Television comedian, author of a number of books, and star in such films as Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawerence, Takeshi Kitano stepped behind the megaphone for this two-fisted crime thriller after yakuza flick auteur Kinji Fukasaka walked off the project. Police detective Azuma (Kitano) is loose cannon Dirty Harry-like cop who is constantly in hot water with his superiors. At the film's outset, Asuma encounters a group of high school kids beating up an old man. Later that night, he pays a visit to the ringleader's middle-class home and lands a fist square in the kid's face. When he discovers a man in bed with his mentally feeble sister, Akari (Maiko Kawakami), he thrashes the guy. Azuma's crime-world double is a yakuza assassin (Ryu Haku) who's running drugs. Later, Azuma learns that not only is his best friend and partner, Iwaki (Sei Hiraizumi), selling drugs to this gangland thug, but his sister has been kidnapped and coked up by the same creep. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
This article is about the 1989 film directed by Takeshi Kitano. For the 2000 film directed by Cheng Wai Man, see Violent Cop (film). For the 2000 film directed by Leung Wang Fat, see Violent Cop (2000 film).
Violent Cop(その男、凶暴につき,Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki?, Lit. 'That man, being violent') is a 1989Japanese film directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano. It was Kitano's directorial debut, and marked the beginning of his career as a filmmaker.
Kitano plays sociopathic detective Azuma, a Dirty Harry-type whose single-mindedness leads him to self-destruction. After the suicide of his friend and colleague Iwaki (a vice cop who was involved with drugs), and the kidnapping of his sister by yakuza gangsters, Azuma breaks all the rules of ethical conduct. He responds to every situation with violence, and resorts to unethical methods if they produce results.
Production
Although Kinji Fukasaku was the film's original director, he stepped down upon falling ill. Kitano took over the position of director. The screenplay was originally written by Hisashi Nozawa, but upon taking over as director Kitano rewrote the script heavily. Despite his contributions to the screenplay, he was left uncredited as a contributing writer.
The film was originally meant to be a comedy but Kitano wanted to try being a serious actor, therefore he made the movie into a police drama.
Reception
The movie was a financial and critical success in Japan, and also did well in limited release internationally.
