Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki (1989)

Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki: Directed by Takeshi Kitano. With Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Shirô Sano. A violence prone police officer discovers that his colleague is trafficking drugs.

“This is Takeshi Kitanou0026#39;s directorial debut, and damn, itu0026#39;s a good way to open a directing career. Violent Cop is a film about, well… look at the title. While it may not be 100% in the style that Kitanou0026#39;s later films are, you can see many aspects of his later films were started. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKitano plays a cop who goes above and beyond when it comes to the kind of wild things that Dirty Harry did. Heu0026#39;s an even looser cannon than Harry, and thatu0026#39;s saying something. Kitano plays the role well, doing his usual stoic face act. He comes across as quite scary and threatening. All the other side characters do a good job too. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVisually it does a lot of the things that Kitano is known for. Long shots, close ups, interesting editing, etc. You can see the foundation of Kitanou0026#39;s later films within this one. Now since this was his first attempt at directing, it can occasionally feel a bit slow. When I was about half way through, it felt like I had been watching for longer. Also the plot can be a bit confusing at times. Scenes occur that sometimes feel like they didnu0026#39;t have a lot to do with the main plot, or characters appear that you arenu0026#39;t exactly sure if you have seen briefly before or not. Kitanou0026#39;s later films tighten up the plot for sure, so I understand that this one is a little bit more rough since itu0026#39;s his first directing gig.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOver all, itu0026#39;s an interesting tale of a loose cannon cop. If youu0026#39;re a fan of Kitano and havenu0026#39;t seen it, check it out. Also watch it if you are in the mood for an unique Japanese film or a movie that shows that late 80u0026#39;s/early 90u0026#39;s vibe, because this movie certainly has that.”