Review: Cocaine. Breasts. Motorcycles. Uzis. Sodomy. Shoguns. Grenades. Ramen. Clowns. Blood. Strippers.

That's all I'll say about the beginning.

A v-cinema director was presented with a script about Yakuza/Traid turmoils and was asked to direct this film. With only one major title under his belt (a film about high school students going ballistic), the director took up on this project and was presented with two of v-cinema's brightest stars. The script itself was a bland and generic v-cinema affair. The story offered nothing particularly new that the audience hadn't seen. The director scratched his head and decided a more original fare was in store. With his own masterful vision and the aid of his two main actors, this director took the bland script and injected it with a speed and excitement in an unique style. The director and his two leading men were Miike Takashi, Sho Aikawa, and Riki Takeuchi. The film was the cult-smash "Dead or Alive".

If I had any control of it, I'd forbid even the mentioning of the beginning or the end in movie reviews for "Dead or Alive". Alas, if you've read a majority of the other reviews, that is perhaps the primary focus if not secondary. The only thing I'll say is both are aspects of film you've never experienced before. They're unrelenting and they grab you by the (excuse my English) balls and don't let you go. You'll love it, or you'll hate it. But regardless, your adrenaline will be pumped and you'll begin to wonder what the hell just happened. That's it. That's all I can say about the beginning and end. I want you to experience this film to the full degree it deserves to be experienced in.

The sheer genius behind this film is that fact that Miike took a generic formula and managed to give us something new and fresh. As for the beginning, the actual script demanded just assassinations, nothing more. Miike felt this was simply too boring. Rumor has it he constricted 15 or so pages of the script and compressed it into a 10 minute mind trip. The bulk of the film is in fact, not a guns-a-blazin' Traid/Yakuza war. It's a delicate game of "I mess with you, you mess with me, let's see who dies first" type of film. The cop has his own aspirations, as does the Chinese-Japanese, as does the Yakuza, as does the Triad. Aside from one major gun battle, the middle portion of the movie can somewhat be considered slow. However, that isn't exactly the case. It still manages to take cliched elements we have seen a thousand times, and surprise us like it's the first time we've seen it. Most notably, there is one scene that anyone could've expected, but somehow, Miike takes us into a comfortable zone in our minds to know that the good will have good fates and the bad will have bad fates. That as we all know, is not the case. To be shocked and surprised by cliched elements is evidence of a truly stunning and visionary director.

Sho Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi are a match-made in heaven. It's safe to say that they carry the film. As Miike describes it, Riki has this anime characteristic to him. He doesn't talk much, but his facial reactions convey his message perfectly. Sho manages to play off a man who's equally, if not more, devoted to his job as he is to his family. The two head actors and their characters are given plenty of development and build up to the grand finale. You can understand their motives for every action they do simply because the film takes to the time to present it to you. The supporting cast isn't given much limelight except for select few. But the interactions of these characters build a strong and enriched sense of humanity in each of them, regardless of the gruesome acts they all take part in. Most notably are the relationships between the lead characters and their families.

Of course, sticking to classic Miike, aside from the interactions of the characters, the middle portion also serves as a sideshow for the perverted and just plain weird. All I'll say here is, you'll never think of "someone crapped in the kiddy pool" the same way again.

In the end, the core of "Dead or Alive" is nothing we've never seen before. It's the way we see it (through "Miike-o-Vision") that makes it such a memorable film. Some may find the beginning and end gimmicky. Some may think that it's two book ends holding up boring trash. Rest assured, it's two shining book ends holding up a story that is saturated with humanistic studies and certain aspects of Japanese society. Dare I even say, "Dead or Alive" is a Shakespearean drama hopped up on drugs and sex. And much like Shakespeare was a genius playwright, Miike is a genius filmmaker. With the plethora of films Miike has offered since his "DoA" outing, it's safe to say that Miike will continue to stun, shock, and surprise the audience like the underground-circuit Steven Speilberg that he is.