Beyond Outrage

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Beyond Outrage

US Theatrical release poster
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Produced by Masayuki Mori
Takio Yoshida
Written by Takeshi Kitano
Starring Beat Takeshi
Toshiyuki Nishida
Tomokazu Miura
Music by Keiichi Suzuki
Cinematography Katsumi Yanagishima
Editing by Takeshi Kitano
Yoshinori Ota
Studio Bandai Visual
Office Kitano
TV Tokyo
Distributed by Magnet Releasing
Release dates
  • September 2, 2012 (2012-09-02) (Venice Film Festival)
  • October 6, 2012 (2012-10-06) (Japan)
Running time 112 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office US$16,211,978[1]

Beyond Outrage (アウトレイジ ビヨンド Autoreiji Biyondo) is a 2012 Japanese yakuza film directed by Takeshi Kitano, starring Kitano (aka "Beat Takeshi"), Toshiyuki Nishida, and Tomokazu Miura. It is a sequel to Kitano's 2010 film, Outrage.

Plot summary

The film begins with two anti-corruption detectives observing the discovery of dead human bodies in a car being recovered from the bottom of a harbor. The detectives suspect that the drowned bodies are related to the recent gang war and power struggle at the huge Sanno-kai crime syndicate which covers a large portion of eastern Japan. The new Grand Yakuza leader of Sanno-kai, Kato, must now reform his standing with the powerful rival Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate of western Japan. Otomo (Beat Takeshi), a former Yakuza, is serving time in a maximum security prison after falling out of favor with Sekiuchi, the former Grand Yakuza before Kato took control.

When it is finally ascertained by detectives that one of the dead bodies recovered from the harbor in the opening scene was actually the body of a high government official, the departmental Chief of Police strongly suspects that the new Grand Yakuza leader of the Sanno-Kai syndicate, Kato (Tomokazu Miura), has become too strong and influential. He suspects that Kato now believes that he is sufficiently protected by his corrupt political ties that he can completely avoid being investigated even after ordering the execution of a government official.

The Chief of Police then appoints special detective Kataoka, who has previously infiltrated the Sanno-kai syndicate by posing as a corrupt cop open to accepting bribes for favors, to see if he can ignite further dissent between the already aggressive Sanno-kai Yakuza leaders. Detective Kataoka decides that if he could somehow speed-up the release process of Otomo from his prison sentence, then Otomo’s returning presence at the Sanno-kai syndicate might stir-up bad memories of old bitter clan rivalries which prevailed before Otoma was sent to the penitentiary. This would potentially cause old cracks to resurface in this new and growing version of the old Sanno-kai crime syndicate.

When Kataoka uses his influence to shorten Otomo's imprisonment and Otomo is released from the peneteniary, Kato allows his lieutenant to issue orders to kill him. Otomo, with careful calculation and help from the rival Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate of western Japan, uses his new allies to initiate a ruthless and bloody rampage through the ranks of the Sanno-kai crime syndicate in order to seize his version of justice for having been previously betrayed and forced to serve his now ended prison sentence.

Otomo's careful calculation pays off as his ruthless campaign to disembowel the new Sanno-kai Yakusa leadership, including Kato, is efficiently put into full operation. The decimated Sanno-kai crime syndicate then ends up being taken over and absorbed by the now vast Hanabishi-kai crime syndicate under their Grand Yakuza leader who has virtually unified the entire underground of all of Japan into a massive, single and centralized crime syndicate.

In the closing scene, Otomo returns to a funeral home at nightfall where some of his killed Yakuza brothers are being interred. He is surprised in the parking lot on the way there by Detective Kataoka who tells him that all the Yakuza leaders are inside at the funeral home and that he better make sure he has a gun before he goes inside. When he learns that Otomo is unarmed, detective Kataoka, still posing as a corrupt detective on the take, offers to give Otomo his own gun for Otomo's self-protection. By now it has fully dawned upon Otomo that Kataoka has been playing the two rival crime syndicates against each other in order to weaken and destroy the Sanno-kai syndicate, although detective Kataoka does not realize, then and there, that Otomo has seen through all of his plotting. The moment Kataoka hands his loaded gun to Otomo for Otomo’s self-protection, Otomo immediately cocks the gun in the nearly empty parking lot, aims it at point blank range directly at Kataoka, and empties the full clip into Kataoka killing him instantly as the film ends.

Cast

Release

Beyond Outrage was screened in competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.[2]

Soundtrack

Kitano returned to Keiichi Suzuki, the same Japanese composer he had used for the original Outrage film, for the complete sequel soundtrack, and previously Kitano had colloborated with him for the complete soundtrack to his Zatoichi film. This complete soundtrack for Beyond Outrage was their third film collaboration.

Reception

Gabe Toro of IndieWire gave Beyond Outrage an "A-" rating.[3] Justin Chang of Variety described the film as "a slow-motion deathtrap in which the wall-to-wall chatter feels like a joyless, too-leisurely distraction from the inevitable bloodletting". Meanwhile, he commented that Otomo (Beat Takeshi) is "the most memorable figure here, a demon of death shown to brook no nonsense in the film's blunt, perfect final scene".[4] Lee Marshall of Screen International said, "Out-and-out shouting matches between supposedly composed clan members are another forte of Outrage Beyond – a film that always has humour bubbling just underneath its hard-boiled surface".[5]

Kinema Junpo placed Beyond Outrage at number 3 in their "10 Best Japanese Films of 2012",[6] while it was ranked at number 36 on the Film Comment's "50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012".[7] On 7 March 2013 Minkei News of Hong Kong reported that Kitano won the Best Director award at the 7th Asian Film Awards for Beyond Outrage in Hong Kong.[citation needed]

Sequel

In September 2012, Takeshi Kitano said that the producers wanted him to make the third Outrage film.[8] As reported by Macnab, the making of a third Outrage film would complete the first film trilogy for Takeshi Kitano. As of 30 June 2013, Box Office Mojo reported a total revenue for Outrage approaching USD ten million with USD 8,383,891 in the total worldwide lifetime box office.[9] As of 28 July 2013, these receipts were far outpaced by Beyond Outrage which had receipts of USD 16,995,152, making the total global receipts for the sequel over two times larger than for the original film.

References

  1. ↑ "Autoreiji: Biyondo (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 3 November 2013. 
  2. ↑ Schilling, Mark (5 October 2012). "'Outrage Beyond'". The Japan Times. 
  3. ↑ Toro, Gabe (11 October 2012). "NYFF Review: 'Outrage Beyond' Is Pure Unfiltered Takeshi Kitano". IndieWire. 
  4. ↑ Chang, Justin (2 September 2012). "Outrage Beyond - Variety". Variety. 
  5. ↑ Marshall, Lee (3 September 2012). "Outrage Beyond - Review - Screen". Screen International. 
  6. ↑ "2012年 第86回キネマ旬報ベスト・テン" [86th Kinema Junpo Best Ten, 2012]. Kinema Junpo (in Japanese). Retrieved 19 January 2013. 
  7. ↑ "50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012". Film Comment. 13 December 2012. 
  8. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (5 September 2012). "Takeshi Kitano considers making a third Outrage movie". Screen International. 
  9. ↑ "Japan Box Office July 3–4, 2010". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-06-13. 

External links

Films directed by Takeshi Kitano
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