Ichi the Killer is a brutal yakuza movie by renowned director Takashi Miike. If you haven't watched any of his movies yet, let me tell you that this film isn't for lighthearted audiences. In the first five minutes alone, we see illegal gambling in a shady bar, a yakuza boss beating up and raping a prostitute and a voyeur masturbating to this instead of helping the poor woman. You will see prolonged torture sessions, people taking drugs and blood-red rooms filled with guts after intense massacres. Anyone who criticizes this movie for these elements or calls the viewers of it sick clearly didn't inform himself what kind of movie he was about to watch. Japanese yakuza movies are usually over-the-top, graphic and for mature audiences only. This is what makes them stand out.

Ichi the Killer tells the story of a mentally unstable killer who seems to be manipulated via hypnosis and psychological torture by a lowly yakuza named Jijii who orders him to take out two rival yakuza gangs. Sadomasochistic hitman Kakihara wants to avenge his deceased boss but also desires meeting the killer in order to be domineered and tortured by him.

If you think that this movie is only filled with perverted brutality, you've got it all wrong. The film features a lot of cultural elements related to yakuza traditions such as yubitsume, a ritual to atone for offenses by performing self-mutilation. The filming techniques are very experimental, working with unusual camera angles and stop-and-go technology. The authentic settings in form of dirty back alleys, small apartments and shady bars clash with flashy costumes as the sadomasochistic hitman walks around in colorful suits while the unstable killer wears a costume with special hidden weapons. The film works a lot with colors and their symbolism with white standing for the loss of childish innocence, black for darkness and red for violence. The experimental and vivid soundtrack blends in perfectly.

The greatest element about this movie might be its stunning finale that actually offers some food for thought. It isn't immediately obvious what actually happens, how it occurs and what the consequences are. Personally, I believe Ichi the Killer, lowly yakuza Jijii and prostitute Karen are one and the same person with multiple-personality disorder since they share the same memories at times but there are many possible theories. No matter how you think about the film's outcome, it's something you will still be thinking about long after you have actually watched the movie.

In the end, I can recommend the movie if you are equally interested in Japanese culture, brutal gangster films and intellectual film-making. Ichi the Killer stimulates your brain, your guts and your heart. It's an unforgettable experience based upon a unique manga and directed by one of the best directors of all times.

The Prison is a South Korean thriller that convinces with great acting performances, profound characters and sinister settings. It tells the story of a former detective who ends up in a prison controlled by an influential criminal who organizes blackmail, murder and theft inside and outside the prison walls. The former detective gains the criminal's trust when he protects him from an influential politician and an uprising organized by some jealous inmates. However, it turns out that the detective is on a dangerous undercover mission and trying to expose organized crime with the help of his journalist brother.

The intense movie that entertains from start to finish convinces on many levels. First of all, the main characters are particularly intriguing. The undercover cop is a courageous, intelligent and selfless person who can show his raw and rough side but also an empathizing and idealistic side. The wise main villain has a calm, diplomatic and intellectual side to convince other inmates to support him but he can become brutal, pitiless and relentless in order to keep his power. The clash between these two men is particularly interesting to watch. Both characters are played convincingly by an energetic Kim Rae-won and a truly diversified Han Suk-kyu. The settings of the movie are quite gloomy and add to the film's oppressive atmosphere. The film takes place in bare prison cells, dirty basements and dark streets that are occasionally blended and contrasted with beautiful gardens and shiny lofts.

The movie has a few minor downsides as well. The story takes too much time to get started as the first half of the movie basically only shows how the undercover cop is trying to gain the criminal's trust which becomes quite predictable and repetitive. The background stories of the characters are told in flashbacks which are sometimes randomly inserted and rather confusing the audience than solving the puzzle. The cop's relentless motivation to expose the criminal never becomes quite clear and it also remains a mystery how the criminal became so influential in the first place. The movie's conclusion was also somewhat odd and ended with a negative surprise related to the protagonist's fate.

In the end, you will enjoy The Prison for its outstanding acting performances, intriguing characters and great settings. The movie is overall lacking pace and precision to be more than just good as it doesn't exploit all of its promising potential. Fans of atmospheric crime flicks in general and Korean cinema in particular will still certainly like this film.

Gintama is a so-called jidaigeki action comedy film based upon the popular manga series of the same name. I would rather categorize the movie as steampunk comedy. It combines elements of feudal Japan such as clothing and dwellings of that era as well as the terminology of the capital being refered to as Edo and the presence of samurai and ronin with science-fiction elements such as the presence of aliens, flying ships and sophisticated weapons. This mixture makes for a colourful, entertaining and vivid movie even though characters and stories are completely exaggerated and make me think of the slapstick comedy genre. The story takes place in Edo where aliens have taken control after defeating a group of rebellious samurai. Gintoki Sakata is one of the surviving ronin and is doing odd jobs with former waiter Shinpachi and the vivid Kagura. They are asked to find a powerful sword that was apparently stolen and which seems to be used by a mysterious serial killer who assassinates ronin. These incidents seem to be related to sinister ronin Shinsuke Takasugi who has gathered a group of fierce followers on a flying ship and who pretends to desire to challenge the aliens who defeated his comrades and him. Gintoki Sakata must arrest the pitiless serial killer, face his former comrade and retrieve the dangerous sword before it causes any more damage.

There are numerous things that make this live-action film adaptation highly entertaining. First of all, the franchise's eclectic universe is fascinating to watch as it always comes around with new creative surprises. When the main characters are looking for a valuable royal beetle in a forest, we get introduced to characters covering themselves in honey, smearing mayonnaise on a tree and disguising themselves as giant beetle to catch the mysterious insect. If that description makes you shake your head in disbelief, expect plenty of scenes like this one in the movie. The characters are equally intriguing and I particularly liked some of the female characters like the agile, colourful and eccentric protagonist Kagura with her orange hair and soft skin or the brutal, emotional and loyal antagonist Matako Kijima with her two revolvers that always seem to miss their target. There isn't one single boring, predictable or stereotypical character in this movie which is positively exceptional. The movie's pace is as vivid as its universe and truly entertaining from start to finish.

There are also a few downsides here and there. The most obvious offender is the story which is truly over the top but often lacking background information, for example about the strange aliens controling Edo. It's also somewhat confusing, frustrating and random that seemingly deceased characters suddenly come back to life in vague circumstances and appear out of nowhere at the right moment. It seems obvious to me that this franchise doesn't take adversity, coherency and scriptwriting seriously at all. As colourful as the characters are, some of them can become quite annoying after a while like megalomaniac swordsmith Murata Tetsuya who always shouts because of a hearing problem or cabaret hostess Shimura Tae who seems to be obsessed with controlling Gintoki Sakata as much as she possibly can. One also has to address the typically Japanese humor which will please those familiar with it while it might rather confuse those unfamiliar with it. The movie had a few great laughs, especially in the beginning of the story, but sometimes dwelled on these elements for too long and lost momentum in the process.

Gintama offers light-hearted entertainment for colourful, creative and juvenile spirits and is a very welcome change from movies that take themselves overtly seriously and try to teach their audience a lesson. This diversified, vivid and unique steampunk comedy potpourri is an unusual experience and best enjoyed with your friends when you're in a good mood and ready to switch your brain off. This memorable film is highly recommended to fans of Japanese culture. Since I'm not familiar with the source material, I can't comment upon any comparisons but I certainly enjoyed the wild ride and would watch this film again.

Tokyo Ghoul is an action-horror movie based upon the manga series of the same name. I haven't read the manga series or watched the anime television series because I usually find myself unable to empathisze with drawn sketches of figures reminding me of childhood comic books even though there are a few rare exceptions such as the more serious Death Note, Tomie and Uzumaki series. However, I'm much interested in horror cinema and literature and decided to give this film a shot. I really appreciated the film and can highly recommend it.

For those not involved yet, the story takes place in a world where human beings and ghouls coexist. However, human beings are hunting ghouls down since they need human blood and flesh in order to stay alive. Shy college student Ken Kaneki goes on a date with a seemingly charming young woman who turns out being such a ghoul and attacking him at night during a stroll through a park. He gets bitten to become a ghoul but his assailant gets hit by a concrete slab at a construction side and deceases. Ken Kaneki survives and gets the organs of the ghoul implanted into his body. He then becomes a hybrid between a ghoul and a human being and struggles to adapt to his new life. When his childhood friend gets attacked by another ghoul and only survives when Ken Kaneki challenges the other ghoul, he realizes that he needs to stay away from those he loves most and sets up camp in a ghoul safehouse in form of a café. However, the ghouls are tracked down by the so-called Commission of Counter Ghoul. Ken Kaneki needs to learn to control his urges, cooperate with other ghouls and fight against his natural opponents in order to survive.

What I liked about Tokyo Ghoul was the movie's constantly gloomy atmosphere. This was due to the horror themes, an excellent light technique and sinister settings in small alleys, shady basements and nocturne parks. The movie also featured a few memorable, sinister and tense scenes such as Ken Kaneki becoming a ghoul, him trying to save his childhood friend or the bloody showdown under a bridge. The characters are well-developed as Ken Kaneki convinces as charming, nervous and shy college student who has to increase self-confidence, strength and wit in order to survive. His sidekicks including a wise owner of a café, a tough waitress and a quiet young girl who lost her father are also very interesting. The antagonists are also intriguing because they are driven to fight the ghouls for credible personal reasons such as having lost their parents to them. The acting performances are credible, focused and grounded and not over-acted as so many other manga adaptations. The film also convinces with its stylistics in form of creepy black-red ghoul eyes, shady masks to hide the ghouls' faces and organic weapons hidden inside ghouls' bodies. The movie's universe is very interesting and makes me hope for other entries of this type in the franchise. The film had a relatively steady pace and was entertaining from start to finish.

There are very few things to complain about in this film. The premise of the story is very intriguing but the rivalry between hunted ghouls and driven agents could have been a little bit more fleshed out with more background information. The film had a few minimal lengths in the middle section and could have been about fifteen minutes shorter than it turned out to be. There are a few minor scenes that seemed non-sensical to me such as the ghoul who bites Ken Kaneki getting hit by a concrete slab out of nowhere or the fact that the agents didn't find the ghouls' safehouse and decided to raid it.

Overall, the minor complaints are clearly due to the original version being a manga series and the challenge to cut this series down to one consistent movie of about two hours. As I mentioned earlier, the movie left me wanting more. It convinced with a fascinating universe, intriguing characters and sinsister atmosphere. If you aren't familiar with the manga or anime series, I can highly recommend the film as it's easy to understand, very entertaining and a very creative horror movie. If you are a fan of the manga and anime series, I would simply suggest you to watch this adaptation and make up your mind about it.

Shock Wave is a quite intense action-thriller starring Hong Kong star actor Andy Lau. It tells the story of an undercover police officers who arrests the brother of a ruthless terrorist who is specialized in using explosives. About a year later, the terrorist has specialized in drug trade but is obsessed with getting his revenge. He kills one of the commanders in charge of his brother's arrest a year ago by making his car explode. The undercover cop who has a successful career, is respected by his peers and has met a teacher who has become his girlfriend over the past twelve months, realizes that the terrorist will challenge him to get his revenge. A series of bombs are found in Hong Kong and it becomes more and more difficult to dismantle them for the protagonist. However, nobody is prepared for the terrorist's magnum opus: he kidnaps hundreds of civilians by blocking the exits of a tunnel with two trucks filed with explosives. His goal is to discredit the Hong Kong police corps, make money with a ruthless businessman and reunite with his imprisoned brother. The undercover terrorist must try to deal very carefully with the excitable terrorist in order to save as many civilians as possible.

There are numerous elements I liked about Shock Wave. The film has vivid pace and is entertaining from start to finish. The acting performances are great as Andy Lau convinces as calm and rational police officers while Wu Jiang delivers the goods as clever and pitiless terrorist. The action scenes in the film are always dramatic and intense. The special effects look great. The settings in Hong Kong are also quite interesting and especially the scenes in the tunnel make for a claustrophobic atmosphere. The film has a few nice ideas that keep it original such as the terrorist's brother who has found religion and unexpectedly doesn't cooperate with the dangerous terrorist. I also liked the movie's unusual ending which distinguishes it from similar movies where an honest officer is challenged by a pitiless terrorist. One wouldn't see such a resolution in an ordinary Hollywood flick.

On the other side, the movie also has a few minor flaws. The story is quite predictable which makes the film lose momentum and tension. The relationship between the honest police officer and the emotionally unstable teacher isn't credible at all as the police officer has the charisma of an iceberg while his love interest seems to be constantly discouraged.

Overall, Shock Wave is a quite good action-thriller that will entertain you from start to finish. It makes me think of the Die Hard series and similar franchises but since these movie have been mostly disappointing recently, it only makes sense to look for something similar but more convincing produced in Hong Kong with its know-how of spectacular action cinema.