Izo
(2004)
review by Don't Feed the Dead

In 2004, the mere mention of Takashi Miike's Izo would light up the eyes of an Asian film fanatic. The long awaited partnership betweem he and Takeshi Kitano could do no wrong, and the all star cast put together guaranteed a smash of a flick. I found myself utterly giddy when I was able to get my hands on a copy of this film, but by the night's end the joy evaporated into sadness, as Izo hacked its way into my eyes as the worst of the Takashi Miike collection.

Fans of Miike and hardcore asian cinema should heed this warning - Izo is a waste of time to those not interested in Marxist beliefs. Very difficult for me to say, but this movie was an utter failure in nearly every facet of filmmaking. Opening with Izo on a cross, the audience is treated to some Troma-tic FX, as he's repeatedly stabbed in the ribs by a pair of naginata. Possibly the most coherent and understandable portion of the film, Izo's death is the gateway to the long, choppy and unfocused story ahead.

From what I gathered from the film, Izo is a tortured soul that travels through time aimlessly killing all that stand in his way for one single goal - to make the powers that be pay for instilling a system. What kind of system do you ask? Take your pick. From democracy to religious institutions, Izo wages war on structure from its most complicated to simplest of forms. Granted, the film could have made a sincere statement with its storyline, except that Miike decided to ONLY include footage of Izo fucking or killing people, or fucking killing people. Literally hundreds of bodies get mowed down in a 2 hour period that includes a great deal of bloodshed and grunting, but very little explanation as to why it's happening.

Standard in Miike's films have become the over the top violence and array of tripped out scenery. Izo is no exception to the rule, however, rather than using natural settings for the film, much of the scenes take place in a fabricated setting. A bit agitating and almost too claustraphobic, I was tempted to shut Izo off and pop in The Bird People of China to regain appreciation for the director. Similar to Versus (and I'm sure this'll get people up in arms) the redundancy factor of scenery and action sequences is quite apparent in Izo, making the film very predictable and mundane.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Izo is the lack of character development. One of Miike's strongpoints is his ability to draw the audience into a character to make the film more meaningful. Unfortunately, with the large cast ensemble, Miike was not able to establish any facets of Izo's character other than him being "evil." Even the oft impactful Takeshi Kitano was a mere flash in the pan, offering a decent performance in a role too small for a man of his stature. Many familiar faces from the genre are featured in the film, but only to a cetain extent as if someone was sitting on set with a stopwatch yelling "Okay, you're time is up." Very disappointing, to say the least.

Although I've been accustomed to the waiting period after watching a Miike film to "get its point", Izo is one that the point gets lost in the piles of dead bodies and meaningless swordplay. I've spent much of the time pondering how a film with such high potential could suck so bad, rather than the magnitude of its message. Perhaps one day when communism and revolution make their comeback I'll look at Izo in a new light and tout Miikes film as a prophecy, rather than a plopper.