Outrage - DVD

Movie: A minor faux pas leads to a bloody gang war: Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura) is in danger of falling out of favor with Kaicho Sekuichi (Soichiro Kitamura, the head of the Sanno-kai clan, due to his business dealings with the veteran yakuza Murase. To keep things from going that far, Ikemoto asks clan chief friend Otomo (Takeshi Kitano aka Beat Takeshi) to carry out a minor strike against Murase. But through a misunderstanding, the minor strike becomes the launching pad for a never-ending spiral of violence that will decide supremacy in Tokyo's underworld.

Takeshi Kitano returns to the yakuza thriller genre with Outrage. Planned as the start of a new trilogy, the thriller mixes extreme brutality with deep black humor. The action can seem a bit confusing, especially at the beginning, as it's not exactly easy to tell the numerous clans and their representatives apart. But little by little it is revealed that Kitano, who revolutionized the yakuza genre with his modern classic Brother, paints a gripping picture of how a bloody cycle develops that steadily increases in intensity and that can only end in an enormous bloodbath.

And that is exactly what Kitano has then staged extremely effectively. Admittedly, he uses rather well-known means and really does not reinvent the genre. But the increasingly threatening and hopeless atmosphere, which builds up to the leaded finale, compensates for the partly quite high recognition factor of the story. In addition, the harsh rituals and the yakuza's infiltration of politics and business are believable and excitingly realized, giving the story a certain freshness and high entertainment value.

Outrage, then, is in some ways Kitano's return to familiar and successful territory. But even if the thriller doesn't reach the quality of Brother, lovers of classic gangster movies and bloody yakuza thrillers will be well served here. And if you still haven't had enough at the end, you can rejoice: Part 2 is already in production and if the DVD is a success, it will surely be released here as well. After this successful thriller, you can already look forward to this sequel!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the DVD is on a very good level. The picture is very clean, the good contrasts ensure that even in the darker moments the sharpness has turned out satisfactory. The sound is rather subdued at many moments, but during gunfights and other more action-packed moments, the well-applied sound effects make good use of the surround channels. Good!

Extras: In addition to a brief behind-the-scenes look (approx. 11 min.), the single DVD has just under 33 minutes of interviews with Takeshi Kitano and the film's cast, as well as the trailer and other programming tips to offer. Additionally, a 3-disc mediabook will be released, which contains the film on Blu-Ray and DVD as well as additional extras on the Blu-Ray (Making of etc.), and a bonus DVD with Kitano's excellent classic The Sea Was Calm. There should be no question for fans, to which version must be reached here!

Conclusion: Outrage is a bloody Yakuza thriller that combines suspense, quirky humor and extreme depiction of violence to a gangster film worth watching. The DVD is technically well done, but the bonus material on the single-disc DVD is a bit perfunctory. Who wants more and better extras, must reach for the 3-Disc Mediabook, which is well worth the higher acquisition cost

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp