film they play respectively yakuza and cop. Dead or Alive is notable for Takashi Miike's characteristic scenes of ultra-violence and perversity, which come casually littered throughout.

The film also features a deliberately absurd ending where the two central characters show down, each producing more and more over-the-top weapons, until one pulls a rocket launcher seemingly from nowhere and fires it; while the other rips out his own soul and throws it hadoken style. The force from the two weapons is so great that the Earth is blown up -- an image that many have cited as a metaphor for the two characters ultimately being destined to destroy each other no matter what the context.

Dead or Alive: Birds is a quieter affair with Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa as rival hitmen. This too has moments of completely wacky surrealism with the two randomly turning into angels and children, although does not feature the same touches of perversity.

Dead or Alive: Final is a Cyberpunk science-fiction film. Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa plays androids on either side of the law. This features a similar gonzo ending where the two characters fuse into a giant monster -- a metaphor for how they have essentially been the same character all along, just embodied in different ways.

External link

• Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha at IMDb
• Dead or Alive review by Mike Bracken at ToxicUniverse.com