Miike

Okay, I know Miike is a weird director. I loved Ichi the Killer, I didn't really like Gozu. I like how he's really weird and random and edgy, and pushes lots of boundaries with what he makes.

I just finished watching Dead or Alive, and if anyone out there is a fan of Japanese cinema and can tell me why the ending wasn't completely retarded, I'd love to hear it. The whole film was pretty well done, lots of really offensive material and a good cop/yakuza story. The last five minutes ruined the whole thing for me.

Spoiler alert, for any of you who care.

At the end, the cop and the main bad guy get in a fight, in the middle of a field. The cop, out of nowhere, pulls a rocket launcher out of his shirt. The bad guy pulls a GLOWING RED BALL OF ENERGY out of his own chest. They shoot their weapons at each other, and THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF JAPAN EXPLODES. They show this from a satellite view, the whole country explodes. And the credits roll.

Keep in mind that this was a normal cops and robbers movie up to this point. There's no context where this ending would make sense, and it doesn't resolve anything. It's like the director just threw up his hands and said "I have absolutely no idea how to end this film." A drooling retard could have ended it more creatively.

I know Japanese movies tend to end weirdly. I watched Suicide Club, where we got a musical number in a bowling alley, where a villian sang a song while dressed in drag, while his henchmen raped a woman under a billowing sheet. It seems to be a theme among Japanese films that they have no idea how to end them, and just get really bizarre. But this really has to take the cake. Maybe that's what he was going for, but it was still really stupid.