Review: ‘Yakuza Apocalypse’ by Takashi Miike is memorably bizarre

Japanese cult filmmaker Takashi Miike ended one gangster picture with the annihilation of planet Earth, so that means that his new crime-horror-science-fiction hybrid “Yakuza Apocalypse” is, by rough estimate, only the sixth- or seventh-craziest movie he’s made.

Even partial-strength Miike is plenty outlandish. “Yakuza Apocalypse” is slow-paced and talky, but no film can be called run of the mill when it features vampires, a smelly turtle-beaked goblin and a furry humanoid frog with fierce martial arts skills.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter >>

The basic plot of “Yakuza Apocalypse” sees young mob lackey Kageyama(Hayato Ichihara) inheriting the superhuman strength and insatiable blood-thirst of his dying boss, then siring his own army of the undead to do battle against a rival organization. Because the story is broken up by long fight sequences and surreal slapstick interludes — both of varying quality — the action isn’t always easy to follow.

There’s some purpose to Miike’s madness, though. “Yakuza Apocalypse” seems to comment on how predatory businesses can feed on one another for only so long before they start bleeding innocent victims.

Any deeper meaning is sprinkled sparingly between scenes of that crazy jujitsu frog-man and dozens of other freaky visions that will make little sense to any but the Miike faithful. For those fans who don’t mind enduring some tedium and confusion, “Yakuza Apocalypse” at least offers something memorably bizarre.

------------

“Yakuza Apocalypse”

MPAA rating: R for strong bloody violence, rape, language. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.

Playing: Playhouse 7, Pasadena.