DEAD OR ALIVE TRILOGY (3PC) (WIDESCREEN SUB)

Details

• Release Year: 1999
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Suspense/Thriller
• Plot: Dead or Alive; A prostitute plunges to her death clutching a bag of drugs, a furtive men's room tryst climaxes in a geyser of blood, an after-dinner shotgun blast graphically puts a new spin on bulimia, a stripper writhes, a mysterious knife thrower takes aim and a gangster snorts a line of white powder stretching to infinity... and that's merely the first ten minutes. From Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer), 'one of the most exciting, versatile directors working today' (NY Post), comes to a film of such kaleidoscopic mayhem and frenzied violence that it defies hyperbole. Burlesquing and surpassing every other full-bore, double-barreled Asian crime thriller, Dead or Alive conjures up a harrowing urban fever-dream where 'the images are so astonishing, you'll feel you inhaled them.' (SF Examiner).; ; In Tokyo's crime-ridden Shinjuku district, emotionally and financially bankrupt Detective Jojima (Show Aikawa) plays referee in a gangland turf war pitting the Japanese Yakuza Mafia against a bloodthirsty band of Chinese immigrant gangsters. But Jojima's obligation to his terminally ill daughter and ruthless Chinese mobster Ryuichi's (Riki Takeuchi) sentimental devotion to his ersatz family of misfit assassins threatens to add their own corpses to the landslide of fresh bodies littering Tokyo. Miike depicts Dead or Alive's gruesome acts of excess and debasement with shockingly graphic relish, allowing his vision to escalate beyond even a cartoonish level of audacity.; ; Dead or Alive 2; From the ashes of Dead or Alive's apocalyptic ending comes Dead or Alive 2, both a continuation of the series and a stand-alone film on par with its predecessor. Serving up shockingly graphic violence, sincere character nuance, engaging humor and transcendent magical realism with equal mastery, Dead or Alive 2 offers definitive evidence of why the New York Post hailed director Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) as 'one of the most exciting, versatile directors working today.'; ; After Yakuza hitman Mizuki (Sho Aikawa) watches a high-priced target gunned down by another assassin, he combs the underworld in search of clues that will reveal his rival's identity. But when the two executioners meet, they discover they are long-lost childhood friends. Now reunited, Mizuki and his amigo Shuichi (Riki Takeuchi) team up to pay off their spiritual debts while staying one trigger-pull ahead of the Yakuza mobsters and drug triad killers who want them dead.; ; Somehow simultaneously reprising and reversing their roles from the first DOA installment, Japanese 'V Film' cult actors Aikawa and Takeuchi are joined by Tetsuo the Body Hammer creator Shinyu Tsukamoto in a rare onscreen appearance. Director Miike loads DOA2 with equally rich portions of mayhem and sentiment, creating both a bloodthirsty Asian actor film and a lyrical journey of cinematic finesse.; ; Dead or Alive Final; Freely referencing everything from anime to Huxley's Brave New World, from Blade Runner to Jean Luc Godard, director Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) crafts a spectacular conclusion to his wildly successful series. In Yokohama, AD 2346, a simmering multiethnic melting pot ruled by flamboyantly cruel Dictator Woo threatens to boil over. Woo's distopian vision of a city where procreation is forbidden is desperately resisted by an underworld alliance of crooks and rebels, but brutally enforced by super-cop Honda (Riki Takeuchi). When the uneasy rebels accidentally capture Honda's son, the only thing standing between them and Honda's implacable wrath is Ryo (Sho Aikawa), an android killing machine with his own deadly agenda.
• Cast: Riki Takeuchi, Noriko Aota, Edison Chen, Kenichi Endo, Hiroko Isayama, Masato, Yuichi Minato, Ren Osugi, Manzô Shinra, Tomorowo Taguchi, Teah, Toru Tezuka, Shinya Tsukamoto, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Sho Aikawa, Takashi Miike
• Director: Takashi Miike
• Runtime: 4:50
• Media Format: Movie