Beyond Outrage
| Outrage Beyond | |
|---|---|
| File:Outrage Beyond (film).jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Takeshi Kitano |
| Written by | Takeshi Kitano |
| Produced by | Masayuki Mori Takio Yoshida |
| Starring | Beat Takeshi Toshiyuki Nishida Tomokazu Miura |
| Cinematography | Katsumi Yanagishima |
| Edited by | Takeshi Kitano Yoshinori Ota |
| Music by | Keiichi Suzuki |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 112 minutes |
| Land | Japan |
| Sprache | Japanese |
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Outrage Beyond (アウトレイジ ビヨンド, Autoreiji Biyondo) is a 2012 Japanese yakuza film directed by Takeshi Kitano, starring Beat Takeshi, Toshiyuki Nishida and Tomokazu Miura. It is a sequel to Kitano's 2010 film, Outrage.
Plot summary
The film begins with two anti-corruption detectives observing the discovery of dead human bodies in a car being recovered from the bottom of a harbor. The detectives suspect that the drowned bodies are related to the recent gang war and power struggle at the huge Sanno-kai crime syndicate which covers a large portion of eastern Japan. The new Grand Yakuza leader of Sanno-kai, Kato, must now reform his standing with the powerful rival Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate of western Japan. Otomo (Beat Takeshi), a former Yakuza, is serving time in a maximum security prison after falling out of favor with Sekiuchi, the former Grand Yakuza before Kato took control.
When it is finally ascertained by detectives that one of the dead bodies recovered from the harbor in the opening scene was actually the body of a high government official, the departmental Chief of Police strongly suspects that the new Grand Yakuza leader of the Sanno-Kai syndicate, Kato (Tomokazu Miura), has become too strong and influential. He suspects that Kato now believes that he is sufficiently protected by his corrupt political ties that he can completely avoid being investigated even after ordering the execution of a government official.
The Chief of Police then appoints special detective Kataoka, who has previously infiltrated the Sanno-kai syndicate by posing as a corrupt cop open to accepting bribes for favors, to see if he can ignite further dissent between the already aggressive Sanno-kai Yakuza leaders. Detective Kataoka decides that if he could somehow speed-up the release process of Otomo from his prison sentence, then Otomo’s returning presence at the Sanno-kai syndicate might stir-up bad memories of old bitter clan rivalries which prevailed before Otoma was sent to the penitentiary. This would potentially cause old cracks to resurface in this new and growing version of the old Sanno-kai crime syndicate.
When Kataoka uses his influence to shorten Otomo's imprisonment and Otomo is released from the peneteniary, Kato tentatively accepts him back into the crime syndicate. Otomo, with careful calculation and help from the rival Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate of western Japan, uses this opportunity to initiate a ruthless and bloody rampage through the ranks of the Sanno-kai crime syndicate in order to seize his version of justice for having been previously betrayed and forced to serve his now ended prison sentence.
Otomo’s careful calculation pays off as his ruthless campaign to disembowel the new Sanno-kai Yakusa leadership, including Kato, is efficiently put into full operation. The decimated Sanno-kai crime syndicate then ends up being taken over and absorbed by the now vast Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate under their Grand Yakuza leader who has virtually unified the entire underground of all of Japan into a massive, single and centralized crime syndicate.
In the closing scene, Otomo returns to a funeral home at nightfall where some of his killed Yakuza brothers are being interred. He is surprised in the parking lot on the way there by Detective Kataoka who tells him that all the Yakuza leaders are inside at the funeral home and that he better make sure he has a gun before he goes inside. When he learns that Otomo is unarmed, detective Kataoka, still posing as a corrupt detective on the take, offers to give Otomo his own gun for Otomo's self-protection. By now it has fully dawned upon Otomo that Kataoka has been playing the two rival crime syndicates against each other in order to weaken and destroy the Sanno-kai syndicate, although detective Kataoka does not realize, then and there, that Otomo has seen through all of his plotting. The moment Kataoka hands his loaded gun to Otomo for Otomo’s self-protection, Otomo immediately cocks the gun in the nearly empty parking lot, aims it at point blank range directly at Kataoka, and empties the full clip into Kataoka killing him instantly as the film ends.
Theme
Outrage Beyond returns, with a sharper focus, to the three principal plot themes which where first explored in the original film Outrage and which recur throughout the sequel. These themes are (i) the relation of organized crime syndicates and the legitimate police force of Japan, (ii) the study of the nature of shifting loyalties and non-shifting loyalties among the Yakuza, and (iii) a study of the extent of influence which a large crime syndicate can have upon a country as large as Japan at both the cultural level and the political level.
Regarding the first theme, the sequel enjoins a much different conclusion than the original film. Whereas the principal special detective, Kataoka, is somewhat ambiguously allowed to survive his infiltration of the Yakuza in the first film, in the second film his influence and success are brought to an abrupt conclusion by Otomo in the stark conclusion of the sequel. The sequel is explicit in recognizing a recurring influence being exerted by organized crime on legitimate police law enforcement.
On the theme of shifting loyalties and non-shifting loyalties among the Yakuza, the prominence of reversals of loyalty are unavoidably recurrent and displayed throughout the film. During the original film, Otomo and Kimura are bitter opponents who slash and stab each other, whereas in the sequel they form what appears to be almost the closest loyalty to each other seen among the non-shifting loyalties displayed in the film. Among the shifting loyalties observed in the second film following Kato's secretly killing Sekiuchi in the first film, is the selling-out of Kato's chief rival for taking over Sekiuchi's place as the Grand Yakuza leader, by his own two chief lieutenants. Sekiuchi's chief bodyguard is also implicated in the sequel for selling-out the former Grand Yakuza (from the original film) to Kato for a promotion in the Sanno-kai crime syndicate organization. Only the rival Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate seems to fare much better concerning non-shifting loyalties, which appears to be the mirror opposite of the Sanno-kai crime syndicate. Since they take over control of the Sanno-kai syndicate toward the conclusion of the film, Kitano is clear in asserting that non-shifting loyalties result in the unambiguous prevailing of the Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate.
The third prominent theme recurring throughout the sequel involves the extent of influence which a large crime syndicate can have upon a country as large as Japan at both the cultural level and the political level. Kitano leaves an open plot line during the film which seems to expand the scope of his film to the international level in brief cameo scenes which he includes in the sequel concerning ties between the Japanese crime syndicates and the Korean crime syndicates. The bleak conclusion Kitano seems to thematically leave at the end of the sequel is politically ripe and suggests that the organized legitimate police force is locked in a perpetual battle with organized crime with no particular end in sight. These crime syndicates within Japan appear to have resources which not only renew themselves within Japan but now, in the sequel, also extend to supporting ties across its international borders as the film concludes.
Cast
- Takeshi Kitano (Beat Takeshi) as Otomo
- Tomokazu Miura as Kato
- Ryo Kase as Ishihara
- Fumiyo Kohinata as Detective Kataoka
- Yutaka Matsushige as Detective Shigeta
- Toshiyuki Nishida as Nishino
- Sansei Shiomi as Nakata
- Shigeru Koyama as Fuse
- Katsunori Takahashi as Jo
- Akira Nakao as Tomita
- Tetsushi Tanaka as Funaki
- Ken Mitsuishi as Gomi
- Tatsuo Nadaka as Shiroyama
- Shun Sugata as Okamoto
- Hideo Nakamura as Kimura
- Hirofumi Arai as Ono
- Kenta Kiritani as Shima
- Tokio Kaneda as Korean fixer
- Hakuryu as Korean fixer's bodyguard
Release
Outrage Beyond was screened in competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.[1]
Reception
Gabe Toro of IndieWire gave Outrage Beyond an "A-" rating.[2] Justin Chang of Variety described the film as "a slow-motion deathtrap in which the wall-to-wall chatter feels like a joyless, too-leisurely distraction from the inevitable bloodletting". Meanwhile, he commented that Otomo (Beat Takeshi) is "the most memorable figure here, a demon of death shown to brook no nonsense in the film's blunt, perfect final scene".[3] Lee Marshall of Screen International said, "Out-and-out shouting matches between supposedly composed clan members are another forte of Outrage Beyond – a film that always has humour bubbling just underneath its hard-boiled surface".[4]
Kinema Junpo placed Outrage Beyond at number 3 in their "10 Best Japanese Films of 2012",[5] while it was ranked at number 36 on the Film Comment's "50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012".[6] On 7 March 2013 Minkei News of Hong Kong reported that Kitano won the Best Director award at the 7th Asian Film Awards for Outrage Beyond in Hong Kong.
Sequel
In September 2012, Takeshi Kitano said that the producers wanted him to make the third Outrage film.[7] As reported by Macnab, the making of a third Outrage film would complete the first film trilogy for Takeshi Kitano. Other rare examples in the crime film genre to become a trilogy include the Dirty Harry Trilogy and the Godfather Trilogy. As of 30 June 2013, Box Office Mojo reported a total revenue for Outrage approaching ten million dollars with 8,383,891 dollars in the total worldwide lifetime box office.[8]
References
- ^ Schilling, Mark (5 October 2012). "'Outrage Beyond'". The Japan Times.
- ^ Toro, Gabe (11 October 2012). "NYFF Review: 'Outrage Beyond' Is Pure Unfiltered Takeshi Kitano". IndieWire.
- ^ Chang, Justin (2 September 2012). "Outrage Beyond - Variety". Variety.
- ^ Marshall, Lee (3 September 2012). "Outrage Beyond - Review - Screen". Screen International.
- ^ "2012年 第86回キネマ旬報ベスト・テン". Kinema Junpo (in Japanese). Retrieved 19 January 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|trans_title=ignored (|trans-title=suggested) (help) - ^ "50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012". Film Comment. 13 December 2012.
- ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (5 September 2012). "Takeshi Kitano considers making a third Outrage movie". Screen International.
- ^ "Japan Box Office July 3–4, 2010". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
External links
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