Given that Battles Without Honor and Humanity marks the first installment in director Kinji Fukasaku's five-part Yakuza Papers series, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the entire thing is almost completely incoherent. With dozens of characters introduced (and just as many killed) amid a flurry of violent confrontations, much of the film's 99-minute running time feels like set-up for future episodes in the series. The remainder of Battles Without Honor and Humanity is even more perplexing, with various names thrown about and referred to - and yet, the movie is rarely out-and-out boring. This is primarily thanks to Fukasaku's emphasis on over-the-top instances of violence, along with his energetic, enthusiastic sense of direction. Still, the lack of a cohesive storyline makes it virtually impossible to really get into the film - though it seems fairly obvious that the movie would improve after viewing the subsequent four installments.
Given that Battles Without Honor and Humanity marks the first installment in director Kinji Fukasaku's five-part Yakuza Papers series, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the entire thing is almost completely incoherent. With dozens of characters introduced (and just as many killed) amid a flurry of violent confrontations, much of the film's 99-minute running time feels like set-up for future episodes in the series. The remainder of Battles Without Honor and Humanity is even more perplexing, with various names thrown about and referred to - and yet, the movie is rarely out-and-out boring. This is primarily thanks to Fukasaku's emphasis on over-the-top instances of violence, along with his energetic, enthusiastic sense of direction. Still, the lack of a cohesive storyline makes it virtually impossible to really get into the film - though it seems fairly obvious that the movie would improve after viewing the subsequent four installments.