Full Metal Yakuza (Full Metal Gokudô, 1997)

Miike Takashi

Japan

103 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev

DVD courtesy of ArtsMagic.

Although Miike had made about twenty films prior to FMY, this film is considered an 'early' work and gets (unfavorably and unfairly) compared to the more recent, extravagant, and outlandish fare that has made the director the darling of daring Western film buffs. It is not that FMY is tame: the barrage of full frontal shootings, necrophilia, decapitation, bodies sliced in half, and mad scientists with Russian nannies suggestively undulating a circumcised oversized schlong, and beautiful girls biting their tongues to death, the film is decidedly off the mainstream circuits. But unlike many of his later films where extreme violence is served with a straight face, Miike opts for a more comedic approach. For most of the film the viewer is unsure whether he is supposed to be smiling, crying, or vomiting, or perhaps all three simultaneously.

Tosa's dragon tattoo	Yukari begs Tosa to avoid bloodshed

The premise, as countless reviews are at pains to point out (so why should this be an exception), is swiped from Robocop, yet another Hollywood drivel masquerading as an actioner cum social criticism. Fortunately, Miike has no interest in social criticism. What he wants to do here is deliver a fun twist on the boringly predictable yakuza genre. Some of the traditional trappings of the fare are straight out of a Fukasaku film: loyalty, heroism, sadism, and obedience, all spiced up with excessive violence and kinky sex. But then the rest is unadulterated Miike.

Hagane is 100% yakuza loser	Tosa dispatched by the yakuza conspiracy

Hagane Kensuke (Ujiki Tsuyoshi) is a hapless raw yakuza recruit who has no stomach for violence. Despite his inexplicable but earnest desire to be true yakuza (perhaps out of admiration for his direct boss Tosa who goes on a killing spree within the first five minutes of the film and is promptly jailed but not before we get a close-up of his beautiful girlfriend Yukari (Nakahara Shoko) yelling 'Beast!' at him, presumably for forsaking the pleasures of intimacy for the calling of the yakuza code)... so, despite this desire, Hagane is an utter failure. He cannot extort money properly, and even stops a fellow yakuza from carrying out an execution.

Full lead pipe in the head	The head of Professor Doyle

Finally, Tosa gets out of jail and promptly gets himself killed. For a guy whose heart, back skin, and penis will be the driving force behind the rest of the film, Tosa certainly gets little screen time. In the melee, Hagane is himself riddled with bullets. He dies only to awake to a new reality that looks like a TV with bad reception. He experiments with his newly found invincibility until he short-circuits in the rain. As he recovers, the appropriately bizarre mad scientist explains to him that Hagane is now Full Metal hero: an all-metal body with his old brain, Tosa's skin, heart, and penis.

Self-proclaimed mad scientist	Full Metal Yakuza must be, ahem, satisfactory

The penis is the linchpin of the scene, and it naturally appears appropriately fogged in a parody of Japanese censorship standards. Why Tosa's penis when Hagane's very own dick had survived perfectly intact becomes clear when the good doctor sways the member explaining that the robo-man cannot fail to satisfy everyone. This arousing speech gets Hagane to thoughts of sweet revenge. He asks the doctor to complete the tattoo and the undergoes a brutal regimen of funny attack/defense stances and food consisting of metal hardware soaked in milk.

With a stance like that who needs bullets?	If you scratch my back... wait a sec!

The next step, of course, is revenge, and our full metal yakuza quickly destroys the rival gang responsible for Tosa's death and would have stopped there if the cowardly Nakame (Osugi Ren) did not reveal just before getting himself beheaded that his gang was only the instrument: the player and the arrangement had come from Tosa's own turf. Hagane promptly turns back and nearly destroys his own gang until he is persuaded to give up by his childhood friend who argues convincingly by pointing a gun to his friend's head.

Bullets, unfortunately, can stop FMY	Romantic suicide attempt (unsuccessful)

Having accomplished his modest goals, FMY retires to a rather decrepit frontal beach property where he quietly spends his days in meditation, aluminum can digging, naughty reading, and erectile levitation. His idyll is interrupted by Yukari's appearance in a mini-skirt. You don't have to be a full metal yakuza to lose your tranquility along with the ability to concentrate. They spend a few days together and Hagane falls in love with her while she is trying to commit suicide. She, you see, is still under Tosa's spell but when she tries to use FMY for beach volleyball in order to get over Tosa, Hagane reveals his secret, and she flees in panic...

Wholesome yakuza entertainment	Yukari still alive

...only to make a pathetic attempt to kill the yakuza boss responsible for Tosa's murder, get herself captured, put in bondage, and made a plaything of the yakuza, who then turn around to blackmail FMY into killing a rival gang's boss in return for her life. Hagane complies but the ungrateful bastards make an attempt on his life (unsuccessful) and then proceed to rape Yukari until she bites her tongue and dies, causing FMY to fly into rage, which inexplicably involves the the brutal destruction of a rather old Mercedes and, in a throwback to good ole samurai flicks, the dismemberment of many extras along with an appropriately virtuous torso-cut-in-half demise of an important villain. The final scene with the doctor flinging his member is stunningly philosophic in its affirmative outlook on life and the future of robotic men.

Yukari commits suicide (successful)	Real FMY prefer Beemers

Food for the brain FMY ain't but it is still incredibly entertaining in its own grungy fashion. Shot on video (so don't expect wonders from the DVD), the film caters to an exploitation market, and Miike's grand posturing in the interview notwithstanding, the freedom to create outside of any studio constraints does not often result in masterpieces. Having said all that, I have to admit that the film has its charms, funny moments, and downright disturbing ones (e.g. Yukari's suicide), along with some longingly contemplative shots by the sea. A typical Miike hodgepodge of emotions, events, romance, and violence, FMY should be one pleasing, if not often repeatable, viewing experience.

The ArtsMagic DVD does what it can with the grainy source materials. For a video film, the picture looks good, and it is widescreen too. Since it is the best one out there and has English subtitles, this DVD is the only way to own the film and no Miike completist should pass on it. There are plenty of extras, as we have come to expect from ArtsMagic releases of cult Japanese cinema. This one comes with interviews (Miike, Ujiki, and the film editor), filmographies of the main characters and the director, some previews, and a feature-length commentary by Tom Mes.

Both the US and UK versions of this excellent DVD are available from ArtsMagic.

June 26, 2004