new battles without honor and humanity

A cult item at best in the U.S., the five films that make up director Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity series were a big success in their native Japan, using a ripped from the headlines approach to the yakuza genre and establishing star Bunta Sugawara as a template for the ice-cold gangster emerging unscathed (mostly) from the constant internal power struggles. In fact, the series was so successful that Toei studios kicked off another round of films just a few months later. Fukasaku's New Battles Without Honor and Humanity aren't direct sequels, but star many of the same actors - including Sugawara - in roles similar enough that they're sequels in spirit...if not quite as spirited as the originals.

The first film, given the masthead title New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, is the most complex in scope, following Miyoshi (Sugawara) upon his release from prison after a failed hit on a rival boss. Aoki, an ambitious gang member pushing his cowardly boss towards retirement, uses Miyoshi as leverage to take control of the family. Caught in the middle of conflicting loyalties and old grudges, Miyoshi steers his way through the dangerous waters, masking his true intentions until the time is right to make his move.

The Boss's Head is a replay of the same formula: Kuroda (Sugawara) takes the fall for a hit that was supposed to be carried out by Kusunoki, the drug-addicted son-in-law of the big boss. After his release from prison, Kuroda expects a big payday for his trouble, but is instead stuck in yet another power struggle as rival gang members jostle for control of the family. The logical choice, Aihara, is passed over in favor of the less charismatic Izeki, but his caves under the pressure and agrees to have Kuroda exiled in shame. Hungry for revenge, Kuroda wages war behind the scenes to ensure Aihara will never make it to the top of the food chain.

The Boss's Last Days is the most accessible of the new trilogy, sticking to a straight-up revenge story from the get-go as Nozaki (Sugawara, again) attempts to honor the murder of his paternal boss by taking out the man who ordered the hit. Unfortunately, both organizations have made amends - banning any hit on bosses - and any action by Nozaki would threaten the fragile truce. Choosing honor above business, Nozaki severs ties with the family and plots to throw the entire crime organization of Japan into disarray.

Shot with Fukasaku's signature chaotic style, the action scenes in New Battles Without Honor and Humanity are, for the most part, retreads of what he's done before. That doesn't make them any less enjoyable, particularly in the final film of the new trilogy, which never takes its foot off the gas from frame one. Stabbings, shootings, eye gouges, bombings, car crashes, and riotous hand-to-hand combat compete for your attention. And Sugawara presides over it all with an imperturbable expression of immaculate cool.

Unfortunately, the internal gangland bickering makes for a repetitive narrative structure. It's hard to keep pace with the constant barrage of names and places, not to mention an endless string of subtitles (the first film is by far the most talky). But the series improves with each entry, adding a few interesting female characters (including Mexico Kaji in The Boss's Head) that provide a pleasant distraction from the monotonously male yakuza perspective. By the time Fukasaku gets around to the final film, The Boss's Last Days, the balance has shifted from a historical profile of the Japanese Mafia to a straight-up action film with some incest thrown in for good measure...and the series is all the better for it.

Arrow Video's six-disc set follows up their now sold out collection of the original series. But don't worry about going in cold; the films each stand on their own and come with a nice slate of supporting extras including interviews with Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane, screenwriter Koji Takada, original trailers and an illustrated collector's book with new writing on the films. As for the hi-def transfers themselves (matching DVDs are also included), the image on all three films is rock-solid with just a bit of color fading that only adds to the atmosphere. By Japanese film standards (and collector's know the challenge presented there) these all look terrific!