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Violent Cop

Play trailer Poster for Violent Cop 1992 1h 43m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
After a cop (Beat Takeshi) is fired and his sister is kidnapped, he goes on a mission to get the kidnapper and his boss.

Critics Reviews

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Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune 11/20/2017
3.5/4
[Takeshi Kitano is] scary, hilarious and, in a strange way, touching. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 09/08/2023
Takeshi's cinema is full of static images and long digressions, intermissions from the blood sport. When the inevitable clashes recur, the sudden shots of brutality carry a startling kick to them. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/26/2005
4/5
Steve Rhodes Internet Reviews 01/01/2000
2/4
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 01/01/2000
B
The audience gets a chance to watch Kitano smash punks around who would probably never receive their proper punishment. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Tan C @TanZoi Apr 18 This is the second Japanese live-action film I’ve seen. The first was Love Letter, which first showed me the art of "negative space". It goes further—stripping away narrative itself and using absence as storytelling. Its most striking quality is restraint. Director follows an "iceberg theory" approach: no explanations of motive, no emotional buildup, no dramatized conflict. The final shootout stands out. No flashy staging, no heroics—yet every gunshot hits hard. The composition feels like a path of white light emerging from darkness. Sound is used just as boldly: light music overlays cruelty, while heavy scenes are left without score, only raw sound. I rarely call a film "must-watch," but it is an exception. It shouldn’t suit my taste, yet I place it at the top—because nothing else feels quite like it. See more Dark D @RT65718715 Jun 28 In general, its just really weirdly. The film looks spectacular and is fast paced, despite long, artsy panning shots and subdued editing. Its not a typical bad cop breaks the rules for justice narrative. Takeshi is very flawed and causes a lot of harm to innocent people. Interesting tidbits; points: Takeshi has facial ticks and walks funky, but this is before his 1994 scooter accident. Also, its the beginning of his refreshing portrayals of male homosexuality. The score is like a cheap horror movie but fits perfectly. See more Atlis S @RT92542642 10/14/2024 It's hard to say how I feel about the movie. On a positive note it does a good job of pulling you in. The movie shots tend to linger in front of the viewer before shifting. The movie quickly becomes dark, bleak, and noir-esque. It feels akin to oldboy in the sense the sense of hopelessness you feel for the main character. So it does a good job of pulling it's weight in this regard. Kitano is also just generally good at his craft. But, I tend to steer away from endings that are nihilistic. See more JJJJJJ J @RT10868636 09/18/2023 1980s japan will never look bad... I mean maybe a director will do a bad job with it but its hard. The problem with this film is that there is no emotion. It seems as if nihilism and lack of moral flow through this film. It just leaves the movie boring and emotionless. Probably a watch for serious fans of japanese gangster movies otherwise a skip. See more 08/20/2021 Takeshi Kitano's directorial debut is raw, rough around the edges, violent (who'd have thought it) and very bleak. It's not the greatest example of his powers but it provides a vital start point to his career, and the score, despite being at odds with the brutality on screen, somehow works brilliantly, adding a layer of beauty to the dark and disturbing turns the plot takes. See more 03/22/2021 The debut of the legendary Takeshi Kitano Violent Cop is a fun dark crime film about a Dirty Harry style cop trying to take down some drug dealers See more Read all reviews
Violent Cop

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Movie Info

Synopsis After a cop (Beat Takeshi) is fired and his sister is kidnapped, he goes on a mission to get the kidnapper and his boss.
Director
Takeshi Kitano
Producer
Hisao Nabeshima, Takio Yoshida, Shozo Ichiyama
Screenwriter
Hisashi Nozawa
Distributor
Fox Lorber, Rapid Eye Movies, Les Acacias [fr], Primer Plano Film Group S.A., Cinema Mondo
Production Co
Bandai Media Division, Shochiku-Fuji Company [jp]
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 11, 1992, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 25, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.0K
Runtime
1h 43m