starring Takeshi Kitano, Hakuryu
direced by Takeshi Kitano
Azuma (Takeshi Kitano) and Kikuchi, two police detectives, search for the killer of a drug dealer. Azuma has a violent streak. Kikuchi is a rookie and considerably meeker than Azuma.
Kiyohiro (Hakuryu), the killer, takes pleasure in his job. Azuma and Kikuchi arrest Kiyohiro at one point but he is released from police custody after Azuma beats him and almost shoots him during an interrogation. Azuma is forced to resign.
Kiyohiro is told by his boss to stay away from Azuma. Kiyohiro ignores this order.
I saw this movie once before in May 2001. It was an early Netflix rental for me. I really didn't recall anything about it and watching it again didn't ring any bells or bring back any memories of watching it before.
Azuma has a sister in this movie. She looks considerably younger than him. The actress who plays Akari, Azuma's sister, is 21 years younger than Kitano. I'm not sure what to make of that but my guess is that the audience is just supposed to pretend that the age difference isn't quite so great.
There are definite shades of Dirty Harry here but Violent Cop is significantly different from the Clint Eastwood film.
The music does a lot of the talking in this movie. Azuma is not very expressive. The same is true of Kiyohiro. Kikuchi does not suffer from the same affliction.
This movie is very spare. The sets are frequently very plain. The ending is very bleak. I don't recall what I thought of it when I first saw it. I can't say that I love it but the mood it strikes is similar to that in many noir films I have seen.
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