Underneath the spillage and flow of this gonzo activity, 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.
Ichi the Killer(殺し屋1)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan, Hong Kong · 2001
Rated R · 2h 9m
Director Takashi Miike
Starring Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, SABU
Genre Action, Crime, Horror
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
As Kakihara, a sadomasochistic yakuza henchman, searches for his missing boss, he comes across Ichi, a psychotic, sexually-repressed killer who can inflict the type of ultra-violence that Kakihara craves.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
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.
The New York Times by Dave Kehr
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.
Completely over-the-top yakuza actioner -- featuring nonstop mayhem, gore, torture and S&M -- duly reflects its comic book origins in both style and barely coherent narrative frenzy.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
This time around, the cult director dispenses with the feminism, the satire, and even the issues, so he can concentrate on his true passion: the dissecting.
Takashi knows how to make a great, sleazy Yakuza film, but what Im missing here is that sense of something brand new.
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.
Chicago Tribune by John Petrakis
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.
Takashi Miike's frenetic comic yakuza thriller embodies the best and worst this notorious Japanese genre auteur has to offer: It's endlessly inventive, consistently intelligent and sickeningly savage.
One of Miike's most violent and sadistic movies, filled with squirting blood, throat-slashing, limb-hacking and other forms of mutilation too gruesome to describe here.
Users who liked this film also liked
Agitator
(荒ぶる魂たち)
thank you - and - fuck you - brother
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2001
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Masaya Kato, Taisaku Akino, Kenichi Endo, Hakuryu, Mickey Curtis, Takashi Miike
- Genre Crime, Drama, Action
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Visitor Q
(ビジターQ)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2001
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Kenichi Endo, Shungicu Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Mutô, Fujiko, Shôko Nakahara
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Gozu
(極道恐怖大劇場 牛頭 GOZU)
When the target disappears, a murder mission turns into a bizarre adventure.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2003
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Yûta Sone, Show Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino, Shôhei Hino, Keiko Tomita, Harumi Sone
- Genre Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Screambox Amazon Channel
Izo
(IZO)
The world never can be changed.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Kazuya Nakayama, Kaori Momoi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Hiroki Matsukata, Ryôsuke Miki, Masumi Okada
- Genre Action, Drama, Fantasy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Madadayo
(まあだだよ)
The tale of a German professor’s life after he resigns prior to WWII to pursue a career as a writer.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1993
- Director Akira Kurosawa
- Cast Tatsuo Matsumura, Kyōko Kagawa, Hisashi Igawa, George Tokoro, Masayuki Yui, Akira Terao
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Graveyard of Honor
(新・仁義の墓場)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2002
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Narimi Arimori, Yoshiyuki Daichi, Hirotaro Honda, Harumi Inoue, Renji Ishibashi, Goro Kishitani
- Genre Action, Crime, Thriller
- Available on ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Yatterman
(ヤッターマン)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2009
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Sho Sakurai, Saki Fukuda, Kyoko Fukada, Kendô Kobayashi, Katsuhisa Namase, Koichi Yamadera
- Genre Action, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Bird People in China
(中国の鳥人)
The children of the sky
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Masahiro Motoki, Renji Ishibashi, Mako, Li Li Wang, Yuichi Minato
- Genre Adventure, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Blue Spring
(青い春)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2001
- Director Toshiaki Toyoda
- Cast Ryuhei Matsuda, Hirofumi Arai, Sousuke Takaoka, Yusuke Oshiba, Yuta Yamazaki, Shugo Oshinari
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Dead or Alive: Final
(DEAD OR ALIVE FINAL)
- ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2002
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Sho Aikawa, Riki Takeuchi, Maria Chen, Richard Chen, Jason Chu, Josie Ho
- Genre Action, Comedy, Science Fiction, Crime
- Available on ARROW, Amazon Video
Zebraman
(ゼブラーマン)
A schoolteacher escapes his mundane everyday life by dressing up as an obscure TV superhero.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Takashi Miike
- Cast Show Aikawa, Kyoka Suzuki, Atsuro Watabe, Yui Ichikawa, Kôen Kondô, Ren Osugi
- Genre Action, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Cineverse, Midnight Pulp, Hoopla
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl
(吸血少女対少女フランケン)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2009
- Director Yoshihiro Nishimura, Naoyuki Tomomatsu
- Cast Yukie Kawamura, Takumi Saitoh, Eri Otoguro, Sayaka Kametani, Jiji Bû, Eihi Shiina
- Genre Horror, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Video
Torture Garden
Do You Dare See What Dr. Diabolo Sees?
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1967
- Director Freddie Francis
- Cast Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Beverly Adams, Peter Cushing, Maurice Denham, Barbara Ewing
- Genre Horror
- Available on fuboTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV
Murder Obsession
Welcome to your new home. Welcome to hell.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1981
- Director Riccardo Freda
- Cast Stefano Patrizi, Martine Brochard, Henri Garcin, Laura Gemser, John Richardson, Anita Strindberg
- Genre Horror, Mystery
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy
The King of Pigs
(돼지의 왕)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2011
- Director Yeon Sang-ho
- Cast Yang Ik-june, Oh Jung-se, Kim Hye-na, Park Jae Young, Kim Kkob-bi, Jo Yeong-Bin
- Genre Animation, Thriller, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
(Les neiges du Kilimandjaro)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2011
- Director Robert Guédiguian
- Cast Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Marilyne Canto, Anaïs Demoustier
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Dirties
We're only here for the bad guys.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2013
- Director Matt Johnson
- Cast Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Krista Madison, Shailene Garnett, Jay McCarrol, Brandon Wickens
- Genre Drama, Crime, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, AMC+, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Freevee, Plex Channel
In the Crosswind
(Risttuules)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Estonia • 2014
- Director Martti Helde
- Cast Laura Peterson-Aardam, Tarmo Song, Mirt Preegel, Ingrid Isotamm, Einar Hillep
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Spamflix, MovieSaints
Killing
(斬、)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2018
- Director Shinya Tsukamoto
- Cast Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei Maeda, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kohji Katoh
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Disciple
A young man devotes his life to achieving greatness in Indian classical music, which proves difficult.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 2020
- Director Chaitanya Tamhane
- Cast Aditya Modak, Arun Dravid, Sumitra Bhave, Deepika Bhida Bhagwat, Kiran Yadnyopavit, Abhishek Kale
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads