In the middle of a gangwarwar between the Sanno and the Hanabishi
families, Sanno-boss Kato (Tomokazu Miura) has made Ishibara (Ryo Kase), a
young upstart who thinks little of yakuza traditions but knows how to make
money, his second-in-command - much to the dismay of the other Sanno
bosses, butthere's little they can do, because Ishibara is a ruthless
bastard. Anti-gang detective Kataoka (Fumiyo Kohinata) does everything
to support Ishibara, not so much because he's on the Sanno-payroll but
because he thinks with Ishibara in a leading position, the Sannos and
Hanabishis will destroy each other. And to really throw a wrench into the
works, he has Otomo (Takeshi Kitano), former Sanno member who hates
Ishibara's guts, released from prison early. Otomo soon joins forces with
Kimura (Hideo Nakano), an erstwhile rival who's now trying to go straight,
as of all the yakuza he has once known, Kimura is the only one he can
trust. Soon enough, Otomo and Kimura shake up the whole gangland, and what
they lack in manpower, they make up in careful planning and Otomo's utter
ruthlessness that rivals Ishibara's. But they don't only kill to get to
their goal, they also carefully place rumours and the like to destroy
Kato's honour within the Sanno family, and when they finally manage to
kill Ishibara, Kato is destroyed within the family and is forced to retire
- upon which Otomo shoots him peronally. Having achieved their goal,
Otomo retires and leaves the fruits of their work, a new turf for their
little organisation, to Kimura - but he's only insulted by the other
bosses, who are more than happy to be rid of Ishibara but refuse to pay up
top those who did the dirty work. Eventually, Kimura is killed, too. Detective
Kataoka is more than happy, Otomo has acted exactly as planned, and has
been a good pawn in his game, but when he comes to congratulate Otomo
smugly at Kimura's funeral, Otomo shoots him dead without warning. From
a purely narrative point of view, Outrage: Beyond might seem like a
horribly over-convoluted movie with way too many characters to keep track
of, way too many devious plots crossing each other to properly follow ...
and yet, the movie works, even if you haven't seen Outrage, Takeshi
Kitano's film from two years before this is built on and succeeds. It
works because beneath all the subplots and simultaneous narrative threads,
the film actually tells one story, and it's carried by strong characters.
Plus, Kitano never falls in love with his complex story to a point where
he forgets to entertain. Heck, he even throws a bunch of slapstick scenes
in just for good measure. Add to this a mixture of directorial restraint
(mostly) and exploding violence that's never self-serving, and of course a
competent cast, and you end up with a pretty exciting movie that's more
than just another yakuza-tale.
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