DEAD OR ALIVE: FINAL

Shock director Takashi Miike is known for his ultra-graphic, over-the-top, perverse films such as “Ichi the Killer” and “Gozu”. It always comes as a surprise to fans when he takes a step back from the perversion and violence he is noted for, despite the fact he does it quite often.

“Dead or Alive: Final” is the third and final installment of the “Dead or Alive trilogy”. While the first film was over-the-top violence and the second film was more artistic, this film is really neither. In fact, compared to the first two, this film is quite bland.

The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future and follows both Honda(Riki Takeuchi) and Ryo(Sho Aikawa) who play switched roles from the first “Dead or Alive”. Takeuchi plays the officer while Aikawa plays the criminal, in contrast to the first film where Takeuchi plays the criminal and Aikawa plays the officer. Honda is a family man, but mostly feels disconnected to his family(much like the officer from the first film). In many ways, he reminds me of Preston from “Equilibrium”. Like Preston, Honda seems emotionless and lives for his job. Anyway, the Government resembles a dictatorship, and is governed by Woo(Richard Chen). Woo is a homosexual, and basically is limiting the rights of the heterosexual community. Wow, the complete opposite if our current society. This may be a brilliant commentary on society in general. Miike could be showing humanity is always the same, no matter who is in charge. But who knows? This is Takashi Miike who is either brilliant or unintentionally brilliant, it may be a coincidence. Honda is sent to arrest anyone who rebels against the law, but is interrupted by Sho. Sho shows off superhuman strength and agility, making his humanity questionable. Sho joins the rebels, and the conflict begins.

There is little plot and the story feels disjointed. The futuristic setting is underused and simply seems to be a plot device itself. The movie throws a bunch of philosophical concepts and claims but never really goes any ware with them. Thankfully, the script does succeed with its character development. Sho is shown to be a nice, well-meaning character who simply wants to protect the ones he cares for. Honda starts off almost as robotic, but his characters grows into a very realistic, likable person. You feel for both and hope the best works out for them. The minor characters get decent development as well. We have Fong(Terrence Yin) who is the leader of the rebel gang. He is likeable but also preachy. His girlfriend is Jun(Josie Ho) who is well-meaning but also bitchy. Woo is detestable as the villain, and we love to hate him.

Despite having good character development, it still falls short of “Dead or Alive 2: Birds” in that department. The movie does have one great sequence of drama though. Near the end, as the two leads prepare for the final showdown, we see clips from the first two films while the orchestra classic “air” plays in the background. It’s a powerful sequence and probably in itself is better than the entire movie. Then again, “air” can make any scene have depth.

The conclusion is both stupid and funny. It felt like they ran out of money so topped it with a more humorous conclusion. I dug it, but will you?

The action varies. Some of the fight sequences are actually pretty good, and the use of humor gives it an edge. Takashi Miike feels more restrained compared to his usual stuff. He has his moments of artistic brilliance and his moments of style. The movie has its ‘strange’ moments, such as a robot that is shaped as a phallic symbol. Miike delivers regardless, making this film pleasant to the eyes.

Riki Takeuchi(Honda) doesn’t have much to do at first but look badass, but later on gets to show some very impressive acting moments. Sho Aikawa(Ryo) almost copies his own performance from the first sequel, but it still works. His eccentric appearance always cracks me up. Richard Chen(Woo) and Terrence Yin(Fong) do well but are a bit too preachy at times. Jun(Josie Ho) got on my nerves early on, but began to grow on me as time went on. The child-actors are all surprisingly good, even though they occasionally annoyed me.
Overall, this is a film entirely for Takashi Miike fans. It is not very gory, perverse, or shocking but does blend in many genres together. The final result is a decent Sci-Fi, action, martial arts, black comedy, melo-drama that does okay in all of those aspects. It fails to be a good movie in the long run, but is still worth a watch.

2.5/4 stars.