!Contains spoilers! For starters, I got to admit that I haven't seen a Takashi Miike film that I didn't like. But this one was really something really different, in the very way I personally experienced it.<br /><br />The occasional clips of the WW2 and the rest, in between scenes of Miikeish violence, the "good" guys the "evil" Izo is killing from the beginning to the very end.<br /><br />The scene where he appears in a Japanese school for example, the kids who surely have been taught as worshipers of the dictatorial few leaders, despising democracy. Of course the continuum of the scene really made me sure of what I felt like from the quite beginning of the film, involuntary slaughter but for a reason.<br /><br />Despite the more obscene scenes, I really appreciated the way how Izo was not represented as an absolute evil person, nor good, it was left for the viewer to decide.<br /><br />Maybe it's just me, but I really did enjoy the every single second of the film, just wondering how people find this one "boring" or "pointless". Of course it's very personal how one experiences a film, and the metaphoric part may be a product of my twisted mind, but I strongly recommend to watch, see, hear and find out how you experience this one, especially if you're into Miike's films. :) And the soundtrack itself is awesome, the Japanese guitarist/singer with a wailing voice and overemotional way of singing really made its job, yet repeating itself, which just really increased the power of his songs not to mention the way he really beats his guitar's strings.<br /><br />This is no Ichi the Killer with just splatter and a little twisted plot, there's very much more than that. This one will be next on my DVD shopping list for no doubt.<br /><br />Total ten points of ten, the best film of 2004 IMHO.