New York Daily News
- Miike layers a blood-stained commentary on a toxic world in which men offer protection to men but really end up dooming them to exist within a spasmodic, shambolic, and hypermasculine sphere of violence.
- Even hardy gonzo-cinema auds will likely find the hectic pace overstimulating to the point of numbed-out tedium.
- The torture is strictly for kicks, which spoiled this for me, but less skittish viewers may enjoy this as a stylish and tightly wound genre piece.
- Funny, absurd, nightmarishly visceral and -- of course -- deeply serious.
- Any serious message has been sacrificed on the altar of excess, making us realize why the stylish story probably worked better as a graphic comic book than as a film.
6/10/2003 by Elizabeth Weitzman
The unceasing sadism is so graphically excessive, the director just ends up exposing his own obsession.- Only those most addicted to film violence in all its forms will find anything here to appreciate.
- The direction occasionally rises to the level of marginal competence, but for most of the film it is hard to tell who is chasing who or why.
- Those who want to be jolted out of their gourd should drop everything and run to Ichi.
- Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer suffers from a heavily-meandering storyline, resulting in a tedious and stretched-out film that marks a low point in the director's incredible career.
- Unhinged even for Takashi Miike, Ichi the Killer suggests a bloody and ejaculate-stained Rorschach inkblot, reveling in ultraviolence that can be interpreted to flatter any adventurous audience's sensibilities.
- Ultra-violent action from Japan's leading cult director that plays fast and loose with genre conventions to deliver an innovative -- and frequently revolting -- work of cult Asian cinema.
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
4/15/2010 by Dennis Schwartz
Miiki holds up violence as a virtue, in this nonconformist cartoon-like ode to ultra-violence, sadism and masochism.- Hurts so bad, but feels so good.
- A film of considerable depth, intelligence and accomplishment that marks a new high point of maturity and consistency in its author's work.
- Let's start with the fact that we were handed out Ichi barf bags before the film started. Always a good sign.
- For those with an appreciation for weirdness, this is an extremist on form.
Combustible Celluloid
5/26/2006 by Jeffrey M. Anderson
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