Full Metal Yakuza Movie Review

It's the flipside of RoboCop in every way: The hero's a cyborg, but everything else is twisted: Instead of a cop, he's a street thug. Instead of a slick Hollywood movie, it's a direct-to-video flick made on the cheap. And instead of taking place in Detroit, Full Metal Yakuza hails, as we'd expect, from Japan.

Takashi Miike is unapologetic about ripping off Robo, but at least he's got a sense of humor about it. Never mind electricity: This flick's hero eats metal for energy. And our underground designer puts efforts into ensuring that the yakuza has the world's longest schlong (no one should be left unsatisfied by the full metal yakuza!), which appears pixilated every time it's on camera.

Full Metal Yakuza is in every way the theater of the absurd we've come to expect from Miike, complete with ultraviolent/semi-comedic blood spraying, ridiculous sword fights, and more. Too bad it all plays for comedy instead of shocks: Those expecting an Audition creep-out or even Ichi the Killer's eye-popping originality will come away disappointed and depressed. Yakuza is a quickie flick shot on the cheap, and obviously so. There's little new here to expand Miike's universe of carnage and perversity, but die-hard fans (and I know you're out there) will probably want to give it a whirl, if for no other reason than to see what Miike does with 30 million yen or so.

The new DVD release features a number of interviews (including a half hour with Miike himself) and a commentary track.

Aka Full Metal gokudô .