Eureka Blu-ray Synopsis: Working as a mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is informed of the death of his gang boss father, Kenzo. Returning home, Shoror discovers that his father's number-one man, Kurawaki, has double-crossed and assassinated Kenzo, leaving Shozo in charge of what little remains of the Iwaki Family, and a burning desire for vengeance. After a titanic battle, both Shozo and Kurawaki are left barely alive. Despite his debilitating wounds, the nearly superhuman Shozo clings to life, only to be awoken in a mysterious medical facility with an M61 Vulcan cannon in place of his right arm, and a rocket launcher where his left leg used to be! Although confused by his new body and tormented by the pain it brings him, Shozo quickly learns to love his weaponised frame and makes himself ready for a rematch with Kurawaki, who also has some mechanical improvements of his own. The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants. Co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi, who between them have created crazy, action-filled comedies like Battlefield Baseball, Meatball Machine, Mutant Girls Squad and Deadball, Takuza Weapon is a wild combination of hard-boiled action, manga-style comedy and splatterific special effects.

​

Views: Wacky, wild, and ultra-violent, Tak Sakaguchi's Yakuza Weapon is a non-stop roller-coaster ride of gangster politics and violence all wrapped up in a live-action manga, evident from it's more 'cartoon-like' moments – and not to mention the fact that it is an actual adaptation of the Gokudo Heiki manga by the late Ken Ishikawa. Sakaguchi stars as Shozo Iwaki, the outrageous and kick-ass son of Yakuza boss Kenzo. While fighting mercenaries in the jungles of South America, Shozo learns that his father has been assassinated back home and quickly returns to Japan to seek revenge. As he faces off against Kurawaki, the man responsible for killing his father, Shozo gets an arm and a leg blown off which leaves him critically wounded – although not before blowing Kurawaki's copter out of the sky with a rocket launcher. Thankfully, the Government have the advanced technology needed to rebuild Shozo, replacing his missing arm with a Gatling gun and his leg with a rocket launcher – fired via the kneecap. From here Shozo must take on opponent after opponent with his 2 friends, going up against samurai warriors, robot women with rocket launching vagina's, gangs of mind-controlled thugs, and Kurawaki who has made some of his own advancements after surviving the crash!

​

While I thoroughly enjoyed Versus (2000) when it first came out, I have to admit that I've never really been the biggest fan of Tak Sakaguchi. The success of Kitamura's zombie film set things in place for Tak's career to blossom with him going on to star in a host of films for the same director, as well as appearing in anything and everything from Japan that involved martial arts, gore, and comic book violence. From Azumi (2003) to Death Trance (2005), Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (2005) to Tokyo Gore Police (2008), and a host of his own projects as a director or choreographer with his co-director Yudai Yamaguchi such as Battlefield Baseball (2003), Samurai Zombie (2008), Mutant Girls Squad (2010), Deadball (2011), and this – Tak has showed no signs of slowing down over the last two decades. While I admit that he certainly has good screen presence and plenty of energy, I often find his choreography to be somewhat repetitive and don't particularly find him to be a great mover – often coming across like the love child of Tony Jaa and Don 'The Dragon' Wilson for the most part. In Yakuza Weapon, Tak gets to let loose as one of his wildest characters yet and has full control of things as the co-director and co-writer of the project along with his close friend and co-director, Yudai Yamaguchi, who also made his claim to fame with Versus (2000) as the writer and second unit director. After penning Ryuhei Kitamura's Alive (2002) (also starring Tak), Yudai made his feature debut as a director with the fun Battlefield Baseball (2003) before directing the wacky Chromartie High: The Movie (2005), fun Meatball Machine (2005), and a host of other titles including The Baby's Curse (2008), a segment of The ABC's Of Death (2012), High & Low: The Red Rain (2016), and Deadball (2011) which was shot back-to-back with this and played like a sort of sequel/remake of Battlefield Baseball (2003).

​

This is a film that mustn't be taken seriously, although (ironically) a few scenes slow things down by trying to do just that. Yakuza Weapon is all about the action and violence, with the gore-filled special effects handled by horror maestro Yoshihiro Nishimura – a man who has handled the effects work and make-up on many great films such as Meatball Machine (2005) and its sequel, Exte: Hair Extensions (2007), The Machine Girl (2008), Tokyo Gore Police (2008), Hard Revenge Milly (2009), RoboGeisha (2009), Attack On Titan 1 & 2 (2015), Dead Sushi (2012), Zombie Ass: Toilet Of The Dead (2011) and so much more. On top of that, Nishimura has directed almost 30 films himself including titles like Tokyo Gore Police (2008), Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl (2009), Mutant Girls Squad (2010), Helldriver (2010), Meatball Machine Kodoku (2017), Tokyo Dragon Chef (2020), and then some. So if you have seen any of the aforementioned titles, you can only imagine the kind of gory FX work that goes on here. For many, Yakuza Weapon will be a case of 'having seen it all before' and especially if you follow the works of Tak Sakaguchi. That said, it does have plenty to enjoy, is packed with some cool fight scenes and entertains to some degree – albeit while outstaying its welcome by a good 15 or 20 minutes in my opinion. Imagine The Machine Girl (2008) meets Versus (2000) with a hefty dash of Takashi Miike style humour, and you're on the right track...

​

Overall: Crazy fun and packed with comic book violence, Yakuza Weapon runs a little too long for its own good but still entertains!

​

Blu-ray Extras: Deleted & Extended Scenes, Making of Documentary, Takuzo's Weapon – Short Film, Toki's Wedding Part One, The Tower of Kurawaki, Opening Day Stage Greeting, Dream Jumbo Talk Show with Manga Artist Go Nagai and Directors, Trailer, Isolated Music Track

​

Get your copy HERE