This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Overrated

Expected more

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

This film, despite some thoughtful stuff in the final act, is strangely derivative of Takeshi Kitano (which isn't necessarily a good thing in my book). Much like Sonatine we've got a non-expressive, self-destructive protagonist who does some violent stuff while a repetitive low-rent jazz soundtrack warbles in the background. And the editing is sadistic - watch a guy slip around on ice for 45 seconds straight, watch a guy climb a rooftop ladder for 35 seconds, watch seemingly identical rape scenes, watch seemingly identical heroin usage scenes, and my personal favorite: watch the lead actor scowl into the camera over and over and over, blah blah blah. While there is no doubt that it is a Miike in the final analysis, I find it almost sacrilegious to see him borrowing so blatantly from the hack playbook of Beat Takeshi. He even put him in Izo, for cryin' out loud.

At first glance, Graveyard of Honor might seem to be a somewhat typical Takashi Miike Gangster Flick, with the director's patented ultra-violence and Yakuza chaos. And on that level this film works... but peer beneath the surface and you'll find that Graveyard of Honor is actually a very intricate study of a man's unhealthy obsession with self-destruction.Rikuo Ishimatsu (Goro Kishitani) is a bartender, who while working one day inadvertently saves the life of Yakuza Boss Sawada. Out of appreciation for Rikuo's heroism, Boss Sawada inducts him into the gang and gives him "uncle" status. This leads to resentment for Rikuo among the other underlings in the gang. All is fine though, until one day when Boss Sawada decides to go to the dentist. Rikuo shows up looking for the Boss but is taunted by Yukawa, who refuses to tell him where the boss is. Angered, Rikuo nearly kills Yukawa with a harsh blow to the head. This and other events (I don't want to give too much away) lead to Rikuo's exile and eventually end up driving him into a cycle of self-destruction.Graveyard of Honor is a hard film to watch. There are no "good" guys in this film. There are no light-hearted scenes, heart warming moments, or any black humor to lighten up the film. Just a lot of mean people making bad choices and paying for their mistakes in horrible ways. For example Rikuo, the film's protagonist (antagonist??), rapes women, does heroin, and shoot's and stabs people... and this is not fun violence but disturbing, horrific, violence. Amazingly, Director Takashi Miike and actor Goro Kishitani somehow finds a way to make his character somewhat sympathetic.OK, let's cut to the chase. If your not put off by extremely bleak, unsettling, negative, and depressing films, than Graveyard of Honor should be in your DVD player... right now. Filmed stylishly, scored masterfully (the jazz score for this film is incredible), and featuring the brilliant and hypnotic performance of Goro Kishitani as the amoral Rikuo. This film is arguably Miike's greatest Masterpiece.Bottom Line-If you haven't seen this and aren't easily upset by graphic depictions of the ugly side of life, find this and watch it as soon as possible. You won't be disappointed.

Anyone expecting "just another Miike flick" might get very disappointed, as I'd claim this remake, of Kinji Fukasaku's 1975 success, to differ quite much from Miike's other works. There's a lack of comic events here, while the amount of violence is steady and non-compromising straight throughout the movie. While Miike's other works may have a sort of balance between the cold terror of Yakuza violence and fun punchlines, dark and light or whatever you'd like, this piece is leaning way more to the darker side. No one gets away with anything, women and men, they're all facing their dramatic paths down the line.As I've mentioned above, the piece feels quite different, and at the beginning I thought it may even be bad. However, such a case didn't await me and afterward I thought it was all good. Different, but good. I prefer the other works of Miike, but that didn't disqualify this one to be a good view. Shattering, touching and filled up with non-sympathy. 7/10.

Takashi Miike's remake of Kinji Fukasaku's 1975 film of the same name is a rather straightforward Japanese Yakuza thriller with a hefty dose of violence. However, this violence is less comic-style than in Miikes best work "Fudoh", "Dead or Alive" or "Ichi the Killer". The violence comes across as raw and real. This gives the film a gritty edge that reminded me more of the classic Yakuza flicks than of a Miike film. There are occasional outbursts of over-the-top-Miike-isms (the final "fall" of the hero, a throat-slicing etc.) but they are limited to a few scenes. Another Miike-trademark in the film will be as problematic as ever: The harsh treatment of women. The hero's first contact with his future wife and the beating of said wife later in the film did strike me as particularly unappealing. However, I felt that in "Graveyard of Honor", men and women get treated the same way - badly that is. No one gets away clean in this film and to label Miike a chauvinist (or whatever names circulate the web) would be more appropriate with some of his other films.Taking all into account, "Graveyard of Honor" is a surprisingly mannered Miike-outing. Definitely not my favorite because it lacks the over-the-top-appeal I came to love, but a strong motion picture never the less. A gritty gangster flick with raw violence and unsympathetic characters. Of course a must see for Miike fans.My rating: 7/10