Review: Before truly hitting the big time in 1996 with Fudoh, Miike Takashi spent most of his time with V-Cinema fare. Those unfamiliar with this period of his film career may not be too impressed by this 1993 affair Bodyguard Kiba. Light years away from the quality of work he would create during the end of the decade with Bird People of China and Audition, this film shows hardly any sign of the Miike we would grow to admire.

To be honest, a few familiar faces cannot save this disaster of a film. Ren Osugi pops up as the yakuza boss that Junpei ripped off but his screen presence does little to improve on an already weak film and story. Usually Osugi delivers one amazing performance after another, but not this time. And there lies one of the films biggest problems. Not only are the cast members not up to par (or even somewhat decent for that matter) but the story is so lame that one can not laugh and cringe at its premise.

Miike distinct style is nearly non-existent in the film except for a handful of shots and one bizarre character that only has a screen time of less than 10 seconds (if you see the film you will know exactly who I am speaking of). The film seems like it was shot in the 80’s in Hong Kong and not Japan. Bodyguard Kiba could easily find a home on the USA channel of the early 90s and even would be an instant success for fans of late night Cinemax. Fans of Miike, however, should be deeply sadden by his lack of brilliance that he would toss at us less than 5 years later. Even camerawork leaves so much more to be desired. Most Miike films, even some of the not so great ones, usually have excellent cinematography go for it. Not this time around.

I still cannot fathom that there were actually sequels of this film made let alone ones that were directed by Miike. You have to wonder what spawned these films. Possible it was the total lack of chemistry between the two leads? Was it the shoddy cinematography during the fight scenes? Maybe the gratuitous sex scenes thrown into the third act for no apparent reason? Or could it have been Bodyguard Kiba’s ludicrous martial art skills, which seemed more suitable to an amateur street video filled with mostly blocks and not enough real fighting?

I really wanted to like this film. I did. I tried my best but unfortunately there is not much within the film to admire. It hard to imagine how disappointed you will be if you are expecting the greatest of Miike that we are used to seeing. The only way to take this film is to imagine how great of leap the man took in just 3 short years with Fudoh. While Fudoh is not one of his greatest films it was our first glance at what he was capable of and it set him on his way to cult status and most of the world’s first taste of what we would learn to expect from the master. Bodyguard Kiba is best looked at the same way one looks at earlier work of any great director: with a grain a salt and an open mind that there’s no where else to go but up.