Dead or Alive Trilogy

One of the crowning achievements of "V-Cinema," the Japanese direct-to-video market that peaked in the mid-90s, Dead or Alive and its two sequels paired the reigning kings of the action genre, Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa, in a loosely-connected trilogy of hard-boiled action references, yakuza family drama and apocalyptic martial arts. Working with no creative restraints, other than the proscribed low-budgets, director Takashi Miike's "anything-goes" filmmaking philosophy is a dazzling mix of black humor and shock tactics with an over-arcing theme of the importance of human relationships...even between people who aren't human to begin with.

Opening with a breathless montage of brutal exposition, DOA (1999) sets the stage immediately for Miike's particular brand of gangster movie. Ryu is an ambitious outsider using his "heroic" status in the underground immigrant community to shoot his way to the top of the Yakuza ladder. Detective Jojima is a distracted family man consumed by his work with a daughter in desperate need of a heart operation. The two men circle the same drain as their paths cross time and again, inevitably concluding with an exaggerated action showdown that has to be seen to be believed!

No one shoots action better than Miike. It's not just the choreographed carnage (John Woo had been doing that for a decade already); it's the improvised unpredictability of it all. The final act of DOA is one elaborate mosh-pit of blood and bullets, a chaotic and often-cartoonish highlight reel than tops nearly everything else in the genre. But there's also an emphasis on emotional connections - even between enemies - that elevates the film beyond its prurient fan base. There's heart behind all the snarling and shades...and Miike bring it to the surface in the sequel.

DOA 2: The Birds (2000) finds both actors inhabiting completely different characters even though their fates are still intertwined. Rival hitmen who reconnect after a job in their hometown, Mizuki and Shuichi are reunited with the third member of their childhood trio who convinces them that their skills are better suited to saving humanity than destroying it. An action-film more by association than execution, Miike fully embraces his softer side here with only a few moments of his usual immature pleas for attention. Instead, we get a latter-day coming-of-age story about two men whose connection to each other proves to be their spiritual salvation.

DOA: Final (2002) wraps up the franchise with a futuristic setting as the actors face-off yet again against a Blade-Runner-style cityscape lorded over by a dictatorial mayor whose policy of forced birth control has inspired a rebel uprising. Sho Aikawa is the replicant with a heart, Riki Takeuchi is the enforcer charged with taking him down. With a myriad of impressive martial arts sequences, DOA: Final offers a nice balance of DTV action and more mature thematic elements. Aikawa brings some pathos to a role that was probably underwritten on the page, making each understated "Ah, so" seem like a gem of meaningful philosophy. But the for all the bizarre corners Miike uncovers in his apocalyptic playground, the movie never quite coalesces into anything more than a re-hash of American ideas...one thing most of the director's films could never be accused of doing.

Arrow's Dead or Alive Trilogy is a great companion piece to their earlier Black Society set and comes with a good bit of supplementary material. There are numerous archive Making Ofs, interviews and trailers. But the good stuff comes in the form of brand-new interviews with stars Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa along with a couple of (all-too-brief) comments from Miike himself. Producer / Screenwriter Toshiki Kimura provides the most comprehensive information during a 45--minute sit down that also covers the Black Society films. And Miike biographer Tom Mes contributes a new audio commentary for the first film in the series. Presentation-wise, all three films look pretty remarkable, even DOA: Final which was sourced from SD elements.