"More OTT carnage than you can shake a blood-splattered katana at..."

It's still suffers from its slow pace and a 2 ½ hour running time on the second watch, but if you are patient, it starts to become rewarding, an interesting take on the yakuza film where the backstabbings around allowed to be stretched out and have a sufficient impact. One of Miike's many unconventional takes on the genre has finally grown on me.

With some effort, it might be possible to follow Agitator's plot about intrigues between several yakuza families. The action, the characters, and everything else is so bland and uninteresting that I couldn't be bothered.

Swell Yakuza picture with realistic feel. tends not to put the blood on screen, lots of feeling. Compare to Ring if Violent Fire which is the same movie in a wacky style.

Miike really wanted this to be the Godfather/Goodfellas of his yakuza cycle of films. There are flashes of excellence, and moments of [brief] character depth, but it doesn't come close to its apparant aspirations. A worthwhile watch that needed either another hour of detail added to characters or an hour trimmed for an improved pace. With expectations in check, this is still a wicked yakuza flick.