Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Dead Or Alive Trilogy Is Definitely Worth Watching

By Arline Vincent

The Dead or Alive Trilogy belongs on your must see movie downloads list simply because it's so crazy. You've seen action movies, you've seen over the top action movies, but you've never seen anything quite like these three flicks from Mike Takashi . Every one is out to top the last in terms of sheer craziness.

Dead or Alive Part One was designed to be a way to bring together two hot Japanese stars, being Sho Aikawa, the Japanese Pacino, and Riki Takeuchi, the Japanese DeNiro, so Dead or Alive is sort of the Japanese Heat. However, it's really nothing like Heat, and it's sort of designed to fix the problem with that movie, being that the ending wasn't quite the climax most viewers were hoping for.

We won't spoil the ending of Dead or Alive, but let's just say that it's certainly not an anti-climax. The entire movie is a thrill ride, starting with a rock video style montage that gets you into the movie's world fast, and culminating in an ending that you will not believe.

Dead or Alive 2 is one of those rare sequels that blows the original away, even though the original was already pretty good. Aikawa and Takeuchi are recast as two entirely different characters, that parallel their original roles in some interesting ways. Where the first is about a cop and a gangster out to get each other, this one focuses on two childhood friends who have grown up to become hitmen who donate all of their earnings to buying medicine for children in third world countries. This movie is all heart.

This one is much more positive, much more life affirming, and surprisingly sweet and sentimental, whereas the first was relatively dark and negative in comparison. It's interesting having these two movies, that are so different from each other, and yet have so much in common.

The third takes the whole series in an all new direction, going into science fiction akin to Blade Runner or Robocop, that sort of cyberpunk, androids and megacorporations sort of theme. It's probably the least interesting of the trilogy, but it's really interesting for how it ties the whole thing together.

If you want more after these three flicks, check out Deadly Outlaw Rekka also by Miike. It really takes the same approach to action. Everything is very over the top and surreal, and it's all pretty exciting.

The first movie's trailer proudly declares that Miike is the dog with rabies of the Japanese film world, and it's true, it's not just a clever tagline for the trailer. The guy makes something like five or six movies a year, and has made about one hundred since his debut some years ago. He is one of the most prolific directors out there, and while the quality varies, if only one in ten is any good, he's already one of the greats.

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