Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie Review

Ancient martial arts, six-shooters, and lots of blood: the perfect movie?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 7, 2008

You gonna come at me, or whistle Dixie?

Think, for a moment, of the strangest combinations one could muster, oddball groupings sure to churn the stomach, turn the head, or cause one to laugh uncontrollably. There's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with mayonnaise, the Pittsburgh Pirates and winning baseball, John Rambo sipping tea with The Queen of England, John Wayne starring in a direct-to-video hip-hop action movie, a modern day aircraft carrier off the coast of Hawaii in 1941, or Samurai cowboys. Ok, so they're not really Samurai, but rather "Mononofu," but the point is that one of Takashi Miike's latest films is certainly an odd duck of sorts, a combination of styles and cultures that one would imagine would repel like similarly-charged particles that only want to get as far away from one another as possible. Billed as, and named after, this combination of styles, directly referencing a Japanese dish and one of the more popular of the 1960s Spaghetti Westerns, Sukiyaki Western Django, if nothing else, is a visual and aural treat, a film that combines two styles that seem as out of place as would a combination of Friday the 13th and Tinker Bell, and, believe it or not, at least in Takashi Miike's world, the combination does work on some levels.

Okay, okay, listen to this one. See, a Japanese cowboy walks into a bar...

There's a plot, but it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Sukiyaki Western Django is about dark humor, violence, and a passion for a genre, whether the film actually looks and feels like a typical offering from that genre. It takes the shell of A Fistful of Dollars and morphs it into, well, a Japanese Western, replete with a Japanese cast speaking in heavily-accented English, wielding Katanas, six-shooters, lever action rifles, and gatling guns, one character hefting the latter like a 19th century John Matrix proclaiming, "today we win!" It is several hundred years after the battle of Dannoura, and a small Nevada town is rocked by a pair of opposing gangs, the red-clad Heike and the white-clad Genjis. The weaker reds, who have the "support" of the local sheriff, and the whites vie for the assistance of a mysterious figure who appears out of nowhere, offering his services as a gunfighter to the highest bidder. At stake is a treasure chest full of gold, and each side offers the gunfighter a piece of the action. As the story unfolds, the histories of the factions are revealed, alliances are chosen, blood is spilled, and a climactic showdown just may change the course of history.

Ultimately, Sukiyaki Western Django offers a premise that superficially looks and feels fresh and fun, an updating of a classic genre with a curiously unique cast, setting, and delivery. Along the way, however, the story becomes jumbled, the dialogue runs together, and the film drags when the bullets and blood stop flying. The action sequences hold the film together; there are enough of them, competently and dynamically captured, to retain interest until the film's inevitable showdown set not on a dusty, sun-baked main street, but rather in a more poetic snow-filled frame that punctuates the action and cleanses the palette, allowing audiences to take in something even more interesting and novel than even the previous 90 minutes worth of action spectacle. Still, the film plays out as expected, with the main characters, sometimes literally, shielded behind a mass of humanity, as the battles rage. It's no secret who will emerge at the end of the film as the sole survivors set for a most curious clash of the titans, but the movie is, generally more often than not, a blast of a ride that takes audiences to the inevitable. For something completely out of left field, look no further than Sukiyaki Western Django.

Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sukiyaki Western Django drifts onto Blu-ray with a fantastic 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. The film begins with a flashback scene, shot on a set that gives an entirely new meaning to the word "budget." Grainy over-saturated imagery that pushes the greens, reds, and yellows of the spectrum but mutes most everything else, the image sets the tone for the film but also, despite the gritty appearance, manages to impress with some fine detail and excellent blacks. As the film moves forward in time, it takes on a less stylized look, but retains its sharp imagery and extraordinary detail. Various interior shots are stunning. They sport tremendous depth and fine detail, particularly in the wood used throughout the sets. Every inch of the image is sharp and vibrant. The level of detail is often breathtaking, particularly when it comes to the flowing wardrobe that adorns many of the characters. Everyday objects, including the firearms and even the mud and dirt of the town's tired streets, shine through with incredible texture. Punctuated by several flashback scenes throughout that retain the film's opening visual cues, Sukiyaki Western Django is a study in varied cinematic techniques, the gritty flashbacks and the clean and brilliantly detailed main story, both looking marvelous on First Look's Blu-ray release.

Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the video quality, Sukiyaki Western Django's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is engaging and exciting. The track starts out with a bang as a gun shot rings out with alarming clarity; surrounds are used to full effect, and the track immerses the viewer in the environmental ambience of its desert setting. As the film moves ahead several hundred years, listeners are treated to a variety of excellent sounds spread across the soundstage, including some stiff, brisk winds that blow every which way, encircling the viewer and practically creating a chill in the room. Sound pans and swoops around the room effortlessly. The rear channels work tirelessly to bring to life gunfire, explosions, and the heavy beating of hooves on the dirt turf. Gun shot reverberations carry throughout the listening area, and the film's seemingly nonstop action sequences that are punctuated by tremendous amounts of gunfire never disappoint visually or audibly. Dialogue reproduction is fine, but the actual delivery leaves a bit to be desired at times; some viewers may find it necessary to turn on the subtitles. The track is always seamless, spreads out naturally, and renders each effect, large or small, with fine attention to detail. In short, Sukiyaki Western Django sounds great on Blu-ray.

Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sukiyaki Western Django offers viewers only a small helping of bonus materials. The aptly-titled The Making of 'Sukiyaki Western Django' (480p, 52:40) is an in-depth look at the work that went into the making of the film. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, the feature is a video commentary of sorts, focusing not just the basics of the shoot, but examining the personality of director Takashi Miike, the challenges faced by cast and crew, a glance at the fight choreography, and plenty more. The documentary offers a unique style that sets it apart from the generally bland Hollywood making-of features with a somewhat more honest and approachable feel over the predictable, sometimes forced, standard fare found on many discs. Seven deleted scenes (480p, 14:28) and standard definition trailers for Transsiberian, War, Inc., August, and Priceless are included. This disc is also BD-Live (Blu-ray profile 2.0) enabled, though the feature was not available at time of writing. Disc two of this set contains a digital copy of the film. Unfortunately, the disc does not appear to be compatible with the latest version of iTunes installed on an Apple MacBook Pro.

Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If anything, Sukiyaki Western Django arrives as something completely unexpected, a film melding two distinct entities into a movie that offers a fresh perspective on the Western. Whether it succeeds or not is definitely up to the individual viewer; few opinions on the film will fall into the exact same category. There is an abundance of middle ground here between the two generalized extremes of "love it" or "hate it." It has plenty to offer film buffs far and wide who come from and appreciate varied styles and genres, and the novelty of the project cannot be denied. As Takashi Miike says in the documentary, "don't take this too serious. It's just entertainment." Perhaps such an approach has never been more applicable to a film before. First Look Studios brings Sukiyaki Western Django to Blu-ray in a pleasing package. Featuring top-notch video and audio quality and an excellent documentary that solidifies the otherwise small supplemental section, established fans and newcomers alike should find nothing to complain about here. Casual viewers will want to give this one a rental, while genre fans and those that seek out cult-ish and out-of-the-ordinary material should not hesitate on making this one a purchase.