I am sure this will be an unpopular review, but I really did NOT like this movie. It wasn't just because it was EXTREMELY violent (though it was needlessly graphic) but because I just didn't care about the characters and the script lacked finesse. In other Kitano films I have seen, such as Kikujirô no natsu, Sonatine and Zatoichi, there was violence (particularly in the latter two) BUT there was also a certain likability of the main character--even when he was not a "good" guy. In addition, the movies abounded with wonderful little moments and extra touches that gave them charm and color (such as the idiot gangsters trying to shoot things off each other's heads when they got bored at the beach in Sonatine or when the weird guy in the diaper kept re-appearing in Zatoichi). But in Violent Cop, there were few, if any, interesting little touches--just Kitano beating the crap out of EVERYONE! He made Dirty Harry look like Captain Kangaroo! In fact, he was SO over-the-top, that you couldn't help but wonder WHAT police force would keep him one the job. Even the KGB or Nazis would find him a liability due to his MINDLESSLY violent tactics. In other words, such an out of control nut couldn't last very long on any job! I do NOT recommend this movie for kids or teens--or even adults for that matter. All violence and no style make for a poor cinematic experience.

Beat Takeshi was best-known as a television host (see, for instance, TAKESHI'S CASTLE) when he made his mark with this violent cop thriller, best seen as a Japanese version of the classic DIRTY HARRY films. VIOLENT COP is an odd, unconventional movie that should be virtually unwatchable, due to long periods of inaction and a total lack of music in the production. Instead, it flies by at a speedy pace and often proves to be unmissable viewing.

Takeshi himself, typically stony-faced and taciturn, presides over the film as the violent cop, although the true violence of his character isn't revealed until the film's conclusion. Many scenes see him going about his duty, slapping the heck out of drug dealers, abusive husbands, and minor thugs, before things take a turn for the darker in the last half-hour of the movie. The last part of the film sees Takeshi tangling with a ruthless assassin, setting the scene for a truly nihilistic conclusion that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Shakespearian tragedies of old.

Violence is hard-hitting and gruesome; the worst scene for me is when the lookout cop has his head shattered with a baseball bat. But the ending, with its "everybody's crazy" coda, makes for very uncomfortable viewing, and the final shot – revealing that a rookie cop has become corrupt as all the rest – makes one question the value of humanity. Cold, gritty and altogether disturbing, VIOLENT COP is a film as ruthless as Takeshi himself.

How apt the film's title really is! A blood feud enrages when a detective and drug lord's assassin lock horns. Corruption is plaguing the police force as Azuma's(Beat Yakeshi)colleague, Iwaki(Sei Hiraizumi),is helping deal drugs for a drug lord, Nito(Ittoku Kishibe) Nito's assassin, Kiyohiro(Hakuryu) is targeted by Azuma because Iwaki is found hanging from a bridge by his neck through a noose. Azuma soon frames him with planted drugs, locks him in a room at the police station where he batters the man, even almost putting a bullet in him. Losing his job as a cop, Azuma is attacked from behind by the assassin with a cat-and-mouse ensuing with the result being an obvious bloody showdown.

Director Kitano's amazing debut certainly echoes Dirty Harry in Azuma's unorthodox methods of handing out justice. Except Kitano's detective often obtains information through beating those he interrogates senseless. Usually, though, the ones he smacks around deserve a bit of punishment for their thuggish behavior & criminal activities. In one scene, Iwaki is trying to smooth things over between a gigolo and a girl he got pregnant(..for whom he also physically abuses)..in typical Azuma fashion, the detective beats the gigolo up right in the hallway of the police precinct! One of my favorite scenes concerns a drug pusher with info Azuma needs regarding who he's selling dope for, in the bathroom of a discotheque..Azuma continues to repeatedly slap this joker until the guy finally cracks revealing the drug lord as a restaurateur named Nito. What I found most fascinating was just how the assassin Kiyohiro and Azuma are similar. They are actually, in my opinion, cut from the same cloth, just on opposing sides of the law. Both carry themselves without fear of what lies in front of them..with a cold, steely expression, the two exact punishment to those that oppose them. One, Azuma, uses violent methods to extract the information he needs or to put a person in their place. The killer, Kiyohiro, dutifully removes the thorns from his employer's side. Neither flinches when facing an obstacle or opponent and will hurt you bad if need be. But, both men have a hair trigger and are easily willing to wipe somebody out. It's appropriate that the cop will lose his job and go vigilante as it seems both he and the assassin are fated to meet in a gunfight to the death. Almost like the OK Coral is the vehicle lot where these two stare down each other before the shooting begins. The film has moments of startling violence interspersed with subtle humorous touches of Azuma and his faithfully law-abiding, naive partner, Kikuchi(Makoto Ashikawa). Kikuchi, appears anyway, to be very by-the-book, patiently dealing with his often unhinged partner who can uncork at any moment stomping a suspect or insider who knows something of importance regarding their case. One particularly breathtaking sequence involves the chase of a criminal with information on drugs running throughout the city, after bashing and killing a police officer over the head with a baseball bat. Azuma, unflinchingly, runs him over with the car he's driving! If you are familiar with Beat's characters in films, his cop is the same. A stone face hiding the obvious emotions present inside, unshakably like an impenetrable rock, his cop uses blunt force to speak for him. Sure a smile cracks every once in a while, mostly at his partner's ways, but Azuma buries most of what other cops wear on their sleeve. There's a scene I found amusing where Azuma is told he's fired as the detective stares down his chief without batting an eyelash with the camera lingering on him seemingly forever.

The opening of the film really sets the tone for how our "hero" works as a police officer..a group of mean kids harm a beggar on a street corner minding his own business. Azuma follows one of them to his home. He invites himself in to the kid's house to his mom's bewilderment. And, Azuma subsequently smacks the kid around telling the brat to turn himself in! Something I also found amusing was how Azuma almost always walks..everywhere, it seems, in this film he's trotting to this or that destination on foot. The film also shows another problem Azuma has to deal with..a mentally retarded sister who doesn't turn away from men wanting sex, and we see what her brother does to one fellow who took advantage of her, getting thrown down the steps, his body pouring into the street as Azuma slaps the back of his head, kicking his shin as both men walk to a bus stop. When Kiyohiro kidnaps her, getting the poor girl hooked on heroine, Azuma's decision regarding her need for a fix is truly haunting. Like most of Kitano's future characters, whose lives revolve around crime, his violent cop here is a doomed character fated for only one certain outcome. Also, this film cleverly shows that even if one major crime lord is removed by deadly means, there's always another waiting to take his position..and that goes for corrupt cops as well.