The Yakuza

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KSCreative K Dry, slow, and meandering. Mitchum is dull and his neverending screen time is......neverending. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/19/25 Full Review DanTheMan 2 While old-school in its delivery, The Yakuza offers a jolting and sombre examination of man's acceptance of grief, one that gave me major Tokyo Vice vibes; a haunting melancholy where violence erupts at the speed of a Tokyo-bound bullet train. The pacing is undoubtedly slow, but deliberately so, it takes time to unravel its intricate weaving of people, conventions, and personal relationships. The writing is top-notch, rich and multilayered with a sadness that aspires to and nearly reaches the level of tragedy, where honour and loyalty become matters of life and death, all handled with the utmost respect for the culture it portrays. Sydney Pollack's direction is fabulous, contrasting hard-edge violence with romanticism. Samurai swords slash and guns blaze across the screen. It's made all the better thanks to Kōzō Okazaki's cinematography as bright and colourful as it is tonally cold, heightening Tokyo's neon-streaked coldness and radiating atmosphere. Dave Grusin's jazzy score is also worth mentioning, complimenting the film-noir aesthetics perfectly, there's just something so seductive about the film's opening sequence, its score and visuals working perfectly in tandem to draw you right in. However, the real winner for me here is the performances from Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura, matching an aged and rugged Mitchum with Takaura's masterfully understated and dominating screen presence is a piece of masculine cinematic heaven. With enough double-crosses to satisfy even the most jaded fans of the genre, The Yakuza is a classic in every sense of the word, a saga of blood, love and honour. One that deserves a much larger audience, enthralling from the start to its heartbreaking conclusion with redemption and a hope of reconciliation. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/03/25 Full Review Bahad j I really liked the characters and actions of the actors Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/11/24 Full Review David H I sometimes enjoy watching movies from the '60s and '70s which I was too young to see at the time they came out. This was an interesting foray into a foreign culture, and it reminded me of some of the old episodes of Hawaii Five-0 which deal with Pacific-Rim cultures and characters. Unfortunately, I got a little sleepy at one point, which caused for a bit of confusion about who was who later on. But the film featured a lot of Asian color and culture which I found quite interesting. The Yakuza are an interesting phenomenon, and I'm not sure quite what to make of them. I heard a radio program about the group just a few weeks ago (in 2024) which made me realize it's more complicated than good guys vs. bad guys. The situation with the Yakuza in Japan is definitely shades of gray. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/26/24 Full Review Jt P Brilliantly understated. The themes are consistent, and for those that understand older Japanese culture, are powerfully delivered with as little explanation as necessary. Mitchum and Takakura were awesome while Jordan and Shigeta were not too far behind. Keith was good, but his character wasn't well written or developed. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/24 Full Review Russ Worst thing I've ever seen Robert Mitchum in. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Yakuza

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