Outrage Beyond

Story: The Sanno yakuza clan under the leadership of Kato (Tomokazu Miura) and his right hand man Ishihira (Ryo Kase) is getting too powerful in the eyes of the police. Detective Kataoka (Fumiyo Kohinata) soon has come up with a plan to do something about this. He wants to entangle the Sanno clan in a power struggle with the Hanabishi clan, led by Fuse (Shigeru Koyama). But that turns out to be difficult since both clans share sworn bonds of peace. Therefore, Kataoka decides to take care of Otomo (Takeshi Kitano) being released on parole. Otomo was once part of the Sanno clan under the leadership of Sekiuchi until that leader has been murdered. Kato himself is probably behind the murder and the detective hopes that Otomo starts his own personal vendetta. But Otomo simply just wants to quit. Thus, the detective pays a visit to Kimura (Hideo Nakano), who could make Otomo join him in taking revenge on the Sanno clan and restore the power of the Otomo family. But even if Otomo and Kimura, despite their past issues, should be able to work together, they don't stand a chance against the Sanno without the support of the Hanabishi clan.

Review: Yakuza-flicks enjoy great popularity but have become somewhat of a rare sight in the last few years. Now, Takeshi Kitano presents his sequel to the successful "Outrage" and even eliminates some of the old weaknesses. Others, however, are apparent this time as well. The characters are sill a bit sketchy, but on the other hand they are already feeling familiar, which makes it easier to cheer for them. Surprisingly it is also easier this time to accept Otomo as the hero of the story, maybe beceuase he actually wants to quit the bloody business. Aside from him, and maybe also Kimura, there are only loathe-worthy villains to be found, who on the outside seem to follow a code of honor but in fact are waging a perfidious war in order to gain more power.

"Outrage Beyond" is very political. If you are aware of that fact and don't expect a bloody vengeance movie - you will get that later on as a small bonus - you will take much pleasure in the film. Takeshi Kitano, who isn't just responsible for the directing and editing, but also for the screenplay, has put together a very complex and smart story, that creates an immense amount of suspense, especially in the dialogues. Since generally every character remains unpredictable you are soon finding yourself at the edge of your seat, because even though there might be going on only little in respect to the action, the story is constantly uncovering new intrigues which could potentially prove fatal in the end. This also makes up a lot of the movie's appeal as the violence, which those familiar with Kitano's crime thrillers are inevitably waiting to hit the screen, is at first slumbering beneath the surface.

You can't give enough praise to the script. Granted, there are also a few scenes, in which the otherwise even-tempered yakuza apparently start to yell at each other for the sole reason to emphasize their unpredictability once again, but that's just part of the game. Anyway, it's impressive how sophisticated and political the story turns out to be and that we are constantly supplied with new developments. At a closer look the several individuals are fleshed out more than in the prequel, too, this naturally applies only to the main characters because concerning the big number of individuals involved many get only a raw deal. Most impressive is Kataoka. He is a policeman with close relation to the yakuza and you can never be sure whether he is one of the good or maybe one of the bad guys after all, even though things strongly point to the former. But the mercilesness he displays when playing one clan off against the other and his general deceitfulness surprisingly make him the most hateaful individual.

In respect to all the talking and developments within the story the burst of violence is inevitable in a yakuza world, though. Here Kitano walks down two paths at the same time. There are scenes in which the violence is shown to us in an unvarnished manner, but oftentimes even those leave enough room for your imagination to do most of the work, which makes them just the more gruesome. At other times Kitano refrains from showing the repetitive act of killing and instead just presents us with the results. But even during the shootouts that are shown there is only little action. You wouldn't expect it any differently from Kitano ("Sonatine", "Hana-Bi") and thus there isn't any disappointment arising. Some of the killings towards the end remain somewhat repetitive nonetheless since in places we don't even know exactly who was just shot, that's just how insignificant some of the victims are.

For a yakuza a contract needs to be sealed with blood, otherwise it isn't valid - as a result there are numerous dead people. Visually "Outrage Beyond" is once again very well shot, however, the soundtrack, if it actually is to be heard at all, certainly needs getting used to. The pictures are composed in a quiet manner, but the events still add a certain dynamic to them. It may be difficult to follow the plot at first because of the many names introduced, but you won't have any problems doing so anymore towards the end. Knowing the prequel also isn't necessary. Moreover, the ending is especially well done, closing the movie in a rather sudden way but also giving a nice finishing touch to things. Yet, everything looks as if "Outrage Beyond" could be completed by getting a third installment and making it a trilogy. If Kitano has still good ideas for a screenplay this certainly can be looked forward to.

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