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Sadly Over-hyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

First and foremost, the only reason I didn't give Izo a perfect or near perfect score is because of the production value. To be blunt, the production value in the first hour is hideous, but it gets a little better as the film goes on. The story itself is pretty amazing, intelligent, but not necessarily original or as weird as people are saying when you understand it. More on that in a moment.I'm sick of movies (such as Donnie Darko and Oldboy) that think they're so utterly intelligent when in reality they just rehash old clichés that have been done in movies exactly just like them time and time again. To say it's been a while since I've seen a movie that was actually as intelligent as it thinks it is an understatement. Izo, to my surprise, actually had something somewhat new and practical to say and was never pretentious about it. One of the best lines of the movie is, "He thinks he can find answers by just asking questions! Let's laugh at him!" which can be interpreted as Miike telling the audience he's not the egotistical moron like the other "intelligent" wannabe directors.Izo, for people who are having a hard time understanding, is a straightforward journey of a dead man's soul questioning everything that brought us as a society to the place we are. Family, sex, love, God, patriotism, government—Miike questions it all, and really leaves the answer up to the viewer. In a way, it almost reminded me of that biblical Proverb that claims everything under the sun is meaningless. In another way, it reminded me of a Greek morality play. Still, despite the things it reminded me of, it was never once just the same old questions you've always heard—they're presented in new, cool, modern ways.But before you start thinking Izo is just filmed literature, Miike ties all this together with an insane bloody body count. There is very little graphic gore, but there is a lot of blood splatter and kills that kept me interested through the entire movie. Even then, Miike backs up the killing with the statement: "History is built on bloody events, so why wouldn't I kill to find answers?" It has a really cool pulp literary feel that pleases both the 12-year-old boy who likes blood and action and pleases the old man who likes deep thoughts. What more could you ask from a film like this? Overall, Izo is a must see if you consider yourself an intellectual person or if you consider yourself a fan of hardcore violence. It's not run-of-the-mill in any way shape or form, and borders on originality through the entire movie. If only there was better production value . . .8/10

Generally speaking, I am a fan of director Takashi Miike. His masterpiece "Audition" of 1999 is one of the very few brilliant Horror films from the 90s, and his repertoire includes quite a bunch of other great films. That being said, my feelings on "Izo" of 2004 are mixed. Miike is not exactly known for his conventional style of film-making, and "Izo" is indeed a film of unspeakable weirdness (which I like). The film, which is, as usual for Miike's films, very gory (even though actually not even quite as brutal as I expected it to be), basically consists of a vast number of gory battle sequences. These scenes of carnage are strung together with intervals of philosophical questions concerning life, politics and sociology. The film, which is more than imaginatively made with impressive and surreal settings, a perfect photography and astonishing effects, is brilliant in some aspects, and it has some moments that are downright ingenious. That being said, it sadly gets incredibly monotonous after a while and, as far as I am concerned, it is at least 30 minutes too long. In spite of its weirdness, "Izo" therefore regrettably evokes mainly one feeling: That of boredom.In 1865, the assassin Izo (Kazuya Nakayama), who stands in the service of Hanpeida, an Imperial supporter, is captured after having killed many of the Shogun's men. After being executed in a particularly cruel manner, Izo does not vanish, but his rage makes him return as a vengeful (semi-)ghost, traveling through the ages in order to get his revenge...As mentioned above, the film is very good in several aspects. It is immensely stylishly made, the carnage sequences are exceptional, the often surreal settings are more than impressive. In short: all the stylistic elements are superb, and I also liked the philosophical approaches. The performances are also good, Kazuya Nakayama is weird enough as Izo, and the supporting cast includes the great Takeshi Kitano. Inbetween, however, the film becomes overlong, sometimes almost insufferably boring, making it hard to sit through. Like everything by Miike, the film is a matter of personal taste; unlike many of his other films, this one didn't meet mine. Worth checking out for hardcore Miike-enthusiasts, but boring to sit through for everyone else.

Well everybody knows what we are expecting when we see a Miike film. He is one of the very few surrealist horror director in the world. This movie is everything El Topo,Terminator, Judge Dread, Rambo,Gothic & Roman Epics put into one. The story is supposed to be of a warrior who has returned to earth for revenge. The torture scenes will make you flinch, the various episodes will make you scratch your head and with all those crazy things you will still appreciate Miike's effort. The characters, the crazy ways they kill him, Izo's flawless performance, the music, the editing, the camera angle's everything is special. Its more like Miike has donned the cap of a psychotic philosopher who goes to preach the world with blood. Its really difficult to get a DVD version, but I think if you are a Miike fan you should definitely give this movie a shot. Having seen more weird things in his movies than in my whole life I can safely say you will not be disappointed. I rate this one 7/10

A warrior travels through time and space and thoroughly butchers, in spectacular grand guignol fashion, almost everybody he runs into. Miike's "El Topo-like action-fantasy is a strange, stylish, confused melange of energy and anger, a poem to retribution, the sins of history, self-abasement and bloody ambition. High production values dominate and the action set pieces are quite beautifully filmed and choreographed. The blood spurts in glorious geysers and the theatrical stylings give the entire affair a kabuki feel. Unfortunately, the lengthy running time tests tolerance levels because there is little emotional weight between the sprockets. "Izo" is a cold film, a distancing film, but it has an intensity that is engaging and a sense of anarchy about it that recalls Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers". Although my favorite Miike films are "Visitor Q" and "Ichi The Killer", I enjoyed "Izo" in spurts (bloody ones, of course).