Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Outrage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 13, 2011

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Takeshi Kitano's "Autoreiji" a.k.a "Outrage" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama. The supplemental features on this release include the film's original theatrical trailer; making of featurette; roundtable discussion; footage from the film's premiere in Japan; cast interviews; and footage from the film's screening at the Cannes Film Festival. In Japanese, with optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Back in action - Beat Takeshi

Takeshi Kitano plays Otomo, the violent underboss of a powerful gang led by Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura, Audition, Ichi the Killer), an influential man with plenty of dangerous ambitions. Ikemoto’s is part of the strong Sanno-kai yakuza organization, which controls metropolitan Tokyo.

Ikemoto receives an order from Sekuichi a.k.a Mr. Chairman (Soichiro Kitamura, Bayside Shakedown, Bayside Shakedown II), the head of Sanno-kai, to confront Murase (Renji Ishibashi, Tokyo!, A Good Husband), another crime boss, who has started selling drugs on his turf. The order presents a difficult dilemma because Ikemoto and Murase are sworn brothers. Ikemoto also gets a percentage of all drug sales.

Despite the fact that they are brothers and business partners, Ikemoto and Murase clash, with Otomo’s men right in the middle of the drama. Outraged by the developments, Murase requests a meeting with Mr. Chairman, but before he could see him Otomo makes sure that he would never be able to speak again.

Chaos ensues after the rest of the bosses in Sanno-kai choose a side in the conflict -- but not because they wish to support Murase or Ikemoto, but because they sense that this is a good opportunity to expand their turfs. Eventually, after it becomes obvious that he won’t be able to completely take over Murase’s business, Ikemoto decides to banish Otomo to restore balance within the organization and rebuild his relationship with his former partner.

After a rather long streak of art-house projects, some quite good, some not overly impressive, Takeshi Kitano appears to be back in familiar waters with Outrage, an extremely violent yakuza film that should appeal primarily to the actor/director’s longtime fans, and especially those who consider his early crime films to be his best. Kitano wrote the script for the film and for the first time ever shot in the wide Kowa Scope (2.39:1).

The main characters are very bad men who do some terrible things to each other. However, as terrible as some of the killings are, they are also quite original. There are two in particular from the second half of the film, which I have absolutely no doubt will be copied by Hollywood at some point in the future.

Other than these original killings, however, the film does not have much else to offer. Its observations about yakuza feel more like very poor replicas of those Kinji Fukasaku delivered with his films years ago, while its dark cynicism eventually becomes impossible to tolerate. Still, the scenes where Kitano goes berserk make the film worth seeing, but the rest looks and feels too mechanical, too mathematical, too mainstream.

The production values are strong, from Katsumi Yanagijima’s (Sonatine, Battle Royale) sharp lensing to Yoshinori Ohta’s (Fireworks, Brother) competent editing to Senji Horiuchi and Kenji Shibazaki’s sound effects. The minimalistic music score was composed by rock veteran Keiichi Suzuki, who previously collaborated with Kitano on his award winning film Zatôichi.

Note: In 2010, Outrage was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Outrage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Takeshi Kitano's Outrage arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama.

This is easily the best high-definition transfer I've seen Panorama use. I assume that it is a direct port of the one used by Bandai Visual for the Japanese Blu-ray release of Outrage, but I don't have the disc to confirm. Regardless, the film looks very good in 1080p.

Detail is excellent throughout the entire film. The close-ups, in particular, are exceptionally crisp, a few actually resembling photographs (see screencapture #4). Clarity and contrast levels are also consistent, with only a couple of scenes where natural light is prominent looking slightly softer and marginally desaturated (see screencapture #2). Color reproduction is also convincing. There are no traces of overzealous sharpening. Filtering or other post-production corrections have not been performed either. Heavy compression artifacts and ringing are nowhere to be found either. There are, however, a couple of scenes where extremely mild banding is noticeable. Still, the presentation is very strong, and as far as I am concerned this Blu-ray release ranks amongst Panorama's best. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Outrage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Panorama have provided optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track serves the film well -- the shootouts sound very crisp while the short chase scenes have some surprisingly good rear-channel activity. Keiichi Suzuki's soundtrack introduces a number of industrial background noises, which the loseless audio track handles with excellent precision. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Outrage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features are placed on a separate Region-3 coded SDVD. Therefore, you must have a Region-Free SDVD player, or a Region-Free Blu-ray player, in order to access its content.

• Making of featurette - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (38 min).

• Roundtable Discussion - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (14 min).

• Japan Premiere/Director and Cast Appearance - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (25 min).

• Cast Interviews - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (19 min).

• Trailer - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (1 min).

• Outrage in Cannes - in Japanese, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (10 min).

Outrage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My feeling is that Outrage will appeal primarily to longtime Takeshi Kitano fans, and especially those who consider his early crime films to be his best. The material is hardly original and its presentation at times overstylized, but the film is nevertheless entertaining. On the other hand, Panorama's Blu-ray release of Outrage is impressive. RECOMMENDED.