“Dead or Alive 3: Final” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Sho Aikawa, Riki Takeuchi, Richard Chen, Terence Yin, Josie Ho, Maria Chen, Hiroyoshi Komuro
Running Time: 86 Min.
By SlaXor
Well, the first thing I’d like to get out of the way is that people may wonder why someone would start with a review for the third and final installment in this excellent trilogy. The reason is that parts one and two of the Dead or Alive series have already been reviewed and praised to the heavens several times over.
In the final installment, we are set in the year 2346 in a post-apocalyptic Yokohama, Japan (really, present day Hong Kong). Mayor Wu is the homosexual ruler of the rest of civilization, hell-bent on ending it via a birth control drug he has created in order to stop the furthering of the human race and prevent it from repeating the same mistakes which lead us to the apocalyptic times we are in now. Honda, played by the always brooding DOA lead Riki Takeuchi, is a total badass cop who is Mayor Wu’s right hand man and the owner of the coolest interchangeable jacket you will ever see.
He is assigned to eliminate a group of misfit delinquents who refuse to take the birth control drug and long to escape Yokohama to create a new world. His assignment seems to be no trouble until the group of misfits are lucky enough to get a surviving battle replicant (Yes, I said a replicant!), played by our other DOA lead Sho Aikawa, on their side. The events that follow lead to the eventual showdown between the two leads in the only way real men settle anything… A KUNG-FU FIGHT!!!
First thing that really makes this movie for me is Sho Aikawa. Don’t get me wrong in that Riki Takeuchi is one of the most badass actors walking the planet and if you bottled his sweat and sold it as cologne the obvious name would be “Badass”. But, if you were to bottle Sho Aikawa’s sweat and sell it as a cologne the only name fitting for it would be “Charisma”. The guy is like a walking sponge of it waiting for a camera to be pointed in his direction and squeeze it out of him. Every time he smiles in the movie, I smile too.
The non-lead HK actors do a good job as well. If Riki is the badass and Sho is the charisma sponge then Terence Yin is the mack daddy. Josie Ho in this movie is just yummy to say the least. Her character starts out a little annoying but by the end of the movie you will have all but fallen in love with her.
Second thing is Takashi Miike’s expert use of color filters in this movie. Those being mainly yellow and the occasional green. They really help to give you that futuristic apocalyptic feeling and add a bit of style to the movie without over doing it. The homages/references are also their and always a delight to me. The first and most obvious are replicants which are, of course, from Blade Runner.
Another is bullet time from The Matrix, but not used completely like The Matrix and with Miike’s own special touch. He also pays homage to his own films with one of the misfit delinquents wearing a vest with a yellow number one on the back, which is no doubt a nod to Ichi the Killer; I’m sure with the knowledge I could write an entire review on the homages.
So does Miike close up the trilogy in a satisfying way? Absolutely, yes. As long as you don’t expect an over-the-top ending like part one or an ending with a very deep meaning like part two you will be pleased and probably thank me for warning you ahead of time. Although I love parts one and two I find myself in the minority of people who think Miike’s final and closing chapter is the best and most underrated of the trilogy.
SlaXor’s Rating: Fanboy rating: 10/10; Casual viewer rating: 6/10
