Brother

I appreciated the fact that most of it is in English, but it doesn't help make it work as a whole. It adds a goofiness to the film where you get the Japanese trying to speak English or act American, and you get English thug dialogue mixed with Japanese intensity, and it does not fit well thematically. Besides this the film is a solid Yakuza versus Mexicans then versus Italians story, with Beat Takeshi sporting his usual brand of ultra-cool bad-assery; eye twitch, poker face, shades, suit, and a gun. Unfortunately it follows the same template as most Takeshi films. It was shot well but the editing was not as tight as it could have been. Despite this, Kitano is still a superb and intriguing filmmaker. I prefer his Japanese films. They're still not greatly edited (some are better than others), but they seem more complete and cool, and the editing is just his personal auteur's style. Thankfully he was not impressed with working in America and vowed to only make films in Japan thereafter, which he then went on to make much-praised Zatoichi, which is now the only defining Takeshi film I've yet to see.

B