Dead
or Alive Trilogy (1999 - 2002/Arrow 2-Disc Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B Films: C+/B-/B-
Director
Takashi Miike is defiantly an acquired taste as all of his films are
loaded with bizarre imagery and more violence and sex than many can
handle. Some of his most subversive work to date is his Dead or
Alive Trilogy (1999, 2000, 2002), which has been brought together
in a triple feature Blu-ray release from Arrow Films and features
Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2: Birds, and Dead or
Alive: Final.
In
Dead or Alive, Ryuichi (Takeuchi Riki) and his small group
decide to make their own place by trying to take over the Shinjuku
underworld and the drug trade from Taiwan, having no loyalty to
anyone but themselves. Targeting the Chinese and Japanese mafia
kings, only Detective Jojima (Aikawa Sho) stands between their
malicious rise to power.
In
Dead or Alive 2: Birds, two contract killers cross paths in
the middle of the same job and realize they are long lost childhood
friends. They soon decide to take a break from their violent lives
and visit the small island where they spent their childhood together.
Soon, they form an alliance and become an unstoppable force to be
reckoned with against the twisted crime syndicates and cybernetic
foes that oppose them.
And
finally in Dead or Alive: Final, my favorite of the three
installments, the setting is in a post apocalyptic Yokohama where the
population is kept under rigid control by a half crazed mayor, Riki
Takeuchi is a hard boiled cop and Show Aikawa is a mellowed out
drifter that hooks up with a gang of rebels. When the gang kidnap
Takeuchi's son, the wheels are set in motion that leads to an
explosive finale that has to be seen to be believed.
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio and
uncompressed Japanese 2.0 stereo tracks that are a fine improvement
over the DVD set version we reviewed a few years ago on this site,
with little to complain about in terms of presentation. English
subtitles are also available for each film. The cinematography here
is definitely interesting, as is the editing, that cinephiles will
certainly want to take note of while watching.
Special
Features include...
New
interview with actor Riki Takeuchi
New
interview with actor Sho Aikawa
New
interview with producer and screenwriter Toshiki Kimura
New
audio commentary for Dead or Alive by Miike biographer Tom Mes
Archive
interviews with cast and crew
Archive
making-of featurettes for DOA2: Birds and DOA: Final
Original
theatrical trailers for all three films
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando
Arocena
FIRST
PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing
on the films by Kat Ellinger.
Fans
of the films will want to check out this limited edition release that
shines on Blu-ray disc thanks to Arrow Video.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/