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Watch This Trailer: Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano's "Outrage"

I admit: I've seen very few Takeshi "Beat" Kitano movies. So when I say that I'm genuinely excited to see his name attached to anything, or that I stand up and cheer when he pops up surprisingly in a small role (his turn as a sadistic gym teacher in...

I admit: I’ve seen very few Takeshi “Beat” Kitano movies. So when I say that I’m genuinely excited to see his name attached to anything, or that I stand up and cheer when he pops up surprisingly in a small role (his turn as a sadistic gym teacher in Battle Royale for example), I kind of feel like a poser. And I would fully expect to be called one by the high-minded jerks who celebrate being “film nerds.”

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Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited about Outrage, Kitano’s new Yakuza crime epic, and I’m a fan of what I see in this trailer. Even if it’s a piece of false advertising. It’s a con in the same vein as the the devious marketing push behind the year’s hot ticket, Drive, that sold the film to Fast and Furious gear heads – needlessly – as a car chase thriller.

To see the trailer for Outrage and know nothing else of Kitano (and the modern films associated with the genre he deals in) may give you the impression that this is a goddamn nonstop blood bath on screen. But let’s be real: when was the last time you saw that kind of absurdity in a Yakuza or Triad epic of any significance? (Read: one that actually makes it to US theaters.) That shit was played out when John Woo left Hong Kong. Yakuza/Triad crime epics have evolved into the modern Spaghetti Western. My guess is Outrage is no exception. Meanwhile, the violence ballet has been scooped up by Hollywood and buried under a nü-metal soundtrack, CGI backflips, and a bunch of lame white guys.

I’m willing to bet Outrage has a lot of lengthy wide shots where entire scenes are allowed to play out, a lot of slow thoughtful moments that prominently feature Kitano pondering things very intensely, a lot of violence that happens off camera, and liberal moments of intense violent release that pass in an almost subliminal way.

Are there really still people who see trailers like this and expect movies with repeat scenes of various industrial buildings chock full of dudes in suits and sunglasses getting blown apart by some dual machine pistol wielding, endless cigarette puffing, dove loving supercop? Unfortunately yes. Someone needs to speak to Quentin Tarentino about this.

I’ll spare you, mainly so I don’t have to listen to your drunk ass complain in the theater lobby about being fooled once again. if you hated films like Infernal Affairs 2, Exiled, and Fallen Angels and you loved Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, and The Killer you can probably skip Outrage. Either way, watch the trailer.