Outrage Beyond (2012) New York Film Festival (2012)

Takashi Kitano follows up 2010's Outrage with Outrage Beyond.

If you've seen the first film you're probably wondering how that is possible, but I assure you it is, as is the possibility of a third film.

This film starts off five years after the previous film. The survivors of the power plays in the first film all find themselves being played by a police detective who is hoping to set every side against each other in order to have them all kill each other. Add to the mix Otomo, played by the director, and a seeming goner at the close of the previous film, and you have yourself the making of a pretty violent mixture.

Two things you should know going in:

First I don't think you need to see the previous film. Yes it helps, but you don't need it.

Secondly the film starts slow and builds to a violent series of  gun downs. These aren't big shoot outs but bloody assassinations. You'll see what I mean when you see the film.

I really liked the film a great deal. While not as complex as the first film, it holds together better. Somethings are clearer than before. While it's probably not the absolute best of Kitano's films, it is a damn fine crime film, especially if you're the sort of person with a dark sense of humor...

I do have to say that by the time I saw this film at the press screening I was worn out. I had just seen Michael Haneke's heavy masterpiece Amour and it took it's toll on me, and I don't think I was fully engaged with the film...even so I had a blast. I suspect that down the road, after I see the film again I'll like it even more.

And only because I am a notorious nit picker, I have to say that for me the only real flaw worth mentioning is the sense that the film is aiming for another dip at the well. As the bodies began piling up and things were moving in the second half I was struck by how much I suspected this was not going to end neatly. It didn't completely and when it was done I wanted to see what happens next. I suspect you'll want to too.

This plays Friday at Midnight and Saturday at 9PM and is worth seeing especially with a stoked audience of Takashi Kitano fans (which the press screening was not- though I could tell who was from the scattered reaction).