Review: God I love Yakuza films. Even when they are bad you have still have these extraordinary icons of Japanese cinema to help ease things along. No other organized crime syndicate has as much style, tradition, or history as they do. Couple that understanding with the knowledge of what it meant to be a cop in Japan during a time when hoodlums ran wild, with all the danger and excitement, and you’ve set the stage for a timeless conflict with an eastern flare.

At this point in his career, the late, great, Kinji Fukasaku was no stranger to the process of making a gangster drama. While most contemporary Japanese film fans know him best for his work on Battle Royale, few probably realize that this man was almost single-handedly responsible for brining to the screen what we understand today as the modern yakuza soldier. Fukasaku began his career at a time when Japanese society still had a place for this flamboyant outlaw and the blue collar worker demanded a quick, painless escape from the burdens of everyday life. With those things in mind, and an observant eye, he began cranking out one film after another in the pulp fashion of the times.

One extremely noteworthy film in the genre is COPS vs. THUGS. All the elements in this film meld so well together that it works quite nicely as both a perfect introduction to anyone seeking exposure to Yakuza films of the time, and an outstanding treat to anyone who has previously tasted the sinfully decadent exploits of these eastern brigands. The film begins with, perhaps, one of the greatest shakedowns in cinematic history. Our protagonist moves in on a high strung gang of young punks as they steal sushi from a street vendor, only to find them in possession of weapons. The viewer realizes that he recognizes them as he proceeds to smack them around and manipulate them, drawing out the information of their intentions to attack the opposition. He then proceeds to critique their lifestyle saying, “You look hungry for blood, well go ahead and kill them, then drop dead! It’ll clean up the city.”

Our key players in this violent opera were also no strangers to the genre. Bunta Sugawara leads this destructive troupe in a whirlwind collision between two opposing gangs and the not so lawful authorities who want them stopped. Bunta’s role as Kuno alone deems this film worthy in my book. In his eleventh of thirteen films with Fukasaku, Sugawara absolutely owns this character. Fluctuating through equal parts apathy, empathy, and violent desperation, the character of Detective Kuno adds life and an aspect of depth to a film that may have otherwise been over run with the two dimensional presence of anger and greed. His performance adds a compelling grey area to the black and white degrees of the holier than thou Lieutenant Kaida and the snake in the grass that is assemblyman Tomoyasu. Kuno brings to the table that things are not always right and wrong, that the middle must be carefully treaded in order to achieve certain goals. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer has never been so relevant.

Driven by its consistent, genre specific pacing, and titanic, powerhouse, characters, the film ties the viewer to the back bumper and drags him through the filthy streets of Kurashima city, before getting dumped into the garbage laden gutter.