Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

Or better Miike Style. Although this one is different from his other movies. Not in terms of violence (he likes his violence and blood, so be aware of that, no faint hearted should watch this), but more film-making wise! He changes Genres as he likes (from Horror to Action to Thriller), but his movies all feel kind of the same. Maybe this one is different, because it is a remake of another Japanese movie or maybe he went out and thought, let's try something different this time. Whatever the reasons, the result is indeed one of his better offerings (in my view) of all his output. This will not be the movie he will be remembered by, his cult status was achieved by movies like "Ichi The Killer", "Dead or Alive" series or "Audition", but it's one you should watch!

This is one movie that needs to be released in the West, it is a hardcore dark violent drama, not the typical cartoony Miike. This is probably one of the better Miike movies I've seen, no bizarre cartoon violence or strange events, a straight up yakuza crime violence extravaganza, and apparently a remake of a 1975 movie of the same name. Definitely better than the sort of dragging Araburu Tamashitachi. The lead character Ishimatsu is played by Kishitani Goro, the bad guy from "Returner". In an interview on the DVD, Miike said he wanted to make a movie about a man who didn't learn to be a Yakuza by becoming a Yakuza, but who was born that way... The main character is BAD, far worse than "Ichi the Killer's" Kakihara. Whereas Kakihara is a sort of good-natured amoral sado-masochist, Ishimatsu is a bad natured insane sociopathic drug addict killer rapist. Lots of corpses in this one, men, women, doesn't matter to Ishimatsu. Even more corpses than Ichi the killer or Dead or Alive, and some real violent and realistic knife kills and handgun assassinations, pipe beatings, and other fun. Not for people who shy away from realistic violence and sadism.

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