Friday, September 02, 2016
Violence porn
There is no end to the violence and sado-machochistic goings on in this film.
I have no idea how this found its way onto my Netflix queue.
But there it is/was. One of the most violent vividly horrific films I have ever seen.
But I could not stop watching.
Well, I did FF a bit half way through.
Based on a Japanese comic they have not spared the horses in this vivid re-creation of what we normally let pass in a comic but somehow cannot abide watching happen to real live humans.
It does not help to say to oneself that these are "just actors". Even when one knows that it is fake, the utterly blatant and gratuitous mayhem is somehow magnetic. I could not look away.
I suppose that I should be repulsed over this and worry that such stuff is available for people to see.
But I also know that inside me and probably everyone else, there are devils that need to be let out safely somehow.
I truly believe that no individual is going to go out and hack someone up after seeing this movie. Perhaps there is some outlet here that would prevent it. But I doubt it.
As cinema the action is riveting, the people are wonderful in their roles. Even the bodies have charisma. The long shots of high buildings are dizzying as are many other innovative angles. Running down a staircase with the characters, in retrospect, I know was done from a boom camera. But at the time one does not consider the "how it was done" stuff.
I would like to see more of this kind of film. But it is probably not good for me to do so. I don't know. The jury is out about this subject.
I do know that I was rooting for the avenger to do his thing. Even the hard-to-watch eye and tongue work was well deserved by these gangster bastards.
Once is enough though A 3 out of Netflix5.
