The mild-mannered gas station attendee Masaki (Masahiko Ono) and Iguchi (Gadarukanaru Taka), both members of a minor Japanese baseball team, manage to get into some trouble with the local yakuza. After the gangsters seriously injure their coach, Masaki and a friend from team set off to Okinawa to purchase a gun. Upon arrival, they meet an odd yakuza member (Takeshi Kitano) in debt who is planning his own revenge on his yakuza.The Good?
The first half is filled with pointless, yet hysterical situational comedy. It’s classic Kitano humor with awkward moments, odd characters, and random outbursts of sex and violence.
Kitano’s character is anything but lovable in this film. He’s cruel, perverse and completely ridiculous, but he carries the entire second half. He frequently offers his girlfriend for sex and gets severely pissed at her for finally agreeing. Maybe it’s just because Kitano is playing him, but we still love watching him.
The Bad?
There are tons of one dimensional characters that didn’t seem like throwaway side or joke characters. They were given an uneven focus and it was difficult to get drawn to them or tell what Kitano intended to do with them.
The plot is really simple and light. It is filled with barely satisfying, neat tie-ups that hardly seem realistic, but just conveniently end the film. But this is still primarily a comedy, so when it’s funny, how much does a shaky narrative really matter?
B-
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