Much of Dead Or Alive seems like a routine Japanese gangster thriller,
coming down to a final battle between cops & robbers. But its appeal
lies in the way Takashi pushes genre conventions beyond all imaginable
extremes in the opening (insanely kinetic, ultra-violent ten minute
montage featuring the world's longest line of cocaine, pole dancers
and exploding noodles) and then again in the ending (an apocalypse to
end all apocalypses). In between, it's run-of-the-mill - but those two
sequences are something else.
